Embassies.
You’ve probably heard of them, and might have a general gist of what they are, but
how exactly do they work?
Why are they here?
Who runs them?
And what does it have to do with Julian Assange?
Embassies can be misleadingly complicated sometimes.
So, for everyone watching who is completely unaware of what embassies even are, here’s
a quick, basic explanation.
An embassy is a type of mission that is essentially an office for ambassadors and other diplomats
serving the interests of their home country while in another country.
Among many other things, embassies house diplomats for the duration of their service, and are
also where you might want to go if you need to get a visa to visit said guest country.
Embassies may also have services for nationals of the guest country living in the host country,
like passport and birth documentation services, and some may even have reference centers providing
cultural and economic exchanges.
Okay, now for the long version of what’ll probably turn out to be basically what I just
said.
For a few examples, let’s use the two countries I have lived in, and two of the countries
you all seem to think I am from: the United States and Germany.
In total, the United States operates 7 diplomatic missions in various locations across Germany,
and Germany operates 9 diplomatic missions in the United States.
Wait, but what exactly are diplomatic missions?
Weren’t we talking about embassies?
Well, embassies are merely one type of diplomatic mission that a country may operate.
Embassies are just one form, but another form includes various flavors of consulates.
In Germany, the US operates an embassy in Berlin (actually right beside the Brandenburg
Gate), as well as a consular agency in Bremen, and various consulates general in Düsseldorf,
Hamburg, Frankfurt, Leipzig and Munich (by the way, it’s “consulates general”,
not “consulate generals”).
On the other side, Germany operates an embassy in Washington D.C., and various consulates
general in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York and San Francisco.
You may have noticed something in this sequence, in that both countries have placed their embassies
in each-other’s capital cities.
This is no coincidence, or even something the US and German governments necessarily
had to agree on, because embassies are, by definition, in the capital cities of the host
country (or whatever city comes close enough).
This is why New York, despite being a widely-renowned international hub, doesn’t actually host
any embassies.
In fact, this is the same case in other countries.
The US operates a consulate general in Amsterdam, because its embassy is in The Hague (which
actually isn’t the capital of the Netherlands, but is where everyone puts their embassies
anyway, it’s kind of complicated), and the US also operates a consulate general in Hong
Kong, since its embassy to China (which Hong Kong is kind of, sort of part of) is in Beijing.
Okay, okay, so what even are the differences between embassies and consulates?
Well, actually not much.
Consulates are essentially just embassies, but... smaller.
Now, while embassies are located in a country’s capital city and house the guest country’s
one, singular ambassador, consulates can be located all over, and are led by a consul
general.
The consul general’s job is basically to speak on behalf of the country when the ambassador
isn’t around.
Though often smaller, consulates generally provide the same functions and services as
the embassies do-- if an American citizen wanted to get a visa to visit China, they
could just as easily go to the consulate in San Francisco as the embassy in DC-- however,
the consulates are merely the branch operations of the embassy itself.
The embassy, among all the other things, effectively serves as the headquarters of a country’s
operations in a foreign country, and the consulates are basically just the local chain versions.
Now, the glaring question concerning embassies around the world is the question of sovereignty.
Let’s take the American embassy in Berlin as an example.
The main question is, is the building effectively part of Germany, or the US?
There are numerous different videos talking about this, but the short answer is Germany,
but not entirely.
The embassy grounds are definitely not an extension of the US’ sovereignty (and definitely
don’t have a path toward statehood), they are pieces of German land in Germany, just
administered by the United States under United States law, and if the German army were to
set foot without permission on the grounds of the embassy, nothing good would happen,
as this would be an act of war.
This is why Julian Assange has been stuck in limbo in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
Despite having warrants for his arrest for various crimes (even beside the WikiLeaks
stuff) by police who know very well where he is, he is effectively untouchable in the
embassy.
It’s kind of like being on base in tag, you’re perfectly safe while you’re there,
but the moment you leave, you’re on your own.
This sounds like a joke, but it’s actually kind of a perfect metaphor, because anyone
taking refuge from local law enforcement in an embassy cannot leave without being arrested
by said police, leaving them kind of, sort of trapped.
Embassies and consulates aren’t the only examples of foreign missions, however.
Another really good set of examples include the buildings run by the UN.
The United Nations operates numerous buildings across the world, most notably their headquarters
in New York City.
Now, being basically the world’s forum, to have a place where any world leader can
meet up in this part of America-- including some America couldn’t really care much less
for-- the UN’s headquarters can’t be truly, fully American.
For this reason, the territory the building sits on isn’t subject to New York law, but
is still subject to US federal law (after all, the US government still doesn’t want
you murdering anyone, extraterritorial property or not).
Some employees are even subject to diplomatic immunity, unless of course they murder someone,
in which case the Secretary-General may just revoke said immunity and let the cops go right
after them.
So, to wrap this whole discussion up, if the embassies effectively belong to the guest
country, while still being basically 100% in the host country, who builds the actual
buildings in the first place?
Well, the buildings are really just office buildings that a country will (most of the
time) rent out, if it fits their often selective standards.
Guest countries can also sell their old buildings to either private firms or the host government,
and move into a new building, should they update said standards.
All in all, embassies are a minefield of diplomatic confusion, including multinational embassies,
and even embassy buildings shared between two countries, but ain’t nobody got time
for that.
See you next week.
Thank you as always for watching.
I literally had this on hold for a couple weeks, because there was no free stock footage
of embassies anywhere.
Thankfully I had a camera and a roundtrip ticket to London, so that solved that.
By the way, if you would like to help support more future videos, a really good way to do
so is to pledge support on Patreon, or even just subscribe to learn something new every
Sunday.