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	<title>Swampland &#187; Jay Newton-Small &#124; TIME.com</title>
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	<link>http://swampland.time.com</link>
	<description>Political insight from the Beltway and beyond</description>
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		<title>Swampland &#187; Jay Newton-Small &#124; TIME.com</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com</link>
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		<title>Wrenching Decisions as Tornado Flattens School</title>
		<link>http://nation.time.com/2013/05/22/wrenching-decisions-as-tornado-flattens-school/#ixzz2U1xNRt24</link>
		<comments>http://nation.time.com/2013/05/22/wrenching-decisions-as-tornado-flattens-school/#ixzz2U1xNRt24#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 22 May 2013 14:10:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jay Newton-Small</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Oklahoma]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=96266</guid>
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	<primary_category>Oklahoma</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/oklahoma-domestic-policy/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/169203033-copy-2.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">*** BESTPIX ***  Massive Tornado Causes Large Swath Of Destruction In Suburban Moore, Oklahoma</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">jnewtonsmall</media:title>
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		<title>‘It’s Like a War Zone’: Horror and Heroism in Oklahoma After Tornado Tears Through</title>
		<link>http://nation.time.com/2013/05/21/horror-and-heroism-in-oklahoma-after-tornado-tears-through/#ixzz2Tvr0lID9</link>
		<comments>http://nation.time.com/2013/05/21/horror-and-heroism-in-oklahoma-after-tornado-tears-through/#ixzz2Tvr0lID9#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 21 May 2013 13:10:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jay Newton-Small/Moore</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Oklahoma]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=96155</guid>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Oklahoma</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/oklahoma-domestic-policy/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/485_nat_tornados_blue_0521.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Oklahoma tornado aftermath</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">jnewtonsmall</media:title>
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		<title>Burma’s Thein Sein Visits Washington</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/05/20/burmas-thein-sein-visits-washington/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/05/20/burmas-thein-sein-visits-washington/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 20 May 2013 19:49:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jay Newton-Small</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Foreign Policy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=96076</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[*This story was updated May 21, 2013 Barack Obama hasn’t had a lot of good news of late on the foreign policy front. His nonplan for Syria is under fire from all sides. His nonstrategy for the Arab Spring — from Benghazi and Cairo to Iran and Bahrain — has drawn near daily criticism. Chinese hacking is getting worse. The war in Afghanistan drones on. And so it must have been with some sense of relief that the President turned his attention Monday to the one small foreign policy victory his first term can claim: normalization of relations with Burma. Obama welcomed Burmese general turned President Thein Sein to the White House, the first Burmese leader to visit in nearly 47 years. Despite outrage from human-rights activists — dozens of whom protested at the White House gates on Pennsylvania Avenue — the meeting was hailed as a landmark one. It follows Obama’s November trip to Rangoon, where he was the first sitting U.S. President to visit Burma. In honor of Thein Sein’s visit, the White House put out a statement calling Burma for the first time &#8220;Myanmar,&#8221; the preferred name of the military junta. Thein Sein updated Obama on his progress in making the political and economic reforms the two discussed in November and asked for further U.S. support in capacity building, reforming the rule of law, increased trade and military-to-military training, according to Ernie Bower, a Burma expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies who met with Thein Sein in Washington on Sunday. “This visit is overwhelmingly important. American engagement in Myanmar is one of the more significant geostrategic developments in our overall Asia strategy in last couple of years,” Bower says. The reopening of Burma to the Western world is a blow to Chinese influence in Southeast Asia. For much of the past 20 years China was one of the big investors in Burma. But decades of what local authorities came to view as abuse by Chinese companies exploiting Burma’s bountiful natural resources helped create an opening<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=96076&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Foreign Policy</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/foreign-policy-2/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/rtxzub7.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Myanmar&#039;s President Thein Sein arrives at the West Wing of the White House for a meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">jnewtonsmall</media:title>
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		<title>The Ambassador May Wear Prada</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/05/07/the-ambassador-may-wear-prada/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/05/07/the-ambassador-may-wear-prada/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 07 May 2013 09:45:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jay Newton-Small</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Diplomacy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=94897</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[President Barack Obama will soon appoint a new round of ambassadors. Only 13 of 188 embassies are currently vacant, though perhaps as many as 100 others may open up as first termers rotate out. Some 30% are likely to be political, or patronage, appointments leaving the vast majority to the Foreign Service. That’s the same ratio that has been observed since George H. W. Bush’s tenure, but there are forces at work to cut back on the patronage quota. The Administration doesn’t have a great record in this area. Obama’s nominee to be ambassador to Iraq, Brett McGurk, had to withdraw when evidence of an affair and rumors of an embarrassing sex tape