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	<title>World &#187; Tony Karon &#124; TIME.com</title>
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		<title>World &#187; Tony Karon &#124; TIME.com</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com</link>
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		<title>U.S. Steps Up Aid, but Syria&#8217;s Rebels Want Arms</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/03/01/u-s-steps-up-aid-but-syrias-rebels-want-arms/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/03/01/u-s-steps-up-aid-but-syrias-rebels-want-arms/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 01 Mar 2013 10:45:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tony Karon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Syria]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[arms]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[assad]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Coalition]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Damascus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[intervention]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iran]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Iraq]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Islamist]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kerry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Khatib]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[opposition]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Qatar]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rebellion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rebels]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Russia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Saudi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Turkey]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[weapons]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=72019</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It should come as no surprise that Syria’s rebels were underwhelmed by Thursday&#8217;s U.S. pledge of $60 million in direct aid: although the announcement by Secretary of State John Kerry in Rome marked Washington’s first direct assistance to the Western-backed opposition coalition and reportedly may be accompanied by nonlethal equipment such as body armor and night-vision gear for rebel forces, the pledges fell short of the rebels&#8217; principal demand: weapons. &#8220;Nothing has changed,&#8221; the Wall Street Journal was told on Thursday by Mohammad Sarmini of the Syrian National Council, the largest bloc in the Western-backed opposition coalition. &#8220;The U.S. position of no arming [the rebels] is crystal clear.&#8221; While Sarmini&#8217;s group had boycotted the Rome meeting at which Kerry spoke in protest at the limited support on offer to the rebels, the Secretary of State had managed to persuade coalition leader Moaz al-Khatib to reverse his own plan to stay away. Still, even al-Khatib, during a media appearance with Kerry, reportedly complained of &#8220;an international decision to prevent arming Syrian rebels with quality arms.&#8221; (MORE: Portrait of a Lady: A Female Syrian Rebel Speaks to TIME) The U.S. has declined to supply the rebels with the heavier weaponry that could help neutralize the regime&#8217;s advantages in air power, armor and artillery, and is widely reported to have also restrained many of its allies from doing so. Still, Saudi Arabia has reportedly recently managed to supply some rebel forces with antitank and antiaircraft missiles, and has openly agitated for the West to do the same. But the Administration sees arming the rebels — a plethora of small armed groups, some of the most effective among them being jihadists, and lacking a single overarching chain of command or political leadership — as a risky bet. Thus Thursday&#8217;s more cautious commitment of assistance to the opposition effort, which Kerry and other Western officials stressed is aimed at forcing the regime to accept a political settlement that would include the ouster of President Bashar Assad. And the U.S. continues to press the opposition coalition to<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=72019&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Syria</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/middle-east/syria/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/79b179159cf54c03a950ac8bed32f370-0-copy.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">tkaron2010</media:title>
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		<title>From Bad to Worse: Economic Woes May Compound Egypt&#8217;s Pain</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/01/29/from-bad-to-worse-economic-woes-may-compound-egypts-pain/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/01/29/from-bad-to-worse-economic-woes-may-compound-egypts-pain/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 29 Jan 2013 10:45:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tony Karon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Egypt]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Middle East]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cairo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[clashes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[football]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[IMF]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Islamist]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[loan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Morsi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mubarak]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Muslim Brotherhood]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[port said]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[protest]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Qatar]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rebellion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Saudi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[soccer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tahrir]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ultras]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[violence]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=65386</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The bad news for Egypt is that the deadly turmoil that has gripped the streets of some of the country&#8217;s main cities since last Friday threatens to grow worse in the months ahead. That&#8217;s because President Mohamed Morsi’s plans to save Egypt&#8217;s sinking economy hinge on a loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund requiring the imposition of tough austerity measures that will further erode the living standards of many of those already calling for his ouster. The latest wave of clashes is fueled by multiple, overlapping political crises: a deep-seated mistrust in post-Mubarak institutions, particularly the judiciary and security services left over from the old regime; the repeated efforts by Morsi&#8217;s Islamists to use (sometimes narrow) victories at the polls as a basis to monopolize power; the inability of the secular opposition to reconcile themselves to the democratic verdict of the electorate and their apparent belief that they can topple Morsi like they did Hosni Mubarak &#8212; by protesting in Tahrir Square; and the violent nihilism of the tribal &#8220;ultras,&#8221; who follow the country&#8217;s various professional soccer teams, as well as that of the masked self-styled anarchists of the Black Bloc that announced itself last Friday in a hail of stones and Molotov cocktails on the fringes of Cairo demonstrations. Each element blames the others, of course, but history&#8217;s verdict may not be kind to a political class engaged in a zero-sum battle for the wheelhouse while the economy is listing badly. (MORE: Revolt of Egypt&#8217;s Canal Cities: An Ill Omen for Morsi) The key lifeline on offer &#8212; a $5 billion loan from the IMF &#8212; can be accessed only on the condition of implementing austerity measures that will bring a sharp spike in the economic pain suffered by millions of impoverished households. It&#8217;s the sort of package most governments would shy away from at the best of political times; Morsi&#8217;s would have to implement it amid a running battle for the streets in some of the cities where such measures will bite hardest and whose working-class residents pride<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=65386&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Egypt</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/middle-east/egypt/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/ap459394410085-copy.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Latest clashes in Cairo</media:title>
		</media:content>

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			<media:title type="html">tkaron2010</media:title>
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	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Iran&#8217;s Agenda: Why Tehran Plays Hard to Get on Nuclear Diplomacy</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/01/24/irans-agenda-why-tehran-plays-hard-to-get-on-nuclear-diplomacy/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/01/24/irans-agenda-why-tehran-plays-hard-to-get-on-nuclear-diplomacy/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 24 Jan 2013 08:00:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tony Karon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[iran]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Middle East]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Benjamin Netanyahu]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bomb]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[diplomacy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[engagement]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[enrichment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Israel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Khamenei]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[negotiations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Netanyahu]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nuclear]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[p5+1]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sanctions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[talks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tehran]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[uranium]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=64172</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8220;A decade of war in now ending,&#8221; President Barack Obama told Americans on Monday, vowing to &#8220;show the courage to try and resolve our differences with other nations peacefully &#8211; not because we are naive about the dangers we face, but because engagement can more durably lift suspicion and fear.