RFE/RL in the Media
# Russia expels RFE/RL adviser and journalist David Satter -- Reported in The Guardian (with video); "New York Times;" Buzzfeed; Time; CNN and other news outlets
# RFE/RL Tajik Service cited in BBC for reporting on bus rap ban in Dushanbe
Iran
# Tehran says there's a secret side deal in the new agreement
# Hard liners offer praise
# "Six Myths About Iran Sanctions" - Suzanne Maloney, Brookings
# "The Ayatollah's Disarming Wit" - Roya Hakakian, "New York Times"
# U.S. "concerned" about Iran-Russia oil for food deal
Iraq
# At least 29 killed in car bombings targeting Shi'ite neighborhoods in Baghdad
# Al-Qaeda's new "poster boy"
# al-Maliki and Moon square off on executions
Afghanistan/Pakistan
# Pentagon to continue air-dropping supplies
# "Afghanistan Stability: A Pipe Dream?" - Michael Kugelman, Al Jazeera
# U.S. still investing in $500 million Afghan dam
# "Afghanistan and the 2014 Syndrome" - Martine van Bijlert, Afghanistan Analysis Network
# "Al Qaeda’s Next Comeback Could Be Afghanistan And Pakistan" - Bruce Riedel, Daily Beast
# Islamization at top public Pakistani university
Russia
# Kerry presents Russian FM with… two potatoes
# "Paleocons for Putin" - James Kirchick, Daily Beast
# Vice doc: "Young and Gay in Putin's Russia"
Caucasus
# Manchester United launches app in Azeri
Central Asia
# Turkmen president reshuffles cabinet
# In Kazakhstan, new ways to "tighten the screws" on newspapers
Balkans
# Macedonia prey to global racket in icon theft
# Kosovo cleared by FIFA for friendly match play
# Turkey won't apologize to Serbia for remarks by Erdogan
Of Interest
# Authoritarian regimes retool their media control strategies