emerged (though McGurk is now being considered for Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Iraq and Iran). The Administration pulled the nomination of top fundraiser Timothy Broas to be ambassador to the Netherlands last June after he was charged with drunk driving and resisting arrest. Obama had an unexpected fight in 2011 to confirm Mari Carmen Aponte as ambassador to El Salvador when Congressional Republicans filibustered her nomination over reports that a boyfriend she’d lived with 20 years ago once worked as an agent for Fidel Castro. Aponte was eventually confirmed. And in early May, Manhattan hedge fund billionaire Marc Lasry emerged as Obama’s pick for Paris, until a New York Post cover story detailing his penchant for online gambling on a website favored by Russian mobsters forced him to withdraw. Meanwhile, some who did get through shouldn’t have. Four patronage ambassadors tapped by Obama in his first term – to Malta, Luxembourg, Kenya and the Bahamas — were so embarrassed that they had to resign following scathing reviews by the State Department’s Inspector General. The ambassadors to Luxembourg and Kenya were accused of mistreating their staffs, “dysfunction” leading to “low staff morale, according to the IG reports. The situation in Luxembourg was so bad, the IG said, that staff was choosing to curtail their assignments in favor of tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. The reports said<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=94897&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Diplomacy</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/foreign-policy-2/diplomacy/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/vogue.jpg?w=128</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of American Vogue, arrives on the red carpet at the White House Correspondents&#039; Association dinner in Washington</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">jnewtonsmall</media:title>
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		<title>Tsarnaev Snafus: Nearly 12 Years After 9/11, Boston Bombings Highlight Intelligence Holes</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/24/tsarnaev-snafus-nearly-12-years-after-911-boston-bombings-highlight-intelligence-holes/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/24/tsarnaev-snafus-nearly-12-years-after-911-boston-bombings-highlight-intelligence-holes/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 24 Apr 2013 09:00:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jay Newton-Small</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Boston Marathon Bombings]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=93858</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Ten years ago the Department of Homeland Security was created to end the lack of information sharing among U.S. law-enforcement and intelligence agencies that had missed the 9/11 terrorist plot. Now it seems that blockages and miscommunications between and within those agencies caused them to miss the Boston Marathon bomb plot last week that killed three people and wounded 176, lawmakers said on Tuesday. What &#8220;is troubling to me [is] that this many years after the attacks on our country in 2001, that we still seem to have stovepipes that prevent information from being shared effectively not only among agencies but also within the same agency in one case,&#8221; said Senator Susan Collins of Maine, a top Republican on the Intelligence Committee. Investigators are still compiling what various U.S. agencies knew about Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in the months and years leading up to the bombings. Thus far what&#8217;s clear is that some agencies didn&#8217;t know what other agencies knew. Indeed teams within agencies seemed to not share information with one another. In a statement over the weekend, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said it was informed in March 2011 by Russia&#8217;s security agency, known as the FSB, that Tamerlan was becoming radicalized. The FBI followed up, interviewing Tamerlan and his family and speaking to people at his school, Bunker Community College. It found nothing &#8220;derogatory,&#8221; sent its findings back to Russia and heard nothing back from the FSB, it said. (MORE: Tread on Me: The Case for Freedom From Terrorist Bombings, School Shootings and Exploding Factories) But, the FSB had &#8220;multiple&#8221; contacts with the FBI and at least one was after October 2011, according to Senator Richard Burr, a North Carolina Republican who sits on the Intelligence Committee. Apparently that information was not shared with the original team that interviewed Tamerlan. Tamerlan, 26, who is believed to be the mastermind behind the marathon attack, was killed in a shootout with police on Thursday. Then there&#8217;s the question of Tamerlan&#8217;s travel to Russia last year. The FBI said it did not know<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=93858&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Boston Marathon Bombings</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/boston-marathon-bombings/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/pol-blast-site-130424.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">The Boston Fire Department hazardous-materials team clean the blast site near the Boston Marathon finish line one week after the FBI handed over Boylston Street back to the city in Boston, on April 22, 2013.</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">jnewtonsmall</media:title>
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		<title>Boston&#8217;s Long Night of Terror: Tracking the Tsarnaevs</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/19/bostons-long-night-of-terror-tracking-the-tsarnaevs/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/19/bostons-long-night-of-terror-tracking-the-tsarnaevs/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 19 Apr 2013 18:30:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jay Newton-Small / Watertown</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Boston Marathon Bombings]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=93504</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[At first it just seemed like a police shooting. There really is no such thing as just a police shooting, but given the week’s heartbreaks, the early-morning attack on Friday was yet more pain to add to a city that was sore from exhaustion. Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer Sean Collier, 26, was shot to death at 32 Vassar St., a dark road at night just off the train tracks where steam from the school&#8217;s mysterious laboratories rises ominously upward from various tubes and vents. Despite the “creepiness” of the alleys, the area is usually very safe, said Trish Mara, 57, who lives a block away with her husband Michael Galasso. “We usually walk everywhere. We were walking home tonight from dinner across the river at about 10:40 [p.m.] when we saw three ambulances escorted by police cars speeding the other way,” Galasso, 59, said. Little did they know that one of those ambulances held Collier. Mara and Galasso were stunned by the police presence in their neighborhood. More than an hour later, the couple was still standing on the street shocked and a little in awe of the police response. “It makes me think it’s somehow related to the events on Monday,” said Galasso. “However unlikely that might be.” Turns out, Galasso was right. Very little violence that night would be unrelated to the manhunt for brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who were exposed to the world just hours earlier by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as Suspect No. 1 and Suspect No. 2. The police would later tell reporters that the two had robbed a 7-Eleven and that footage of the crime had tipped police off to the fact that the bombing suspects the FBI was looking for were also behind the 7-Eleven holdup, Collier’s murder and a carjacking of a Mercedes SUV. The carjacking gave authorities the edge they’d been looking for. They used the location device on the Mercedes to track the Tsarnaev brothers to Watertown. In an exceptional sight, dozens of police cars flooded Memorial<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=93504&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/19/bostons-long-night-of-terror-tracking-the-tsarnaevs/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Boston Marathon Bombings</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/boston-marathon-bombings/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/boston_manhunt_night.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Boston_Manhunt_Night</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">jnewtonsmall</media:title>
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		<title>The Marathon Bombing: Gunfights, Blasts and a Manhunt Shut Down Boston</title>
		<link>http://nation.time.com/2013/04/19/the-marathon-bombing-gunfights-blasts-and-a-manhunt-shut-down-boston/</link>
		<comments>http://nation.time.com/2013/04/19/the-marathon-bombing-gunfights-blasts-and-a-manhunt-shut-down-boston/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 19 Apr 2013 11:16:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jay Newton-Small/Watertown</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[terror]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=93441</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=93441&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>terror</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/terror/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/the-marathon-bombing-gunfights-blasts-and-a-manhunt-shut-down-boston.jpeg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">marathon bombing</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://2.gravatar.com/avatar/557ff2649ffce53285c86e4b694cff6d?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F2.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">jnewtonsmall</media:title>
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		<title>CSI Boston: Painstakingly Searching One of the Largest Crime Scenes in Recent History</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/18/csi-boston-painstakingly-searching-one-of-the-largest-crime-scenes-in-recent-history/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/18/csi-boston-painstakingly-searching-one-of-the-largest-crime-scenes-in-recent-history/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 18 Apr 2013 22:14:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jay Newton-Small</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[terror]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=93387</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[On busy Newbury Street in Boston’s Back Bay, tourists and students window shop or grab frozen yogurt. Bostonians walk their dogs and run errands, sometimes pausing to enjoy the first good week of spring weather of the year. A block away on Boylston Street the scene couldn’t be more different. Bomb technicians in white jumpsuits, looking like they’ve jumped out of ET, slowly scour the street looking for bomb debris and evidence. Investigators are conducting what they call a grid search where every square foot is numbered and documented for evidence. The first thing they did after securing the scene is bring through explosive detection dogs, who alert where they smell traces of explosive so techs know what areas have the greatest potential for evidence collection, Steven Batholomew, a special agent at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, tells TIME. They then determine the blast seats, where the bombs were originally placed, and from there track out the blast field. Though Batholomew didn’t want to specify how large these particular fields are, judging by the rooftop searches the techs were seen conducting Thursday on a six-story building 100 feet away from the first blast sight, it’s fair to say hundreds of feet. (PHOTOS: Police Manhunt in Watertown) The techs will scour everything in the blast field for evidence, from rooftops to sewer drains. They will pry out shrapnel embedded in buildings and pavement. They are looking for whatever held the bomb, in this case two black nylon bags; the bomb casing, in at least one case a pressure cooker – not enough of the second casing has been recovered to definitively say if it was also a pressure cooker; shrapnel – in this case ball bearings, nails that had had their heads sawed off and BBs; batteries, switches, timers, wires and circuit boards. All of this gets sent to the FBI’s Quantico laboratory where they reconstruct the bombs, which were detonated 12 seconds and 100 yards apart at the height of the marathon, killing three and wounding 176. At least<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=93387&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/18/csi-boston-painstakingly-searching-one-of-the-largest-crime-scenes-in-recent-history/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
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	<primary_category>terror</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/terror/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/usn-boston-bombing-1304152.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">jnewtonsmall</media:title>
