The Rundown -- July 12

Egypt

# "Sudden Improvements in Egypt Suggest a Campaign to Undermine Morsi" - Ben Hubbard and David D. Kirkpatrick, “The New York Times”

# A response to the piece above

# U.S. planning on sending fighter jets to Egypt

# Egyptian journalist said to be killed by Army sniper he filmed

# Photos - 1952 coup

NSA

# “Lawmakers say administration’s lack of candor on surveillance weakens oversight” - Peter Wallsten, “The Washington Post”

# Feds not invited to “Defcon” hacker conference this year

Afghanistan/Pakistan

# Khalid Sheikh Mohammed built a vacuum cleaner

# Woman stoned to death for having mobile phone

# Should the UK still be in Afghanistan?

# “Pakistan’s Lahore begins Ramadan fearful of violence” - “AFP”

Russia

# Bill Browder calls posthumous conviction of Magnitsky, “one of the most shameful moments for Russia since the days of Josef Stalin;” NPR on “the strange case”

# Obituary- The man who spent his life chronicling Stalin

# FSB buying up typewriters

# Olga Krause describes her life as a lesbian in Russia

# Putin now more popular in the regions than in Moscow, according to poll

# Peter Pomerantsev on the Navalny case and Russian fairy tales

# Kids take pictures with tigers in Russia

Caucasus

# “How Azerbaijan Is Like 'The Godfather'” - Michael Weiss, “The Atlantic”

Central Asia

# “It’s party-time on spaceship Nursultan” as Astana celebrates 15th anniversary - “The Economist”

Balkans

# Radovan Karadzic war crimes charges reinstated

# Kosovo grants amnesty to minority Serbs who rebelled against new government

# Jay-Z thinks he can do what Marina Abramovic does

Eastern Europe

# “Moldova’s Gray Cardinal” - Dmitri Romanovski, “Transitions Online”

Of Interest

# Saudi princess accused of holding a slave in California

# “The Secret to Finland's Success With Schools, Moms, Kids—and Everything” - Olga Khazan, “The Atlantic”

# “Al Jazeera America: A Unicorn Is Born” - Joe Pompeo, “New York”