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Behold, the superior negotiating powers of President Barack Obama: State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki repeatedly refused to answer questions this afternoon about the 53 political detainees Cuba promised to release as part of a deal with President Obama to normalize relations with the United States.When asked about a lack of transparency in the prisoner exchange process, Psaki said, “Well, we know who’s on there. And the Cuban government knows who’s on there.” …After Psaki stated that she had no updates to provide, a befuddled Matt Lee asked, “Hold on — hold on a second. Can we — I mean,...

A visit to Turkey by Hamas’ top leader and his participation in a convention of the ruling Islamist party is the latest sign that Turkey, a member of NATO, is becoming the key sponsor and ally of a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization. Khaled Meshaal met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday, before making a guest appearance at a weekend regional congress of the Justice and Development Party (AKP). Welcomed onto the platform by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Meshaal received an enthusiastic reception. He endorsed Erdogan and Davutoglu by name, and expressed the hope that together Hamas and Turkey...

Government employees can enjoy luxurious overseas business trips on the taxpayer’s dime thanks to generous foreign per diem rates established by the State Department. Per diem rates include the cost of lodging, meals and incidental expenses that the government is willing to give civilian federal employees for their official foreign travel. The rates are meant to cover lodging at “adequate, suitable and moderately-priced facilities” and meals at “facilities typically used by employees at that location,” according to the State Department's office of allowances. All federal employees traveling to foreign countries on official business can get reimbursements from the government at...

Foreign Policy article examines number of times state department referred to "unacceptable" behavior this year; Israel ranked between North Korea and Pakistan. The US State Department described Israeli actions as "unacceptable" 87 times in 2014, with only three countries being more "unacceptable," according to a Foreign Policy article published last week. Journalist Micah Zenko searched the State Department's website for usage of the term, and his "top ten" list shows Israel sandwiched right between North Korea and Pakistan. Zenko pointed that the US officials regularly use the phrase "but then do very little in response to prevent or deter those...

The announcement, released by the State Department Friday, advises citizens to be "extra cautious, maintain a very high level of vigilance, and take appropriate steps to enhance their personal security." The warning comes following the Dec. 15 lone wolf attacks in Sydney, Australia this week in which two people died.

Matt Lee @APDiploWriter Follow "Reports we might be contemplating sanctions against #Israel (re settlements) completely unfounded & without merit," per @statedeptspox. 11:06 AM - 8 Dec 2014

Sen. John McCain is blocking the confirmation of President Barack Obama’s nominee to be America’s second-highest ranked diplomat. McCain says Tony Blinken, Obama’s deputy national security adviser, is “totally unqualified” to serve as Secretary of State John Kerry’s understudy. …

A State Department spokesman said Monday the administration was seeking clarity from the United Arab Emirates over its decision to list two American Muslim groups as terrorist organizations. Spokesman Jeff Rathke seemed unaware that one of the two groups, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), has long been engaged in outreach programs with the U.S. government. CAIR and MAS have expressed shock at the move, with MAS saying it would look to the U.S. government to help. “The State Department works...with CAIR all the time, no?” a reporter asked. “I mean, there’s all sorts of outreach programs between the government...

Energy Transport: New data show fast-rising rail shipments from North Dakota's Bakken shale formation and the need for a safer alternative to rail — like the Keystone XL pipeline. In his post-election press conference, the president noted in justifying his continual kicking of the Keystone XL oil drum down the road that "while this debate about Canadian oil has been raging ... we've seen some of the biggest increases in American oil production and natural gas production in our history." That increase is due in large part to oil recovered from the Bakken shale formation centered on North Dakota. So...

A veteran State Department diplomat and longtime Pakistan expert is under federal investigation as part of a counterintelligence probe and has had her security clearances withdrawn, according to U.S. officials. The FBI searched the Northwest Washington home of Robin L. Raphel last month, and her State Department office was also examined and sealed, officials said. Raphel, a fixture in Washington’s diplomatic and think-tank circles, was placed on administrative leave last month, and her contract with the State Department was allowed to expire this week. Two U.S. officials described the investigation as a counterintelligence matter, which typically involves allegations of spying...

So here’s the big symbolic “screw you, Chris Christie” press conference that I thought was going to happen yesterday. Christie wants mandatory precautionary quarantines of health-care workers returning from the hot zone, so Obama’s going to show him what a hysterical overreaction that is by appearing personally with some of those workers. Who, by the way, are currently still in the incubation period. “What about science?” wondered Noah on Twitter. Just learned returning health workers that just met with President @BarackObama still within 21 day monitoring period for #ebola— Dr. Sanjay Gupta (@drsanjaygupta) October 29, 2014 Explain this to me....