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		<title>Boston&#8217;s Wild, Unnerving, Topsy Turvy Day</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/17/bostons-wild-unnerving-topsy-turvy-day/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/17/bostons-wild-unnerving-topsy-turvy-day/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 18 Apr 2013 00:24:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jay Newton-Small</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Media]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=93280</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Boston went on a roller coaster ride of speculation, rumor and evacuations on Wednesday, thanks in part to a rumor-mill stoked by national media camped in town covering the marathon bombings. In the morning, the hunt for the marathon bomber seemed to be stalled. The one press conference with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Massachusetts authorities was called off. Activity in the crime scene seemed to be winding down, with most stores not directly on Boylston Street reopening for business. Then, suddenly, CNN began reporting that a “dark skinned” suspect had been identified using surveillance video. Crowds began to form outside the Westin Copley Hotel where CNN was reporting live. An arrest, CNN said soon after, had been made. The Associated Press and Fox News soon put out similar alerts and reporters by the hundreds rushed to the U.S. District Court on Boston Harbor, where a suspect might be booked and arraigned. A perp walk more than 30 television cameras long formed and dozens of curious Boston locals toting smart phones swelled the crowd. On the police scanner, chatter was heard about a police arrest at a hotel off the Massachusetts turnpike. Inside the court, court employees gathered outside the emergency magistrate’s courtroom, eager to watch what seemed certain to be one of the arraignments of the year. Rumors spread through the crowd: the FBI says no arrest has been made. But surely, others rationed, the closed parking lot in front of the court due to “heightened security” and the police and Coast Guard boats hovering in the waters on the other side of the building were proof that something exceptional was about to happen. Before the debate could be settled the court’s fire alarm went off and a booming voice announced over the loudspeaker “Code Red emergency. Please evacuate immediately.” Court employees looked startled. “In 14 years of working here I’ve never heard of a ‘Code Red’ emergency,” one man said. Outside, police had pushed back the ever-growing throng of journalists and gawkers 100 feet from the building<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=93280&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Media</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/miscellany/media/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/rtxyps1.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">A U.S. marshal gestures to a crowd of journalists and people who were evacuated from the John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse back during a bomb threat in Boston</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">jnewtonsmall</media:title>
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		<title>The Day the Marathon Stopped: Tragedy in Boston’s Back Bay</title>
		<link>http://nation.time.com/2013/04/16/the-day-the-marathon-stopped-tragedy-in-bostons-back-bay/</link>
		<comments>http://nation.time.com/2013/04/16/the-day-the-marathon-stopped-tragedy-in-bostons-back-bay/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 16 Apr 2013 13:41:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jay Newton-Small/Boston</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Crime]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=93042</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=93042&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://nation.time.com/2013/04/16/the-day-the-marathon-stopped-tragedy-in-bostons-back-bay/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Crime</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/crime-domestic-policy/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/166702605-copy.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Boston Deals With Aftermath Of Marathon Explosions</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">jnewtonsmall</media:title>
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		<title>Take Cover! It&#8217;s NoKo New Year</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/11/take-cover-its-noko-new-year/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/11/take-cover-its-noko-new-year/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 11 Apr 2013 09:45:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jay Newton-Small</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[North Korea]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=92615</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[When North Korea&#8216;s founder Kim Il Sung was alive, he’d celebrate his birthday by imprisoning hundreds of thousands of “ideological offenders” or unveiling a blueprint for a “communist paradise.” His son and heir, Kim Jong Il, turned his father’s April 15 birthday into the closest thing to a religious holiday that an atheist, communist regime can have, resetting the calendar to Kim time by calculating the official date from his father’s birth day and year. But the biggest birthday celebrations for Kim-the-first and Kim-the-second became shows of military force. And now the latest in the line has taken up the tradition. Last year, after his father Kim Jong Il’s death in December 2011, Kim Jong Un tested long-range missiles on April 8. This year, he’s going all out. Marking what would have been his grandfather’s 101st birthday, he’s tested a nuclear weapon and long-range missies, ripped up the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War, threatened nuclear war against the United States, and warned foreigners in both North and South Korea to leave the peninsula or risk getting caught in the crossfire. (MORE: In the Shadow of North Korean Threats, South Korea Shrugs) Below is a selection of the most provocative North Korean actions in the first two weeks of April leading up to Kim Il Sung’s birthday. 1912: Kim Il Sung is born. [1948: Kim Il Sung becomes the leader of North Korea upon its founding] April 1, 1984: North Korea tests its first ballistic, Scud-type missile. April 14, 1992: North Korea broadcasts a video of its nuclear sites. April 4, 1994: North Korea announces it’s stepping up its nuclear program, refusing United Nations inspectors access. [July 1994: Kim Il Sung dies, son Kim Jong Il succeeds him.] March 30-31, 1995: North Korea conducts a surface-to-ship missile test of four missiles. April 14-16, 1997: North Korea promotes 123 generals; opens an estimated  $120 million dollar renovated mausoleum for Kim Il Sung; announces a new calendar based off Kim Il Sung’s birth – so the “New Year’s” celebrations on April 15 marked year<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=92615&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>North Korea</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/foreign-policy-2/north-korea/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/rtr30swk.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Kim il-sung birthday north korea</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">jnewtonsmall</media:title>