&#8221; That was widely taken as a reference to Iran, against which Obama has said he would be willing to order military action should that become necessary to stop Tehran acquiring nuclear weapons. But while the President&#8217;s inaugural speech underscored his preference for diplomacy, prospects for a breakthrough in negotiations with Iran remain gloomy. Indeed, Western diplomats have been struggling, since last December, to even get Tehran even to commit to a time and place for a new round of nuclear talks they had hoped to hold on Jan. 15. &#8220;We proposed concrete dates and a venue in December,&#8221; Reuters was told by Michael Mann, spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton who coordinates negotiations between Iran and the major powers. &#8220;Since then, we have been very surprised to see Iran come back to us again and again with new pre-conditions on the modalities of the talks, for example by changing the venue and delaying their responses.&#8221; Despite Iranians&#8217; suffering under the burden of ever-tightening Western sanctions, analysts believe Tehran has been evading a new round of nuclear talks with the P5+1 — the U.S., Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany — because it believes Western powers don&#8217;t plan to offer substantially more than the package rejected by Iran at the previous round of talks in Moscow last June. (MORE: Five Tips for President Obama on Nuclear Negotiations with Iran) &#8220;There&#8217;s been a gulf between the expectations of the two sides until now,&#8221; says Reza Marashi, a former State Department official now research director at the National Iranian-American Council. &#8220;Iran is demanding an end to sanctions as their starting point without clearly putting concessions of their own over 20% enrichment and the Fordow underground enrichment facility on the table, while the U.S.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=64172&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>iran</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/middle-east/iran/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/iran_nuke_0124.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Iran</media:title>
		</media:content>

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			<media:title type="html">tkaron2010</media:title>
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		<title>Why Afghan Ghosts Haunt France&#8217;s Mali Intervention</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/01/17/why-afghan-ghosts-haunt-frances-mali-intervention/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/01/17/why-afghan-ghosts-haunt-frances-mali-intervention/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 17 Jan 2013 08:00:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tony Karon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mali]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Afghanistan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bamako]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[coup]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ECOWAS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[France]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hollande]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[intervention]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Libya]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mali]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Military]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Qaeda]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Touareg]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[war]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=63917</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Comparisons with Afghanistan are inevitable when any Western country sends its military to war in a Muslim country where al-Qaeda has set up shop — and the comparison may be a particularly uncomfortable one for France’s mission in Mali. French officials initially drew the link themselves, explaining the air campaign and deployment of ground troops that began last week as a way to prevent al-Qaeda from turning a country twice the size of France into a West African equivalent of Afghanistan in the 1990s — a sanctuary and staging ground from which the jihadists projected terror into distant Western capitals. But Paris has just as quickly sought to squelch any association in the mind of its public with the NATO mission in Afghanistan now slowly drawing to an ambiguous conclusion more than 11 years after it began. After all, France withdrew its last combat troops from that mission in November, having lost faith in the coalition&#8217;s exit strategy. The problem facing Paris now is that some of the assumptions of its own exit strategy in Mali may be just as open to question as those that underlie the U.S. exit strategy in Afghanistan. First and foremost is the idea, common to both theaters, that local forces can be quickly stood up to hold the line against the militants. &#8220;Malians remember well that only a few months ago, insurgent forces ejected the army from northern Mali as if they were throwing a drunk from a bar,&#8221; noted Columbia University historian Gregory Mann earlier this week. &#8220;Timbuktu, Gao and Kidal fell in a weekend. The army collapsed, and it has only been weakened by internal fighting since. Any other story is a fairy tale,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Last week&#8217;s Islamist offensive put paid to the argument that the Malian army itself was capable of defending the country from further attack and of liberating territory over which it had lost control.&#8221; (MORE: War in Mali: France Can Bomb Militants, but Not Arms Routes) It&#8217;s precisely that recognition that prompted last week&#8217;s French intervention. If the<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=63917&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Mali</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/africa/mali-africa/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/mali_french_troops_0117.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">French intervention</media:title>
		</media:content>

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			<media:title type="html">tkaron2010</media:title>
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		<title>Jordan Is Living Dangerously as Syria Burns</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/01/16/jordan-is-living-dangerously-as-syria-burns/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/01/16/jordan-is-living-dangerously-as-syria-burns/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 16 Jan 2013 13:00:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tony Karon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Jordan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Middle East]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[amman]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[assad]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bedouin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hashemite]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Islamist]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[jihad]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[King Abdullah]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Muslim Brotherhood]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Palestinian]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[protest]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rebellion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[refugee]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[subsidy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Syria]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tribal]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=62973</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[King Abdullah of Jordan had hoped next week&#8217;s parliamentary elections would be the jewel in the crown of a reform process designed to inoculate the Kingdom from the fever of political rebellion raging across the region. Little chance of that now, with the most popular opposition movement &#8212; the Muslim Brotherhood &#8212; having opted to boycott the poll in protest at the limited powers on offer to the election winners and against electoral laws that considerably diminish the value of urban votes. That&#8217;s bad news for the prospects for stability in a country beset by rising political tensions fueled by economic hardships and in growing danger of infection from the morbid symptoms of the civil war in neighboring Syria. &#8220;Jordan faces growing economic challenges and a political system whose legitimacy is increasingly questioned,&#8221; notes Julien Barnes-Dacey of the European Council on Foreign Relations. &#8220;Add to that the risk of spillover jihadist violence from Syria, as well as the rise of Muslim Brotherhood influence in both Egypt and Syria potentially emboldening Jordan&#8217;s own Brotherhood to articulate more radical demands, and there is some concern of instability in Jordan.&#8221; (MORE: Jordan’s Survival Strategy Hits a Wall: Tightening Funds Make It Hard to Buy Support) The immediate impact of the Syrian conflict on Jordan&#8217;s fragile polity is twofold: the influx of refugees into Jordan and the outflow of jihadists from Jordan into Syria to join the fight. According to U.N. figures, some 183,000 Syrian refugees have already made their way to Jordan, and the real number may already be higher &#8212; and likely to grow while an end to the civil war remains elusive. And even in the misery of the sparse tent camps in which they&#8217;re being forced to endure a brutal winter, those refugees impose a further strain on an economy already struggling to meet its obligations to its base. Tensions are reportedly rising in those camps over lack of food and resources. And the refugee issue carries a political undertone for the tribal Bedouin support base of the Hashemite throne, whose traditional<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=62973&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Jordan</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/middle-east/jordan/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/wor-syria-jordan-0116-130.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">image: Syrian refugees make their way on water and mud, at Zaatari Syrian refugee camp, near the Syrian border in Mafraq, Jordan, Jan. 8, 2013.</media:title>
		</media:content>

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			<media:title type="html">tkaron2010</media:title>
