Hillary Clinton and the Rise of Smart Power

Hillary Clinton is an expert at deriving maximum benefit from limited power--which means Obama's top diplomat is using a whole new set of tools

Diana Walker for TIME

Clinton aboard a C-17, on her way to meet with rebel leaders in Tripoli.

Libya

Doesn't much look like a rousing red, white and blue win when you see it at street level. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton disembarked from her C-17 Globemaster III in Tripoli on Oct. 18 and was greeted by a ragtag honor guard of victorious rebels in mismatched uniforms who then trailed her through empty, trash-strewn streets, swerving in and out of her motorcade, pointing their AK-47s into the air. At raucous, fly-infested meetings, Clinton pushed rebel leaders to round up the thousands of missing shoulder-launched missiles that pose a lethal threat to every passenger plane in the region. Even the...

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