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0 pointslogicallee8y ago0 comments

>It's not a free license to commit any crimes they want.

That's exactly what it is. The hosting country can ONLY just tell them they are "persona non grata". (Expel them.)

Of course, they may face charges in their home country or be extradited. Their home country can waive their diplomatic immunity - and do so for their diplomats acting criminally in other countries.

But 100% of all of these actions are on the home country. The host country can do absolutely nothing besides expel them or complain to their home country.

Let me know if you see anything to the contrary here or anywhere else online:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplomatic_immunity

0 comments

Steuard8y ago

Different categories of diplomatic/consular staff have different levels of diplomatic immunity. Here's a complicated chart that details some of that:

https://www.state.gov/m/ds/c9127.htm

Note in particular that rather a lot of categories allow the offender to be detained or arrested, and to be prosecuted if their actions were not "official acts". (And if "beat up those protesters" were formally affirmed as an official act, I suspect that would have more serious consequences than just prosecuting a few security staff members. Assuming the current administration didn't just give Erdogan a high five, anyway.)

alasdair_8y ago

>But 100% of all of these actions are on the home country. The host country can do absolutely nothing besides expel them or complain to their home country.

The host country can do anything they want. Whether or not it will cause further problems is based on the balance of power between various nations.

As an obviously ridiculous example: imagine Osama bin Laden showed up in NYC with diplomatic immunity. There is zero chance he would not be arrested, regardless of what some words say.

kahirsch8y ago

Diplomatic immunity has to be granted by the host country prior to entry. The United States would not grant it to bin Laden.

zepto8y ago

Were he still alive, it's likely that he would not be arrested. More likely he'd be shot while resisting arrest.

gech8y ago

Wars were started over less. Maybe a little more patriotism is called for nowadays

krapp8y ago

>Wars were started over less.

We're still dealing with the consequences of a war we started for apparently no reason other than than wanting to do it. Maybe we should raise the bar for going to war, and not keep lowering it.

pyre8y ago

Yes, but right now the actions being taking in response are substantially less than going to war.

lostlogin8y ago

Patriotism is a part of what this was about. Turning down the dial would be more more likely to help in my view.

pjc508y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_Jenkins%27_Ear possibly the most famous example.

The problem is that Turkey is a member of NATO and a key US ally in the Middle East, which makes going to war with them .. inconvenient.

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