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		<title>Kerry’s Asian Crash Course</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/10/kerrys-asian-crash-course/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/10/kerrys-asian-crash-course/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 10 Apr 2013 09:45:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jay Newton-Small</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[State Department]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[John Kerry]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=92452</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[When Secretary of State John Kerry visits countries in Europe, he often reminisces about his childhood growing up there. On his second trip to Israel last weekend as Secretary of State, he recalled climbing the ancient site of Masada in 1986. When he greeted U.S. ambassador to the United Arab Emirates Michael Corbin, the two recalled their adventures in Egypt a decade ago when Corbin staffed the embassy in Cairo. But when Kerry arrives on his first official trip to Asia on Friday, he will have fewer stories and relationships to fall back on. Relative to the thousands of times he’s been to Europe and the hundreds of times he’s been to the Middle East, Kerry’s experience in Asia has been relatively thin. During his 29-year-tenure on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee he visited China just five times, the last time in 2009; Japan five times, the last time in 2000; and South Korea only once in 2007. Kerry “seems more comfortable in his knowledge of Europe and the Middle East,” says Jerome Cohen, a China expert with the Council on Foreign Relations, “but this isn’t rocket science to understand what’s happening in East Asia.” (MORE: Holder, Kerry to Take Pay Cut) It may not be rocket science, but Kerry’s trip will probably involve rockets. A region in crisis will meet the secretary with Pyongyang threatening to launch a nuclear war against the United States any day. North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un’s missiles may not have the capacity to reach the U.S. homeland, but their weapons are well within reach of South Korea, Japan, China, the Philippines and the U.S. outpost of Guam. After Kim last week ripped up the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War, the populations there are worried that war might be imminent. North Korea last weekend warned foreign diplomats to leave the country before April 10 or risk getting caught in the crossfire if hostilities break out. None thus far have elected to leave. North Korea is one of the few Asian subjects about which<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=92452&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>State Department</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/foreign-policy-2/state-department-foreign-policy/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/03653750.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Secretary of State John Kerry during the annual ceremony at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial complex in Jerusalem on April 8, 2013.</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">jnewtonsmall</media:title>
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		<title>Diplomacy in the Age of Twitter</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/03/diplomacy-in-the-age-of-twitter/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/03/diplomacy-in-the-age-of-twitter/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 03 Apr 2013 19:53:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jay Newton-Small</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Diplomacy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=92029</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[For the second time in seven months, the U.S. embassy in Cairo got itself into Twitter trouble. The unusually combative Twitter feed on Tuesday criticized the Egyptian government’s imprisonment of comedian Bassem Youssef for mocking President Mohamed Morsi, drawing a sharp rebuke from the Egyptian government. The embassy linked to a clip of The Daily Show&#8217;s Jon Stewart making fun of Morsi for the arrest, a tweet that Egyptian authorities immediately objected to, voicing their criticism – where else? – on Twitter. &#8220;It&#8217;s inappropriate for a diplomatic mission to engage in such negative political propaganda,&#8221; Morsi’s office tweeted. &#8220;Another undiplomatic &#38; unwise move by @USEmbassyCairo, taking sides in an ongoing investigation &#38; disregarding Egyptian law &#38; culture,&#8221; the Fredom and Justice Party, the political wing of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood movement, wrote. The embassy’s page was taken down over night and restored Wednesday morning sans the offending tweet. Foreign Policy Magazine’s Josh Rogin reported that U.S. Ambassador to Egypt Anne Patterson made the decision to take down the feed unilaterally and that Washington later urged her to reinstate it lest it appear the U.S. was caving to political pressure. The U.S. has repeatedly expressed concern that Morsi is infringing on freedoms of the press, women and minorities. The subject has been raised with Morsi in almost every meeting with U.S. officials since he took office. Morsi always pledges to work on the issues, but in practice the human rights situation has gotten worse as Morsi’s hold on power has weakened in the face of growing opposition protests and violence. Flying off the handle on Twitter is a risk for any high profile user and the staff at the U.S. embassy in Cairo knows this as well as anyone. On Sept. 11 last year as the Cairo embassy was under siege, the Twitter feed attempted to calm the crowds by apologizing for the California-made video mocking the Prophet Mohamed that set off the violence. Republican President nominee Mitt Romney latched onto those tweets and accused the Obama Administration of apologizing for freedom<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=92029&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Diplomacy</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/foreign-policy-2/diplomacy/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/rtr38x57.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Egypt&#039;s President Morsi</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">jnewtonsmall</media:title>