(VIDEO-AT-LINK) A memo obtained by Fox News indicates the Obama administration has been considering allowing non-American Ebola patients into the U.S. for treatment – though a State Department official on Tuesday denied any such plans. The document was obtained by Fox News from a Capitol Hill source, who said it is a memo prepared by the State Department. The top of the document is marked “sensitive but unclassified – predesicional (sic).” CLICK TO READ THE MEMO The “purpose” of the memo states: “Come to an agreed State Department position on the extent to which non-U.S. citizens will be admitted to...

Stephen DinanThe Washington TimesOctober 28, 2014 The State Department has quietly made plans to bring Ebola-infected doctors and medical aides to the U.S. for treatment, according to an internal department document that argued the only way to get other countries to send medical teams to West Africa is to promise the U.S. will be the world’s medical backstop. Some countries “are implicitly or explicitly waiting for medevac assurances” before they will agree to send their own medical teams to join U.S. and U.N. aid workers on the ground, the State Department argues in the undated four-page memo, which was reviewed...

Fox News obtained a State Department memo today that reportedly details a plan to bring Ebola patients from Africa into the United States for treatment. Last night Republican Congressman Bob Goodlatte claimed there was “increasing evidence” that the White House has been making such plans, before anything was actually confirmed. According to Fox correspondent Mike Emanuel, this internal memo they obtained was marked sensitive but unclassified, and goes over a proposal to determine whether the U.S. should accept non-citizens for Ebola treatment. And what they recommend is that there should be medical evacuation for eligible non-citizens, and the State Department...

Russia is the target of a global plot orchestrated by the United States and involving fighters from the self-styled Islamic State (IS) and nationalist Ukrainian troops - that is the latest conspiracy theory broadcast on Russian state TV. "America is everywhere, the West is everywhere, Nato is everywhere. Everything is organised against Russia," the veteran Russian nationalist MP Vladimir Zhirinovsky railed during a talk show on Channel One, Russia's most popular TV station. There was a "certain link", he hinted, between Ukrainian troops "raiding our western regions" and IS, which he said was being armed by the US. Joining the...

Recent revelations of significant financial ties between the Brookings Institution and Qatar’s government are raising new questions about the policy positions of the influential Washington think tank—including one top scholar’s writings about an al Qaeda-linked group, known as Ahrar al-Sham, that is funded by a terrorist financier linked to the Qatari royal family.The New York Times reported earlier this month that Qatar has pledged a $14.8 million, four-year donation to Brookings, making it the “single biggest foreign donor” to the think tank. That money will help finance Brookings’ Doha Center in Qatar and its project on U.S. relations with the...

The family of Glen Doherty, one of the two Marine SEAL contractors killed in the 2012 Benghazi attack, are taking matters into their own hands and suing the CIA and the State Department for $1 million each, according to The Washington Times. Three other Americans were killed in the attack, including the U.S. Ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, Foreign Service Officer Sean Smith, and CIA contractor and former SEAL Tyrone Woods.

A State Department whistleblower has come forward to say the details of a former colleague’s account of the sifting of Benghazi-related documents to identify damaging material “ring true.” The Daily Signal reported Monday on Raymond Maxwell, a former deputy assistant secretary at the State Department who says he observed an unusual after-hours session in a basement operations room of the agency’s headquarters in Washington in October 2012. Maxwell said a State Department office director told him those present were ordered to separate out any documents related to the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attacks on Americans in Benghazi that could prove...

If, when in February Victoria Nuland infamously launched a (not so) covert campaign to replace the ruling Ukraine president oblivious to the human casualties, resulting in a civil war in east Ukraine, NATO encroachment along the borders of Russia, and a near-terminal escalation in hostilities between Ukraine, Russian, and various regional NATO members, the US intention was to provoke the Kremlin so hard that the nation with the world's largest reserves of mineral and energy resources would jettison the US Dollar and in the process begin the unraveling of the USD reserve currency status (as much as Jared Bernstein desires...

An undisclosed number of people who’ve been exposed to the Ebola virus — not just the four patients publicly identified with diagnosed cases — have been evacuated to the U.S. by an air ambulance company contracted by the State Department. “We moved a lot of other people who had an exposure event,” said Dent Thompson, vice president of Phoenix Air Group. “Many times these people are just fine, they just had an exposure. But you have to treat it as though the disease is present.” How many exposed patients have been flown from West Africa to the U.S.? Thompson said...