Big deal!
The US State Department on Friday fended off criticism for commissioning a $1 million sculpture for its London embassy, saying it was "a good use of our limited resources."
We freed up some funding with that Benghazi diplomatic facility closing last year.
What else could we use that money for, anyway?
I love this part:
The Art in Embassies program had "played a leading role in US public diplomacy" for the past 50 years, Harf said.
"Where we can promote cross-cultural understanding... we think that's a good use of our limited resources," Harf told journalists.
Yes, let's reach out to the strange people who share our language and legal foundation, and who have fought with us in every war we've fought since World War I. It might pay off some day, eh?
I'm sure buying a sculpture by an Irish-born Catholic artist (as fine an artist as he apparently is) and putting it in front of our embassy in London is way better at promoting cross-cultural understanding with the British than, oh--I don't know--supporting Britain on the Falklands dispute.
Ah, what difference does it make, at this point, what we spend our money on?
UPDATE: I'll believe a true effort to promote cross-cultural understanding when we put a statue made by an Israeli in front of our Islamabad embassy.
UPDATE: This might be related.