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		<title>White House Destruction Is Popular with Moviegoers; Why This is a Good and Bad Milestone</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/01/white-house-destruction-is-popular-with-moviegoers-why-this-is-a-good-and-bad-milestone/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/01/white-house-destruction-is-popular-with-moviegoers-why-this-is-a-good-and-bad-milestone/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 01 Apr 2013 16:09:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jay Newton-Small</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[White House]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=91825</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Coming soon to a theater near you: the total destruction of Washington. Sure, Congressional approval ratings are at an all time low and President Obama isn’t faring a whole lot better, but three new movies out this spring gleefully bomb, shoot up, take over, hit with an airplane and otherwise trash the White House. Two of the movies, Olympus Has Fallen and G.I. Joe: Retaliation, are already out in theaters. The third, White House Down, is expected in June. Both Olympus Has Fallen and White House Down focus on terrorists taking over the White House and a lone Secret Service agent or cop – Gerard Butler in Olympus and Channing Tatum in White House Down – is left to save the president. In Olympus the terrorists are, implausibly, North Korean. A paramilitary group is the root of all evil in White House Down. And, of course, in the long running G.I. Joe series it’s Cobra that infiltrates the White House with an imposter president and takes it over, flying Cobra banners from the South Portico. Destroying the White House or other trappings of the presidency – most notably Air Force One – is not a new subject matter. But the three movies are notable in that they are the first blockbusters since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks to violently attack Washington landmarks. In the intervening years after the attacks, Washington was destroyed on the silver screen, but by natural causes: an ice age in The Day After Tomorrow (which tactfully avoided showing the actual destruction of any landmarks) and tectonic shifting in the movie 2012. X-Men 2, which came out in 2003, has a scene where a mutant gets into the White House, but the scenes are all internal and no one of importance dies. In some ways, the release of movies that would’ve been unimaginable a decade ago marks a healing milestone on the collective American psyche post 9/11 – especially Olympus, in which terrorists actually fly a plane into the White House. As if that’s not enough,<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=91825&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/01/white-house-destruction-is-popular-with-moviegoers-why-this-is-a-good-and-bad-milestone/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>White House</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/white-house/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/olympus-composite3.jpg?w=134</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">olympus has fallen</media:title>
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		<media:content url="http://2.gravatar.com/avatar/557ff2649ffce53285c86e4b694cff6d?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F2.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">jnewtonsmall</media:title>
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		<title>Sarah Palin: Loaded for Bear</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/27/sarah-palin-loaded-for-bear/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/27/sarah-palin-loaded-for-bear/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 27 Mar 2013 20:11:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jay Newton-Small</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Sarah Palin]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=91505</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The former Alaska governor and 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee reminds us that even without the reality shows, Fox contract and candidacy for, well, anything, that she&#8217;s still alive and kicking. This is latest video, entitled &#8220;Loaded for Bear.&#8221;And, just in case she&#8217;s totally off your radar, she is also writing a book putting the Christ back in Christmas.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=91505&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Sarah Palin</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/2012-election/sarah-palin/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/screen-shot-2013-03-27-at-4-19-33-pm.png?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Sarah Palin</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">jnewtonsmall</media:title>
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		<title>How Barack Obama Brought Turkey and Israel Back Together</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/25/how-barack-obama-brought-turkey-and-israel-back-together/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/25/how-barack-obama-brought-turkey-and-israel-back-together/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 25 Mar 2013 09:45:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jay Newton-Small</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Diplomacy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=91135</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[From almost the moment President Obama touched down at Ben Gurion International Airport, he began to push Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make up with Turkey. The previously good relations broke down in 2010 after the Israelis raided a Turkish flotilla taking aid to the Gaza Strip. Nine activists were killed. Since then, the U.S. has pushed Israel and Turkey — both close allies — to work through their issues. Officials at meetings at nearly every level from the President down brought up rapprochement. Secretary of State John Kerry pressed Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Israel on March 1 on a trip to Ankara. By day two of Obama’s visit, Netanyahu had agreed to set up a call with Erdogan. Given the two leaders’ busy schedules, it was not until just as Obama and Netanyahu were arriving back at the airport for the President’s departure to Jordan a day later that a call was possible. Obama and Netanyahu ducked into a trailer off of the red carpet set up for the departure ceremony. Jason Reed / Reuters President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu For nearly half an hour, Netanyahu and Erdogan spoke through translators. Obama briefly got on the phone to say hello to Erdogan and ask that they follow up with another call soon. Netanyahu offered Turkey an official apology for the flotilla incident and promised compensation to the victims’ families. He said a subsequent Israeli investigation into the incident revealed “several operational errors,” according a statement released by the Israeli embassy in Washington. Netanyahu also thanked Erdogan for his remarks condemning anti-Semitism to a Danish paper on March 20. Erdogan had been quoted last month calling Zionism &#8220;a crime against humanity,&#8221; and he told the Danish paper those remarks had been misinterpreted. During his Ankara visit, Kerry had condemned Erdogan&#8217;s statement on Zionism, urging the Turkish Prime Minister both publicly and privately to clarify them. The deal was a coup for Obama, on his first foreign visit of his second term. It re-established diplomatic relations between Israel and<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=91135&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Diplomacy</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/foreign-policy-2/diplomacy/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/obama-israel.