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		<title>The Obama-Karzai Meeting: But Who Really Gets to Decide Afghanistan&#8217;s Future?</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/01/10/the-obama-karzai-meeting-but-who-really-gets-to-decide-afghanistans-future/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/01/10/the-obama-karzai-meeting-but-who-really-gets-to-decide-afghanistans-future/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 10 Jan 2013 13:00:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tony Karon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Afghanistan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Asia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[2014]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[elections]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[insider attacks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[insurgent]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kabul]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Karzai]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[negotiations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[peace]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[surge]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Taliban]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[talks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[troops]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[withdrawal]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=62360</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Presidents Barack Obama and Hamid Karzai meet at the White House on Jan. 11 to discuss the future of Afghanistan beyond the 2014 U.S. troop withdrawal. But neither man will have the last word over the fate of that beleaguered country beyond next year. Karzai, for his part, is constitutionally forbidden to seek re-election when his term expires in 2014. And even if he were to manipulate the political system in order to elevate a proxy figure to rule on his behalf — which his critics suspect he plans to do — his power, limited as it is, has always depended on the presence of tens of thousands of Western troops to fight off his Taliban foes. Those troops are leaving too; the U.S. and its NATO allies have set a hard deadline for ending what had threatened to become an open-ended commitment if withdrawal remained tied to security conditions on the ground. Still, the prospect of their departure is prompting fears that the entire edifice created by the Western alliance over 11 years could collapse — and it obviously further diminishes Washington&#8217;s leverage over Afghan political choices. The U.S. withdrawal plan is based on conditions at home rather than those in Afghanistan. War-weary, cash-strapped Western nations are no longer willing to sustain a counterinsurgency effort that has long been spinning its wheels. Their distaste for the war is reinforced by the 47 attacks by uniformed Afghan personnel that killed more than 60 Western troops last year alone. (MORE: Afghan Troop Numbers: How Low Can the U.S. Go?) The surge ordered by President Obama in 2009 that took U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan to 100,000 has ended — troop levels are back at a presurge 66,000 — without altering the strategic landscape. &#8220;There has been no meaningful military progress since the end of 2010,&#8221; wrote former Pentagon official Anthony Cordesman, now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, in early January. The surge didn&#8217;t achieve its goal of inflicting sufficient hurt on the Taliban to force it to negotiate on<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=62360&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://world.time.com/2013/01/10/the-obama-karzai-meeting-but-who-really-gets-to-decide-afghanistans-future/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Afghanistan</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/asia/afghanistan/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/wp-159249257.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Hamid Karzai</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">tkaron2010</media:title>
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		<title>As Bashar Assad Shows His Defiance, Syria Nears Its Existential Cliff</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/01/06/as-bashar-assad-shows-his-defiance-syria-nears-its-existential-cliff/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/01/06/as-bashar-assad-shows-his-defiance-syria-nears-its-existential-cliff/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 07 Jan 2013 04:59:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tony Karon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Middle East]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Syria]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[alawite]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[assad]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Christian]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[civil war]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Damascus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[jihadist]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[minority]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[National Coalition]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nusra]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Qaeda]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rebel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rebellion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sectarian]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[speech]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sunni]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=61965</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[If the geological metaphor fashionable in Washington these days can be applied in Damascus, then Syria is moving perilously closer toward an existential cliff. President Bashar Assad on Sunday delivered a dramatic aria of defiance from the stage of the Damascus Opera House, rallying his base for a fight to the finish against a 21-month-old rebellion he dismissed as an unholy alliance between the West and al-Qaeda. The hour-long speech offered little hope that Assad might be about to end the civil war that has killed upwards of 60,000 Syrians by heeding the rebels&#8217; central demand: that he step down. Indeed, Assad rejected any negotiations with an opposition he branded &#8220;enemies of God and puppets of the West.&#8221; He would only negotiate, he vowed, &#8220;with the master, not the servants&#8221; — a signal, perhaps, that his real message was directed at Western and regional powers. Condensed to a tweet, such a message might read: &#8220;Aprés moi, le déluge. Accept my terms, or own the consequences of Syria&#8217;s breakup — which we all know you&#8217;re desperate to avoid.&#8221; Assad did, of course, offer settlement terms, but those were not much different from his previous demands: rebels would cease attacks and outsider powers would stop backing them; state control over border crossings (many now in rebel hands) would be restored, and the regime would convene a &#8220;national dialogue conference&#8221; with those who reject violence in order to negotiate a new constitution and open the way for a political transition. Unsurprisingly, his terms were summarily rejected by opposition spokesmen who said the regime had offered no meaningful concessions. The U.S. State Department dismissed Assad&#8217;s proposals as &#8220;detached from reality&#8221; and as &#8220;yet another attempt to cling to power.&#8221; Until now, the opposition has insisted that negotiations are possible only when Assad agrees to go. (PHOTOS: The Victims of Assad: Photographs by Peter Hapak) &#8220;That was not the speech of a man seeking a compromise,&#8221; says Syria expert Joshua Landis of the University of Oklahoma. &#8220;That was the speech of a man who believes his side can<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=61965&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://world.time.com/2013/01/06/as-bashar-assad-shows-his-defiance-syria-nears-its-existential-cliff/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Syria</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/middle-east/syria/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/int-syria-assad-0107.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">image: Rebel fighter sit watching Syrian President Bashar al-Assad making a public address on the state-run Syrian TV in Aleppo, Jan. 6, 2013.</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">tkaron2010</media:title>
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		<title>Syria&#8217;s Rising Death Toll: The Darkness Before the Dawn or Sign of a Grinding Stalemate?</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2013/01/03/syrias-rising-death-toll-the-darkness-before-the-dawn-or-symptom-of-a-grinding-stalemate/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2013/01/03/syrias-rising-death-toll-the-darkness-before-the-dawn-or-symptom-of-a-grinding-stalemate/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 03 Jan 2013 08:00:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tony Karon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Middle East]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Syria]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[alawite]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aleppo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[assad]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Brahimi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[civil war]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[death toll]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FSA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[homs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Moscow]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[negotiation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pillay]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[political solution]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rebel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Russia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sectarian]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[talks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[UN]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=61021</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[At least 60,000 Syrians have been killed in the country&#8217;s civil war since March 2011, U.N. Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay reported Wednesday. Despite that death toll, which Pillay described as &#8220;truly shocking,&#8221; U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi warned last weekend that the increasingly sectarian conflict could claim a further 100,000 lives in the coming year without necessarily producing a decisive outcome. Brahimi warned that the war &#8220;presents a grave danger not only to the Syrian people but to the neighboring countries and the world,&#8221; and he predicted that left unresolved, the conflict would turn Syria into an equivalent of Somalia — a failed state carved into fiefdoms run by local warlords. Those grim assessments by U.N. officials are clearly intended to spur international stakeholders to act more urgently to end the conflict. &#8220;The choice,&#8221; warned Brahimi, &#8220;is between a political solution or of full collapse of the Syrian state,&#8221; adding that &#8220;if the only alternative is really hell or a political process, then all of us should work tirelessly for a political process.&#8221; That&#8217;s what Brahimi himself is tasked with doing, but he is encountering the same problems that bedeviled his predecessor, former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who resigned as Syria peace envoy last year in exasperation at the refusal of the Syrian protagonists and their external backers to make the compromises necessary to stop the war. (PHOTOS: Syria’s Agony: The Photographs That Moved Them Most) A political solution to end the war at this stage — even if it involved democratic elections that would almost certainly result in President Bashar Assad being removed from power — would nonetheless require that the opposition negotiate such a transition with Assad and his regime. That much will remain true until the military tide has turned decisively against the regime, or it faces internal collapse under the weight of military and economic pressure. But the opposition National Coalition formed in November with Western and Arab backing steadfastly refuses to talk to Assad, insisting his ouster is a precondition for negotiations. The rebels and Western analysts advocating for<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=61021&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://world.time.com/2013/01/03/syrias-rising-death-toll-the-darkness-before-the-dawn-or-symptom-of-a-grinding-stalemate/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Syria</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/middle-east/syria/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/int-syria-0102.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">image: Abdlhamid Haj Omar, 70, a father who lost three sons and two grandsons in the ongoing Syrian crisis, prays as he visits their graves at the Martyrs&#039; cemetery in Azaz city, North Aleppo, Dec. 25, 2012.</media:title>
		</media:content>

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			<media:title type="html">tkaron2010</media:title>
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		<title>Assad&#8217;s Roll of the Dice: Is Winter Coming for the Syrian Rebellion?</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2012/12/24/assads-roll-of-the-dice-is-winter-coming-for-the-syrian-rebellion/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2012/12/24/assads-roll-of-the-dice-is-winter-coming-for-the-syrian-rebellion/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 24 Dec 2012 16:59:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tony Karon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Middle East]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Syria]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[alawite]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aleppo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[assad]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Brahimi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bread]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[civil war]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Damascus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Free Syria Army]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iran]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[jihadist]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[National Coalition]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nusrat]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rebels]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[refugee]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Russia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sectarian]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[U.N.]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=59048</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[President Bashar Assad knows his regime can&#8217;t win Syria’s civil war — his foreign minister, Farouk al-Sharaa, admitted as much in an interview published last week by a sympathetic newspaper. But nor does he believe he&#8217;s about to lose what the U.N. last week branded an &#8220;overtly sectarian&#8221; civil war in Syria. Instead, the regime appears to still believe it can fight its opponents to a draw — al-Sharaa called for dialogue and spoke of a compromise solution, but the regime continues to believe it can set favorable terms for a negotiated outcome.  The secret weapon it hopes to use to halt the rebels&#8217; recent momentum? In a word, winter. First, in the literal sense: The onset of a season of bitter cold amid deprivation approaching starvation in some areas is already sapping civilian morale and spurring rising despair in rebel-held territory, and Sunday&#8217;s reports of an air strike on a bakery in a rebel held town affirms the impression that the regime may be systematically targeting bread supplies in those areas to deepen the humanitarian crisis. &#8220;The greatest challenge facing the rebels is providing the basic necessities of life to Syrians living in areas no longer controlled by the state,&#8221; says Joshua Landis, a Syria expert at the University of Oklahoma. &#8220;That&#8217;s why the regime is trying its best to disrupt food supplies in rebel-held areas. It needs them to fail, even to starve while they&#8217;re living under rebel control. The regime can&#8217;t allow the rebels to establish a workable alternative that pays salaries and is able to provide for those in its domain in the way that the state currently serves as the key provider to many millions of Syrians.&#8221; (MORE: Assad’s Cash Problem: Will Syria’s Dwindling Reserves Bring Down the Regime?) But the regime is also hoping that Western fears of a metaphorical &#8220;Islamist Winter&#8221; (following on the &#8220;Arab Spring”), in which Assad is replaced by elements hostile to Western influence and to Syria&#8217;s minorities, will restrain the U.S. and its allies from throwing their full weight behind the rebels.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=59048&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://world.time.com/2012/12/24/assads-roll-of-the-dice-is-winter-coming-for-the-syrian-rebellion/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Syria</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/middle-east/syria/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/2012-12-24t144719z_85090229.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">A Free Syrian Army fighter smokes as he takes a break in Aleppo</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">tkaron2010</media:title>
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		<title>While U.S. Recognizes Syrian Opposition, It Designates One Anti-Assad Group as &#8216;Terrorist&#8217;</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2012/12/11/why-the-u-s-has-designated-one-anti-assad-group-as-terrorist/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2012/12/11/why-the-u-s-has-designated-one-anti-assad-group-as-terrorist/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 11 Dec 2012 19:54:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tony Karon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Middle East]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Syria]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aleppo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[assad]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Free Syrian Army]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Islamist]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[jihadist]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Muslim Brotherhood]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[National Coalition]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nusra]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Qaeda]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Qatar]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rebel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Salafi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sole legitimate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[terrorist]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Turkey]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=58183</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Updated. In Syria’s official parlance, the Sheik Suleiman military base north of Aleppo has fallen to a &#8220;terrorist gang&#8221; — the term President Bashar Assad&#8217;s regime typically uses to describe its armed opponents. But for once, the Obama Administration might be inclined to — at least partially — agree. The rebel group that reportedly led the assault on the sprawling facility was Jabhat al-Nusra, a jihadist outfit designated an &#8220;international terrorist organization&#8221; by the U.S. State Department on Monday. And while the Jabhat al-Nusra front, seen as an offshoot of al-Qaeda in Iraq, remains a minority within the broad ranks of rebel fighters (which include a far wider spectrum of less extreme Islamists), it is an increasingly significant one given the dedication of its members and their willingness to take a leading role in the toughest combat situations. The U.S. decision is intended to isolate extremists elements from the broader rebellion by trying to choke off external support, some of which may be coming from countries allied with Washington, such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and also signaling other rebel groups that the Jabhat al-Nusra front is off limits to those seeking support from Western countries. It has been criticized by other rebel commanders on the ground. The jihadists, however, have proved themselves to be valuable partners in combat despite their embrace of an ideology anathema to most Syrians. Meanwhile, the U.S. has been faulted for failure to arm the uprising. (MORE: Syria&#8217;s Agony: The Photographs That Moved Them the Most) Indeed, the Financial Times reports that even leaders of the moderate U.S.-backed opposition had urged Washington to delay the terrorist designation, arguing that the group&#8217;s place in the rebellion has been secured by the financial and military capabilities it has brought to the front line, and that its influence could only be countered through providing alternative sources of funding and weapons to those fighting on the ground. Rebel commanders last weekend met in Turkey, with Western and Arab officials present, to forge a unified command structure linked with the Western-backed National Coalition forged in Qatar in<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=58183&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Syria</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/middle-east/syria/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/int-syria-nusra-1211.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">image: A Syrian shouts slogans against the regime in front of a flag of the armed Islamic opposition group al-Nusra front during a demonstration in the Bustan al-Qasr neighborhood of Aleppo, Sept. 21, 2012.</media:title>
