SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Acrid, black smoke was seen pouring from a chimney at the Russian consulate in San Francisco Friday, a day after the Trump administration ordered its closure amid escalating tensions between the United States and Russia.
Firefighters who arrived at the scene were turned away by consulate officials who came from inside the building.
An Associated Press reporter heard people who came from inside the building tell firefighters that there was no problem and that consulate staff were burning unidentified items in a fireplace.
Mindy Talamadge, a spokeswoman from the San Francisco Fire Department, said the department received a call about the smoke and sent a crew to investigate but determined the smoke was coming from the chimney.
#1: Pinguinite To: XDMAR (#0)
Pinguinite posted on 2017-09-02 00:16:46 Reply Private Reply
#2: A Pole To: XDMAR (#0)
A Pole posted on 2017-09-02 00:33:39 Reply Private Reply
#3: rlk To: Pinguinite (#1)
Trum has turned out to be a bit of a fool in many areas. Still not as bad as Hillary.
rlk posted on 2017-09-02 01:07:32 Reply Private Reply
#4: Pinguinite To: rlk (#3)
Agreed on Hillary.
Pinguinite posted on 2017-09-02 01:18:47 Reply Private Reply
#5: nolu chan To: XDMAR (#0)
nolu chan posted on 2017-09-02 03:01:43 Reply Private Reply
#6: A Pole To: nolu chan (#5)
Not really, it was Russia that did that. Now Americans are NOT reducing Russian personnel, only Russian buildings.
A Pole posted on 2017-09-02 03:29:14 Reply Private Reply
#7: Tooconservative To: A Pole (#6)
I would say 'properties', not 'buildings'.
They seem to be down to 3 properties each. Until they decide to piss in each others' Wheaties again for no good reason. Probably the pee will start flying again this weekend unless they come to their senses.
This really hurts a lot of bystanders on both sides. People wanting academic visas, tourist visas, immigration visas, etc. It will hurt a lot of businesses and colleges and tourist spots for no good reason.
Tooconservative posted on 2017-09-02 05:25:26 Reply Private Reply
#8: A Pole To: Tooconservative (#7)
I don't know. They were not confiscated or forfeited yet.
Perhaps impounded or commandeered are the right words?
A Pole posted on 2017-09-02 06:25:29 Reply Private Reply
#9: Tooconservative To: A Pole (#8)
I think the Russians still own those properties, they just can't use them. Same for us with our consular properties in Russia. By contrast, we do "own" our Russian embassy in Moscow and it is considered American soil just as the Russians "own" their D.C. embassy and it is considered Russian soil. The Iranians still own their embassy in D.C. and it is on Iranian soil but we don't allow them to use it and won't recognize any ambassador that is appointed to live in it. The Iranians have an interests section that is hosted in the Paki embassy.
The Cuban embassy had been closed as an embassy since the Sixties but it continued to house the Cuban Interests section just as our embassy in Havana was officially closed but housed an American Interests section. Both embassies are now officially re-opened but neither Cuba nor America has appointed an ambassador. Once an ambassador is appointed, their credentials must be accepted by the other government for the embassy to be fully re-opened as an official embassy with an ambassador-in-residence and a full official staff and official (Secret Service) protection details.
Tooconservative posted on 2017-09-02 10:30:45 Reply Private Reply