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">U.S. President Obama acknowledges the audience after delivering a speech on mideast policy at the Jerusalem Convention Center</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">jnewtonsmall</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">President Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu</media:title>
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		<title>John Kerry Drops Into Iraqi Tumult 10 Years After Invasion</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/25/john-kerry-drops-into-iraqi-tumult-ten-years-after-invasion/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/25/john-kerry-drops-into-iraqi-tumult-ten-years-after-invasion/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 25 Mar 2013 09:45:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jay Newton-Small</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Iraq]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=91137</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Secretary of State John Kerry made a surprise visit to Iraq over the weekend to mark the 10th anniversary of the U.S. invasion and to push Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to stop allowing Iranian flights over Iraq to help Syrian strongman Bashar Assad. The fact that high-ranking U.S. officials must still make surprise visits to Iraq shows the security situation remains tenuous at best 15 months after the last U.S. troops withdrew. Though the violence has not reached the levels of the civil conflict from 2006 to 2008, sectarian unrest has been rising in Iraq. “It is difficult for some to find the way to strengthen their democratic institutions and develop its full economic potential, and now that our forces are gone, to ensure that it’s going to be able to stand on its own two feet with respect to the security challenges,” Kerry told reporters in Baghdad. “If the Iraqi democratic experiment is to succeed, all Iraqis must work together so that they can come together as a nation.” The theme of Kerry&#8217;s trip, State Department officials said, was &#8220;engagement.&#8221; But it comes at a time when the U.S. is reducing its presence in Iraq from 16,000 embassy and consulate staffers and contractors a year ago to 10,500 today to an expected 5,100 by the end of the year. Without troops and a large diplomatic presence and a declining investment by U.S. companies &#8212; most U.S. oil companies have forsaken their investments in the southern oilfields to drill in the Kurdish lands in the north &#8212; many say America&#8217;s influence on Iraq is waning just as Iran&#8217;s is growing. &#8220;I would say that the main lever that we have is that we are able to demonstrate or provide an alternative,&#8221; a State Department official said. &#8220;We’re not insisting that [al-Maliki] choose either-or, but we want to be able to demonstrate that he has other friends in the region and he doesn’t have to rely only on Iran for support.&#8221; In recent months, Sunni unrest has pushed the Iraqi government<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=91137&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Iraq</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/foreign-policy-2/iraq/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/kerry1.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry walks to his helicopter on the grounds of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">jnewtonsmall</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry meets with Iraq&#039;s PM Nouri al-Maliki</media:title>
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		<title>Will France Lead the U.S. into Syria?</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/19/is-france-leading-the-u-s-into-syria/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/19/is-france-leading-the-u-s-into-syria/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 19 Mar 2013 09:45:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jay Newton-Small</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Syria]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=90713</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This week, E.U. ministers are meeting to discuss lifting the arms embargo to Syria as the French and Brits prepare to begin arms shipments to aid the Syrian opposition. &#8220;The European Union arms embargo is now backfiring,” says a French official. “Ideally, we&#8217;d like the European Union to lift the embargo. But if that doesn&#8217;t happen, we&#8217;d be ready to take our responsibility. We&#8217;re going to engage in-depth discussions with our E.U. partners in the coming days.” Not all of the 27 E.U. countries want to lift the embargo. Germany, for example, has expressed reservations. Flouting an E.U. embargo, as the French seem prepared to do, is rare for a member country — militarily it hasn’t been done since the Bosnian war. Meanwhile, a debate rages within the Obama Administration about whether to match France and the U.K.’s bid to hasten President Bashar Assad’s end. The Obama Administration just this month announced it would provide direct humanitarian support to the Syrian opposition, two years after the civil war began. Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday that &#8220;the United States does not stand in the way of other countries that made a decision to provide arms, whether it&#8217;s France or Britain or others.” The U.S. has tacitly allowed Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates to arm the Syrian rebels for more than a year. But, increasingly, some in the Administration are arguing that moderate Syrians need to be bolstered — many of the Gulf weapons have ended up in the hands of Islamists — and the U.S. must pick a horse if it hopes to have sway over any post-Assad government. &#8220;There is a debate within the Administration,” says a European official. “John Kerry, in particular, is doing his best to have a more assertive American position in Syria.&#8221; The hesitation to arm the Syrian opposition has always been the likelihood that the weaponry could be used in ethnic cleansing post-Assad or against Israel. Opponents point to how arming the Libyan opposition has destabilized the entire Maghreb, which<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=90713&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Syria</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/foreign-policy-2/syria-foreign-policy/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/rtr3f1qt.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Protesters march past banners that read &#34;Stop massacres in Syria&#34; in front of the Pantheon in Paris</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">jnewtonsmall</media:title>