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		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/9bd886fea2e4b000cf3c42ddaa6be6e4?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2Fs0.wp.com%2Fi%2Fmu.gif&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">tkaron2010</media:title>
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		<title>Is Syria&#8217;s Civil War Entering Its Final Act, or Poised for a New Phase?</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2012/12/06/is-syrias-civil-war-entering-its-final-act-or-poised-for-a-new-phase/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2012/12/06/is-syrias-civil-war-entering-its-final-act-or-poised-for-a-new-phase/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 06 Dec 2012 10:45:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tony Karon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Middle East]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Syria]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[alawite]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[assad]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[chemical weapons]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Libya]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Obama]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[sunni]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=57948</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The stern warnings by President Barack Obama and other U.S. officials this week that Syria&#8216;s President Bashar Assad would face &#8220;consequences&#8221; and be &#8220;held accountable&#8221; for any use of chemical weapons against his own people, has amplified speculation that the country&#8217;s bloody civil war may be entering a terminal phase. After all, the regime is now using air strikes and artillery against insurgent neighborhoods in its own capital,  having lost control of vast swathes of northern and eastern Syria. Assad had refrained from using stocks of weapons of mass destruction over the past 22 months, aware that doing so could force reluctant Western powers to intervene &#8212; and analysts had assumed that he might take such a risk only if he felt the wall at his back. NBC News reported Wednesday that U.S. officials now say chemical munitions are being prepared for use by the Syrian military &#8212; after reporting a day earlier that a senior Pentagon official had said there was &#8220;no evidence yet that the Syrian military has actually begun the process of mixing precursor chemicals to produce deadly Sarin nerve gas.&#8221; Wednesday&#8217;s report suggested the Syrian military was, in fact, mixing precursor chemicals into bombs, but had not yet been ordered to use them. Still, just what such reports might signal about the overall arc of events in Syria is unclear. There&#8217;s no question that rebel forces have made dramatic territorial gains over the past month, with insurgents boosting their artillery and surface-to-air missile capability as they overrun outlying military bases. Two regime aircraft have been downed by SAMs over the past two weeks, suggesting some rebel formations now had some means to defend against air strikes. And the regime&#8217;s increasingly besieged garrison in Aleppo is struggling to hold onto Syria&#8217;s second city, while the rebels have now launched what may be a sustained assault on the capital Damascus. (MORE: Bashar Assad’s Chemical-Weapons’ Calculus) But for all of that writing on the wall, it may yet be premature to suggest that the 22-month civil war that has claimed more than 30,000<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=57948&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://world.time.com/2012/12/06/is-syrias-civil-war-entering-its-final-act-or-poised-for-a-new-phase/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
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	<primary_category>Syria</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/middle-east/syria/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/int-syria-1206.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">image: Abu Firuz, the commander of Liwa Salahadin, a Kurdish military unit fighting along side rebel fighters, watches the besieged district of Karmel al-Jabl in eastern Aleppo, Dec. 6, 2012.</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">tkaron2010</media:title>
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		<title>Why the Military Is Unlikely to Intervene in Egypt&#8217;s Messy Power Struggle</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2012/12/05/why-the-military-is-unlikely-to-intervene-in-egypts-messy-power-struggle/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2012/12/05/why-the-military-is-unlikely-to-intervene-in-egypts-messy-power-struggle/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 05 Dec 2012 08:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tony Karon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Egypt]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mohamed Morsi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Muslim Brotherhood]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=56916</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[If a cabal of Egyptian generals had been planning a coup, their moment to strike should be imminent. Tuesday saw new clashes between police and tens of thousands of antigovernment demonstrators outside Cairo&#8217;s presidential palace as a constitutional deadlock hardened into a not-yet-violent civil war between Islamists and their rivals — and as political camps brought their supporters onto the streets ahead of a Dec. 15 referendum on a controversial draft constitution. The turmoil plays out against the backdrop of an Egyptian &#8220;fiscal cliff&#8221; that urgently demands political stability. Still, even if the current scenario includes conditions similar to those that have preceded coups in unstable societies with powerful militaries, a putsch by Egypt’s generals remains unlikely. &#8220;Remember,&#8221; says Century Foundation analyst Michael Wahid Hanna, &#8220;Egypt&#8217;s military didn&#8217;t enjoy their time at the head of the government after [President Hosni] Mubarak was ousted.&#8221; And while President Mohamed Morsi has antagonized his political opponents with a power grab that has put his decrees beyond judicial restraint, and with an unseemly rush to ram through a constitution critics say opens the way to authoritarian Islamist rule, he has been careful to keep the military onside. &#8220;The military&#8217;s core institutional priorities have been well catered to in the draft constitution,&#8221; notes Hanna. &#8220;Its autonomy from civilian decisionmaking and budgetary oversight has been largely preserved, while the national security establishment has a significant, if not yet clearly defined, role in national-security decisionmaking. The military got a good deal in this constitutional process, and unless their intervention is required to stop Egypt plunging into civil strife, they&#8217;re going to stay on the sidelines. This isn&#8217;t their fight.&#8221; (MORE: Egypt’s Constitutional Endgame: Where Confusion Is the Rule) Instead, it&#8217;s a straightforward political gang war. On the one side stands Morsi and his backers in the Muslim Brotherhood, who rely on their proven ability to trounce their rivals at the polls to impose their will through democratically elected institutions. They see little need to compromise with opponents they accuse of using Mubarak-era institutions to thwart the popular will. Against<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=56916&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Egypt</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/middle-east/egypt/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/157554346.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">image: Protesters run away from tear gas as they try to remove barriers from outside the Egyptian presidential palace&#039;s main gate during a demonstration in Cairo on Dec. 4, 2012.</media:title>
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		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/9bd886fea2e4b000cf3c42ddaa6be6e4?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2Fs0.wp.com%2Fi%2Fmu.gif&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">tkaron2010</media:title>
