America’s new embassy in Beirut is vast

In the hills above Beirut, cranes swing above a vast new American embassy. Covering more than 43 acres, it will be the second-biggest diplomatic outpost in the world, surpassed only by America’s embassy in Baghdad. It is set to cost $1bn, about the same as the United States’ mission in London, the costliest the country has ever built. The immenseness of its scale suggests America has no plan to abandon its role in the Middle East. But it also highlights the superpower’s difficulties.