Washington D.C. renamed the street in front of the Saudi embassy to "Jamal Khashoggi Way"

Sooo the D.C. government shouldn’t do the thing that is in its power to do because somebody else will misread it as being the only action the U.S. government is taking.

Definitely sounds like a great way to avoid responsibility for ever doing anything!

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Not remotely what I’m saying. They should rename the street, it’s good to honor Khashoggi, but I don’t think anyone should assume this will have any practical political effect.

I dunno. I’m all for holding the Saudis accountable, and for honoring Khashoggi, but I’m not so sure about doing it like this. The US embassy in Riyadh could soon be on “911 Was Carried Out By the CIA Street” (or some other jab at the US, Israel, etc.).

Or Donald Trump Street.

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(issues with Onebox so:)

In politics hard power is the use of military and economic means to influence the behavior or interests of other political bodies. This form of political power is often aggressive (coercion), and is most immediately effective when imposed by one political body upon another of lesser military and/or economic power.[1] Hard power contrasts with soft power, which comes from diplomacy, culture and history.[1]

According to Joseph Nye, hard power involves “the ability to use the carrots and sticks of economic and military might to make others follow your will”.[2] Here, “carrots” stand for inducements such as the reduction of trade barriers, the offer of an alliance or the promise of military protection. On the other hand, “sticks” represent threats - including the use of coercive diplomacy, the threat of military intervention, or the implementation of economic sanctions. Ernest Wilson describes hard power as the capacity to coerce “another to act in ways in which that entity would not have acted otherwise”.[3]

The difference is that would be a direct (and false) accusation. Simply using Khashoggi’s name wouldn’t be an attack against the Saudis if they hadn’t been the ones who had him tortured and murdered.

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Passive aggressive city planning. I love it!

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“Donald Trump Memorial Sewage Treatment Plant” has a nice ring to it.

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Right next to the Trump Dump.

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Some consider having a sewage treatment plant named for them an honor…

https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/10/us/john-oliver-danbury-sewage-plant-trnd/index.html

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The followup is making sure the USPS only delivers “correctly addressed” mail. Ie, anything sent to the old street name will be returned as “No Such Address - Undeliverable” The Embassy will have to use his name on all their official correspondence.

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Sewage treatment plants are immensely important and useful pieces of infrastructure. By all rights they should be no more stigmatized than other public works projects like highways or dams, perhaps less so because they actually reduce the environmental harm caused by humankind’s activities instead of contributing to it.

Trump does not deserve the honor of a sewage treatment plant bearing his name.

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That won’t happen, unfortunately. Jamal Khashoggi Way" is a “symbolic name”, not an “official name”. The embassy’s address will not change.

The committee report (PDF) describes the legal status:

The Street and Alley Closing and Acquisition Procedures Act of 1982, effective March 10, 1983 (D.C. Law 4-201; D.C. Official Code § 9-204.01 et seq.) (“Act”) establishes procedures for closing streets and alleys, opening new streets and alleys, naming public spaces, and other procedures related to streets and alleys. The Act authorizes the Council to symbolically or officially designate or change the name of any public space in the District of Columbia, including streets and alleys.1

In October 2016, the Act was amended to create a clear distinction between official and symbolic street and alley namings and to establish distinct processes and requirements for each type of naming.2

An “official name” refers to the legal designation of an alley or a street for mailing address and other purposes,3 whereas a “symbolic name” for a street or alley shall be in addition to and subordinate to any name that is an official name.4

An official name of an alley shall contain the suffix “Alley” or “Court.”5

A symbolic name of a street or alley shall contain the suffix “Way” or “Plaza.”6

As established by Bill 24-22, “Jamal Khashoggi Way” is a symbolic street designation for New Hampshire Avenue N.W., between Virginia Avenue N.W. and F Street, N.W.

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Is the UK embassy in Iran still on Bobby Sands Road?

That should of course be Calle Allende.

A bunch of working class women working for a chain of supermarkets in Ireland refused to handle South African goods. And kept the picket up for years.

The rest of Ireland followed and the government was forced to face facts.

These things matter.

(not Iran obviously. They can go fuck themselves)

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Literally nothing should be named after him…

I love that story and I did not know it.

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a far off cry from the wonderful country of…

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Or “Don Junior” or “Eric” or… I’ll stop here. :nauseated_face:

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