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		<title>U.N. Recognition of Palestine: What Does It Mean for the Peace Process?</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2012/11/28/palestinians-seek-u-n-recognition-the-peace-process-is-dead-long-live-the-peace-process/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2012/11/28/palestinians-seek-u-n-recognition-the-peace-process-is-dead-long-live-the-peace-process/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 28 Nov 2012 19:55:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tony Karon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Middle East]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Palestine]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=55722</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The U.S. appears to have failed in its effort to persuade Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to withdraw or soften his bid to upgrade the U.N. status of the still-hypothetical state of Palestine. And so, on Thursday, the General Assembly will vote on Abbas&#8217; request for non-member-state status. The U.S. will likely be joined by a handful of Western governments in voting &#8220;no&#8221; on the argument that negotiations with Israel are the only path to Palestinian statehood; more may abstain out of reluctance to be seen saying &#8220;no&#8221; to either side. But Abbas&#8217; request is likely to be granted by an overwhelming majority. Following hard on the heels of the Israel-Hamas cease-fire in Gaza, Thursday&#8217;s events at the U.N. &#8212; even if their impact will likely be mostly symbolic &#8212; will provide further evidence of Washington&#8217;s diminished ability to set the terms for stability in a rapidly-changing Middle East. The longstanding monopoly of the U.S. on the refereeing role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict offered no mechanism for ending the fighting in Gaza and avoiding a deeper and more damaging war, if for no other reason than the fact that it declines engagement with the key Palestinian protagonist in that conflict, Hamas, which it has listed as a terrorist organization. Instead, the U.S. is now essentially sharing mediation duties with the new Muslim Brotherhood-led government of Egypt. The Gaza outcome, widely viewed as favorable to Hamas, left President Abbas on the sidelines. And with his political standing already in steep decline because of Palestinian frustration at the status quo on the West Bank, Abbas has chosen to ignore U.S. entreaties (and threats) by seeking recognition at the U.N. Doing so, says former U.S. Mideast negotiator Robert Malley is &#8220;an act of [political] survival&#8221; for Abbas, calling it &#8220;the most moderate expression of his frustration &#8211; politically, he has no choice.&#8221; Media reports suggesting Israel will refrain from any dramatic &#8220;punishment&#8221; of the Palestinian Authority in response to the U.N. vote suggests an awareness of the dangers that arise if the already beleaguered PA  were to<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=55722&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Palestine</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/middle-east/palestine-middle-east/</primary_category_link>
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			<media:title type="html">tkaron2010</media:title>
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		<title>How the Gaza Truce Makes Egypt&#8217;s Muslim Brotherhood a Peace Player</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2012/11/21/how-the-gaza-truce-makes-egypts-muslim-brotherhood-a-peace-player/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2012/11/21/how-the-gaza-truce-makes-egypts-muslim-brotherhood-a-peace-player/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 21 Nov 2012 20:35:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tony Karon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Egypt]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Middle East]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blockade]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ceasefire]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Clinton]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gaza]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hamas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iran]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Islamic Jihad]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Israel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Muslim Brotherhood]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pillar]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Qatar]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[truce]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Turkey]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=54469</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[When a civilian bus was bombed in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, many feared the incident would derail negotiations for a truce in the latest conflict between Israel and Hamas. That proved not to be the case. The other anxiety was that an Egypt with the Muslim Brotherhood in power would somehow jinx the prospects for peace. That fear proved to be groundless too. Indeed, the government of President Mohamed Morsy took the lead role in brokering the Gaza truce announced in Cairo Wednesday night and will reportedly act as its guarantor. &#8220;It was unknown how Egypt would react,&#8221; Likud party legislator Yohanan Plesner told Britain&#8217;s Telegraph. &#8221;When the moment of truth came, the Egyptian leadership moved responsibly and clearly said they were trying to restore stability.&#8221; Not only that, says analyst Michael Wahid Hanna at the Century Foundation, &#8220;Egypt&#8217;s government has put its own international credibility on the line by effectively undertaking to ensure that Hamas observes the terms of its cease-fire. That&#8217;s a subtle but profoundly important change.&#8221; Egypt&#8217;s Gaza role reflects the emerging contours of a Middle East profoundly changed by the Arab Spring yet still forced to confront decades-old challenges. The essential partnership in tamping down the Gaza violence, notes former U.S. ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk, is the one &#8220;between the United States and Egypt — one using its influence with Israel, the other with Hamas — to put together a cease-fire package as the foundation for a wider resolution of the conflict.&#8221; Although U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton may have played an important part in finessing the deal, Morsy and the Egyptians provide a service Washington cannot in dealing with Gaza. The U.S. is officially sworn to avoid engagement with Hamas, a movement it defines as a terrorist organization. And while Washington has a preferred Palestinian interlocutor — President Mahmoud Abbas, who is based in the West Bank — Abbas has no influence over events in Gaza, where his rivals in Hamas hold sway. And so the Obama Administration turned to Egypt, urging it to<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=54469&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Egypt</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/middle-east/egypt/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/int-gaza-ceasefire-1-1121.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">image: Palestinians celebrate a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Gaza in Gaza City, Nov. 21, 2012.</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">tkaron2010</media:title>
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		<title>Facing Hamas, Israel Rolls the Dice: Will There Be Another Gaza War?</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2012/11/14/facing-hamas-israel-rolls-the-dice-will-there-be-another-gaza-war/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2012/11/14/facing-hamas-israel-rolls-the-dice-will-there-be-another-gaza-war/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 14 Nov 2012 21:29:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tony Karon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[israel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Middle East]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Abbas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[air strike]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Barak]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Egypt]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Election]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gaza]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hamas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Haniyeh]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Israel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jabari]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marzook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[missile]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Morsi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Netanyahu]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Olmert]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Palestinian]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Qatar]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rockets]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Shalit]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Syria]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[war]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=54346</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Updated After several days of Palestinian rocket fire and Israeli air strikes, Israel on Wednesday sharply upped the ante by assassinating Ahmed Jabari, Hamas&#8217; military chief in the strip. Jabari had been the movement&#8217;s point man in negotiating the release of hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners in exchange for freeing abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in late 2011. Israelis in the south of the country had been clamoring for action to stop rocket and mortar fire on their towns emanating from the Gaza Strip. &#8220;Anyone who thinks that he can harm the daily lives of southern residents and not pay a heavy price for it is mistaken,&#8221; Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement. Hamas&#8217; military wing vowed to go to war, warning that Israel had &#8220;opened the gates of hell.&#8221; Hamas militants are expected to retaliate with a fusillade of rockets in the coming days, possibly using some of the longer-range projectiles believed to be in their arsenal. Israel on Wednesday claimed to have destroyed some sites that contained Iranian-made Fajr missiles, believed to be able to reach major cities in central Israel. Those claims cannot yet be verified. Is another Gaza War about to take place? The parallels with the 22-day conflict that began in late December 2008 are startling. Then, as now, an Israeli offensive against Hamas in Gaza started just as the U.S. was heading for a presidential inauguration and Israel was preparing for an election. The short, bloody war was costly for both sides: Hamas suffered hundreds of casualties and considerable infrastructure damage; and the opprobrium for the attack still attaches to the Jewish state. The landscape in late 2012, however, is different. The region has seen dramatic changes over the intervening four years that could make the trajectory of the latest escalation less predictable &#8212; not only for Israel and the U.S., but also for the likes of Egypt, Qatar and Turkey. The cooperation of those three Muslim countries is key to Western objectives in the other factor to be considered these days:<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=54346&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>israel</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/middle-east/israel-middle-east/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/int-gaza-israel-airstrike-1114.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">image: Palestinians extinguish the fire after an Israeli air strike on a car carrying Hamas&#039;s military chief Ahmed Al-Jaabari in Gaza City, Nov. 14, 2012.</media:title>
