Embassy of the United States, Berlin not be considered a capital until Berlin was unified. Relations with the East German state were hampered because of this policy, and by the erection of the Berlin Wall in 1961. The wall made the site of the former U.S. Embassy, still owned by the U.S. government, an inaccessible vacant lot that was part of the security zone separating east and west Berliners. The site became accessible after the Berlin Wall came down in November 1989, but remained a vacant lot until the 2004 groundbreaking for construction of a brand new U.S. Embassy. In the early 1970s the U.S., along
The Writing's on the Wall Writing's on the Wall" was certified 8× Platinum by the RIAA on November 6, 2001, and has sold over 6 million copies in the United States alone. "Billboard" magazine ranked "The Writing's on the Wall" at number 39 on the magazine's Top 200 Albums of the Decade. "The Writing's on the Wall" received generally favorable reviews from music critics. Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic gave the album four out of five stars, stating: "With their second album, "Writing's on the Wall", Destiny's Child still suffers from slightly uneven songwriting, but it's nevertheless an assured step forward for the girl group.