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		<title>Obama in Israel: Running to Stay Put</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/19/obama-in-israel-running-to-stay-put/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/19/obama-in-israel-running-to-stay-put/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 19 Mar 2013 07:00:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jay Newton-Small</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Israel]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=90747</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[President Barack Obama heads to Israel late Tuesday for the first foreign trip of his second term, a visit more about maintaining the status quo in a region filled with upheaval than about historic treaties or groundbreaking peace deals. When U.S. Presidents visited Jerusalem in years past, it was for big reasons, usually involving the ends of various conflicts or to make a push for Middle East peace. Obama’s ambitions are a lot smaller. The President’s hopes for this trip are about getting leaders not to do things, rather than prompting action. In Jerusalem, he needs Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to bomb Iran before diplomatic talks have run their course. He also wants Netanyahu to stop, or at least slow, the building of new settlements in Palestinian areas so as to give the peace process a chance. And Obama would like Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas not to report Israel to the International Criminal Court for human-rights violations. “This trip is about managing Middle East problems. It’s not about solving them,” says Haim Malka, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “The President’s broad objectives are to convince the Israeli and Palestinian publics that he’s protecting their interests and preventing their leaders from taking any unilateral steps that would undermine U.S. interests and their own,” Malka says. (MORE: The Secret of the Wonder Weapon That Israel Will Show Off to Obama) For an American President, Obama is unusually unpopular among Israelis: he had a 33% approval rating last year. Which is why instead of speaking to the Israeli parliament, Obama chose to give a speech directly to the Israeli people. “Given this is his first trip to Israel as President, we thought that it was very important for him to speak directly to Israelis about the nature of the friendship between the United States and Israel, and the challenges that we’re faced with,” Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters ahead of the trip. Obama may not change public opinion with a single speech,<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=90747&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Israel</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/foreign-policy-2/israel-foreign-policy/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/pol-obama-trip-130319.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Israel Prepares For President Obama&#039;s Visit</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">jnewtonsmall</media:title>
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		<title>Congress Guns for Iran, While the Administration Focuses on Engagement</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/12/congress-guns-for-iran-while-the-administration-focuses-on-engagement/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/12/congress-guns-for-iran-while-the-administration-focuses-on-engagement/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 12 Mar 2013 21:20:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jay Newton-Small</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=90291</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In a Washington these days characterized by hyper partisanship, the last four years of near unanimous votes on sanctioning Iran has been striking. They have also been a thorn in the Administration’s side. As State Department diplomats try yet again for a breakthrough at talks in Istanbul at the end of the month, two more bills further tightening the restrictions against Iran are in the works on the Hill. At best, Congress plays bad cop to the Administration’s good cop. Negotiators can say their hands are tied, that unless Iran changes its tune there’s little President Obama can to do to stop Congress. At worst, the bills complicate delicate negotiations and goad an already angry regime. While sanctions legislation has been a successful stick, pushing Iran&#8217;s economy to the brink, the Administration has reached a point where its focus is on reaching a diplomatic solution and avoiding a war. Congress wasn’t always so unified on sanctioning Iran. Three separate tracks of Iranian sanctions legislation fell apart in 2007-2008 and as Obama took office in 2009 promising a new era of engagement with Iran, there wasn’t a lot of consensus on how to proceed. Over the course of 2009, Senators Chris Dodd and Evan Bayh, two of the backers of failed 2008 sanctions, picked up the threads of those bills and began to stitch together comprehensive legislation. Throughout the year, the Administration pushed for more time for diplomacy. But by the end of 2009, after the failed Green Movement revolution seemed to dash hopes of direct talks, Congress grew impatient. Bills passed both the House and Senate and in early 2010 even tougher banking and human rights language was added. But still, the administration asked for more time to get a sanctions resolution through the United Nations first. This ended up taking longer than originally anticipated because Lebanon chaired the Security Council at the time and did not want such an anti-Iran resolution passed on their watch. Ultimately, Congress held off and waited until the UN resolution finally went through in June<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=90291&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Iran</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/foreign-policy-2/iran/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/ayatollah-ali-khamenei2-420x0.jpg?w=164</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei</media:title>
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