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		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/9bd886fea2e4b000cf3c42ddaa6be6e4?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2Fs0.wp.com%2Fi%2Fmu.gif&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">tkaron2010</media:title>
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		<title>Jordan&#8217;s Survival Strategy Hits a Wall: Tightening Funds Make It Hard to Buy Support</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2012/11/14/jordans-survival-strategy-hits-a-wall-tightening-funds-make-it-hard-to-buy-support/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2012/11/14/jordans-survival-strategy-hits-a-wall-tightening-funds-make-it-hard-to-buy-support/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 14 Nov 2012 13:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tony Karon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Jordan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Middle East]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Abdullah]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[amman]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bedouin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fuel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hashemite]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Israel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Muslim Brotherhood]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Palestinian]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[protest]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[refugee]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Saudi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[strike]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Syria]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[us]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=54179</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Jordan&#8217;s King Abdullah II and the foreign powers most invested in his political survival will be hoping that his country isn&#8217;t about to demonstrate Trotsky&#8217;s maxim that all revolutions are impossible until they become inevitable. It was hardly Tahrir Square, but the 2,000 or so demonstrators that gathered in the heart of Amman and hundreds more in 12 other cities on Tuesday to protest a series of fuel-price hikes ordered by the government was a sign that the kingdom&#8217;s immunity to the Arab Spring may be ending. Indeed, many of the demonstrators took the unprecedented step of chanting not only for the restoration of fuel subsidies, but for revolution and the downfall of the regime. Publicly criticizing the King is a crime punishable by up to three years imprisonment in Jordan, yet protesters chanted &#8220;Freedom is from God, in spite of you, Abdullah.&#8221; Activists have called a general strike for Wednesday, and regardless of its level of support, the factors driving the growing challenge to the Hashemite throne are products of a deep structural malaise. It may long have been a bedrock of pro-Western, Israel-friendly stability in the Arab world, but the Kingdom of Jordan&#8217;s recipe for domestic political tranquility appears to be unraveling. Amman saw even larger protests last month, as the Muslim Brotherhood&#8216;s Islamic Action Front (IAF) and leftist parties rallied 15,000 demonstrators against the restrictive electoral law governing the Jan. 23 parliamentary elections and the limited powers of the parliament it will choose. While that turnout was smaller than the 50,000 promised, it was nonetheless a significant number in a country of just 6 million that is kept in line by an iron-fisted mukhabarat (internal security service). And protests have continued, fueled by a toxic cocktail of some of the highest unemployment and underemployment rates in the Arab world, declining real incomes and rising inequality, and widespread anger at rampant corruption and heavy-handed authoritarianism. That may sound like a classic prerevolutionary tinderbox, but the regime has long survived by its skillful manipulation through the patronage of deep<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=54179&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Jordan</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/middle-east/jordan/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/2012-11-14t011942z_54277163.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Jordanian policemen stand guard to separate pro-government supporters in Amman.</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/9bd886fea2e4b000cf3c42ddaa6be6e4?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2Fs0.wp.com%2Fi%2Fmu.gif&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">tkaron2010</media:title>
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		<title>Syria&#8217;s Opposition Wins Western Backing, But What About Western Weapons?</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2012/11/13/syrias-new-opposition-wins-western-backing-but-what-about-western-weapons/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2012/11/13/syrias-new-opposition-wins-western-backing-but-what-about-western-weapons/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 13 Nov 2012 10:45:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tony Karon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Middle East]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Syria]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[alawite]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[assad]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[civil war]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[National Council]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Obama]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[rebellion]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[salafist]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=53675</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Syria&#8216;s new opposition leadership structure announced in Qatar on Sunday could mark a turning point in the stalemated 20-month old rebellion against the Assad regime. But it could just as easily prove to be another chimerical Western attempt to stand up a friendly regime for an Arab country in transition. That&#8217;s because the impetus for the new National Coalition for Revolutionary Forces and the Syrian Opposition has come from foreign powers rather than from the grassroots of the rebellion, and its authority on the ground, particularly with the hundreds of autonomous militia groups, is more of an aspiration than an established fact at this stage. &#8220;It&#8217;s obviously a great step forward for the West and the Syrian opposition,&#8221; says Joshua Landis, a Syria specialist at the University of Oklahoma. &#8220;This group has great purchase among upper-class urban Sunnis, particularly those who have spent a lot of time in the West. But the key question will be whether or not it is able to unify rebel military groups on the ground, which haven&#8217;t been particularly involved in this process.&#8221; (PHOTOS: Syria’s Year of Chaos and Photos of a Slow-Motion War) The National Coalition is a product of Western and Arab backers &#8212; exasperated by the failure of their previous favorite, the Syrian National Council, to overcome crippling factional disputes, much less establish any traction on the ground &#8212; twisting the arms of exile-based opposition groups to accept a new, more representative leadership structure as the condition for continued foreign backing. The Gulf Cooperation Council, representing Saudi Arabia, Qatar and four of their neighbors, on Monday recognized the new group as &#8220;the legitimate representative of the Syrian people.&#8221; The new opposition group, which includes leadership spots reserved for minorities and for representatives of provincial revolutionary committees on the ground, expects immediate recognition as the legitimate government of Syria, and also military assistance to rebel fighters. But before the U.S. and other Western powers follow the lead of the Saudis and Qataris, they may expect the new group to provide credible evidence of<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=53675&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Syria</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/middle-east/syria/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/syria_weapons_1113.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Free Syria Army</media:title>
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		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/9bd886fea2e4b000cf3c42ddaa6be6e4?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2Fs0.wp.com%2Fi%2Fmu.gif&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">tkaron2010</media:title>
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		<title>Syria Opposition Factions Balk at U.S.