The Rundown -- October 3

RFE/RL in the Media

# Politico and Wired mention RFE/RL as an organization that is still functioning

Middle East

# "The Inside Story Of One Website’s Defense Of Assad" - Rosie Gray and Jessica Testa, Buzzfeed

# "Let Us Treat Patients in Syria" - Gro Harlem Brundtland and Elizaveta Glinka, "New York Review of Books"

# "Hard Truths on Syria from the Clinton Era" - Nancy Soderberg

Iran

# Iranian cyber-warfare commander shot dead

# 230 of 290 parliamentarians sign statement supporting Rohani

# Lithuanian FM says West may allow Iran to continue some uranium enrichment

# New moderate and reformist websites have emerged in Iran

# Iran VP calls for "ping pong diplomacy"

# "US Romance With Iran Terrifies Arab Allies" - Evelyn Gordon, "Commentary"

Iraq

# Nearly 900 civilians killed in September

Afghanistan/Pakistan

# Video: This is Pakistan, it is not Balochistan

# "Pakistan's Terror Capital" - Omar Wareich, "Time"

# Having an abortion in Pakistan

# Security at eastern Afghanistan border highway "deteriorating rapidly"

Russia

# 14 from Greenpeace charged with piracy

# U.S. to overtake Russia as largest oil and gas producer

# Lithuania warns Russia it could cut off access to Kaliningrad

# Lukoil seeking to leave Venezuela project

# Russia's "night wolves"

Eastern Europe

# Ukrainian FM says Europe should look beyond Tymoshenko case

Central Asia

# Kazakhstan lawmaker calls for law banning "homosexual relations"

# China may offer more for Kazakhstan oil

Caucasus

# Azerbaijan opthamologists hold press conference to warn voters about opposition candidate's vision

# Azerbaijan accuses Armenia of resettling Syrian Armenians in Nagorny Karabakh

Of Interest

# Twitter explained through the years in "New York Times"

# Grieving on a jet plane

# The worst passports for travelers