-Backed Unity Plan, But Keep Talking</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2012/11/09/syria-opposition-factions-balk-at-u-s-backed-unity-plan-but-keep-talking/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2012/11/09/syria-opposition-factions-balk-at-u-s-backed-unity-plan-but-keep-talking/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 09 Nov 2012 11:30:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tony Karon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Middle East]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Syria]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aleppo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[assad]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Doha]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Muslim Brotherhood]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[National Initiative]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[opposition]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Qatar]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rebellion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Robert Ford]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Saudi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Syrian National Council]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Turkey]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=53359</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The clamor by Britain, France, Turkey and Arab powers for the U.S. to help provide more direct and even military support to Syria&#8216;s rebellion only becomes a dilemma for the Obama Administration if the fractious Syrian opposition is united under a single leadership acceptable to the West. Without a credible address through which greater support could be channeled, it remains a non-starter—and some 20 months into a civil war that has claimed more than 20,000 lives, Syria&#8217;s opposition remains politically fragmented, while the armed insurgency is waged by scores of disparate and localized fighting groups. Thus the effort, still underway Friday in Qatar&#8217;s capital, Doha, to forge a new leadership body uniting the forces most active on the ground in the political and military struggle behind a moderate political consensus. Predictably, perhaps, that goal is proving elusive after a week&#8217;s worth of talks. A plan backed by the U.S. would see the exile-based Syrian National Council—which Western powers had once hoped to recognize as a government-in-exile in order to provide stepped-up assistance, but has proven entirely ineffective and unable to provide leadership on the ground—folded into and superseded by a larger Syrian National Initiative. In this broader decision-making body, the SNC would be given less than half of the seats, the rest going to representatives of activists on the ground, other dissident groups, and minority communities. Once it proved itself, the body would win recognition as a government-in-exile, through which foreign powers would provide aid. Funneling weapons for the rebels through such an authority would give it more effective control of the plethora of armed groups currently fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a number of which are hostile to U.S. interests in the region. Syrian opposition supporters also hope a representative leadership would get a more positive response to calls for foreign military intervention in the form of a no-fly zone and similar initiatives to protect rebel gains as NATO had achieved in Libya. (PHOTOS: Syria’s Slow-Motion, Bloody Civil War) Western backers also see the plan as a hedge against more extreme<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=53359&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Syria</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/middle-east/syria/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/syrian_national_council_1109.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Syrian National Council</media:title>
		</media:content>

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			<media:title type="html">tkaron2010</media:title>
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		<title>What Should the Middle East Expect from Obama&#8217;s Second Term?</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2012/11/07/what-should-the-middle-east-expect-from-obamas-second-term/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2012/11/07/what-should-the-middle-east-expect-from-obamas-second-term/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 08 Nov 2012 04:36:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tony Karon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[U.S.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Abbas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Afghanistan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[asia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Election]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Foreign Policy]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Israel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Khamenei]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Middle East]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Netanyahu]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Palestinian]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[putin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Russia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Syria]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[UN]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=52930</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8220;This is my last election,&#8221; President Barack Obama told then Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in comments picked up by a mike in Seoul last March. &#8220;After my election, I have more flexibility.&#8221; Obama was referring to Moscow&#8216;s ire at the planned deployment of U.S. missile interceptors (ostensibly defending against Iran) on Russia&#8217;s doorstep. Were he to reach an accommodation with the Russians, Obama would enhance prospects for winning Moscow&#8217;s cooperation on a number of Administration foreign policy priorities, ranging from arms control and addressing the Iranian nuclear standoff to ending Syria&#8217;s increasingly dangerous civil war. Some even suggest that the flexibility Obama has gained by winning his last election might tempt President Obama to seek to build his legacy in foreign policy — particularly if renewed partisan gridlock on Capitol Hill stymies substantial domestic achievement. But Obama is President of an America whose global leverage and influence have declined sharply since the end of the Cold War, a decline accelerated by the deep crisis facing the American economy and by the failure of military force to impose the U.S.&#8217;s will in two major wars over the past decade. As a result, Obama&#8217;s foreign policy has been less about any grand strategy than about managing crises in the Middle East and disentangling the U.S. from the expeditionary wars of the Bush era. (MORE: Five countries where the U.S. election matters most) Obama&#8217;s initial ambition to jump-start the faltering Israeli-Palestinian peace process floundered and with it his efforts to rebuild relations with the Muslim world. His Administration&#8217;s attempted &#8220;reset&#8221; with Russia too was essentially stillborn, while its &#8220;pivot to Asia&#8221; has been more a feature of rhetoric than a measurable strategic shift. Rather than set the agenda, Obama has largely found himself forced to react to crises in the Middle East and the Afghanistan-Pakistan sphere, managing the challenges of extricating U.S. troops from the Hindu Kush and relying on drone strikes to kill off the U.S.&#8217;s enemies there and also in Yemen; averting the dangers posed by the standoff over Iran&#8217;s nuclear program by building sanctions<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=52930&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>U.S.</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/u-s/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/int-obama-reelection-world-1107.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">image: A barber watches the results of the U.S. presidential election in Istanbul, Nov. 7, 2012.</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">tkaron2010</media:title>
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		<title>Five Countries Where the U.S. Election Matters Most</title>
		<link>http://world.time.com/2012/11/05/five-countries-where-americans-choice-matters-most/</link>
		<comments>http://world.time.com/2012/11/05/five-countries-where-americans-choice-matters-most/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 05 Nov 2012 10:45:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tony Karon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[U.S.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Arctic]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[France]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Global Warming]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hollande]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Israel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Merkel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mexico]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Romney]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Russia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sandy]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[us]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://world.time.com/?p=52715</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Superbarrio Gómez ran the most underreported campaign of the 1996 U.S. presidential election. The masked Mexican wrestler turned social activist showed up in New Hampshire during the primary season and declared himself a &#8220;candidate&#8221; even though his foreign citizenship rendered him ineligible. Decisions affecting the lives of Mexicans are made in the White House, he reasoned, so Mexicans should have a say in choosing its occupant. It&#8217;s a sentiment that&#8217;s widely shared: two-thirds of the 26,000 respondents from 32 countries in a recent poll believe that the White House has an important impact on their lives, and for that reason, almost half believe they should have a vote in the U.S. presidential election. (If they did, President Barack Obama would be a shoo-in, according to almost every poll.) The level of interest in this U.S. election, however, is considerably lower than that of 2008. One reason for this may be that any global citizen tuning in to the campaign&#8217;s foreign policy debate would have struggled to find substantial differences between what Governor Mitt Romney advocated and what the White House is doing. There is also a growing sense of the relative decline of U.S. global power. The U.S. remains the world&#8217;s most militarily powerful country and its largest economy, but its ability to shape economic and geopolitical events in distant climes has steadily declined over the past decade &#8212; whether it&#8217;s Afghanistan or Iraq, the rapidly changing Arab world or Europe&#8217;s debt crisis, Washington struggles to impose its will. That said, the Oval Office remains the world&#8217;s strongest single center of power, and the outcome of Tuesday&#8217;s vote will be closely watched. Here are five places where the stakes are particularly high: 1. Syria: Breaking a Stalemate? Syria&#8217;s civil war has killed upwards of 20,000 people, but the country remains locked in an effective stalemate: the regime of President Bashar Assad is unable to destroy the rebels, and the rebels are unable to destroy the regime. Given the sectarian stakes and the danger of igniting a wider regional conflict, as well as<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=world.time.com&#038;blog=19871253&#038;post=52715&#038;subd=timeglobalspin&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>U.S.</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://world.time.com/category/u-s/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/americans_choice_1105.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Obama and Romney</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">tkaron2010</media:title>
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