RFE/RL in the Media
# "The Atlantic" cites Daisy Sindelar's year-ender on "the year LGBT rights went global"
# Design and Trend cites Tom Balmforth report on Steven Seagal's praise for Putin and the FSB
# Dawn uses photo of Afghanistan protest against Pakistan
# Belfast Telegraph uses RFE/RL Ukrainian Service video of protesters blocking Justice Ministry
Ukraine
# Will Russia cut off financial aid? Not yet
# "In Ukraine, Death and Protest Come With a History" - Will Englund, "Washington Post"
# "The Failing Ukrainian State" - Vladimir Rzyhkov, "Moscow Times"
# "To Understand the Ukrainian Protests Look to Russia" - Leonid Ragozin, "New Republic"
Russia
# In curtailed EU-Russia Summit, Putin is not offered dinner
# Russian journalists can't stop dreaming about Putin
# Russia's massive Olympic surveillance effort
# Coco-Cola Sochi promo bans "gay"
# "Putin's Imperial Project Threatens European Values" - James Sherr, "Financial Times"
# Dozhd TV may lose access to cable TV
Eastern Europe
# Finnish media companies reject Belarus visa restrictions against covering non hockey-related stories
# "From Moldova to Palo Alto: Designer Ilie Ciorba of Mixbook" - Bea Karnes, Patch
# Can Moldova stay on the road to Europe?
Middle East
# Syria talks are not going very well
# "Turkey: The Fakir vs. the Pharaoh" - Christopher de Bellaigue, "New York Review of Books"
# Obama's State of the Union leaves many Middle East questions "unanswered"
Afghanistan/Pakistan
# More than half of Afghan army is illiterate, according to an Inspector General report
# Afghanistan withdrawal will be the most complicated logistics operation since WWII
# Karzai believes U.S. is behind some insurgent attacks, including the attack on a Lebanese restaurant
# Pakistan Taliban "back on the offensive"
# Country "on war footing"
Iran
# Iranian lawmakers to visit UK
# "Iran, OPEC and the Future Price of Oil" - Bill Schaller, Brandeis
# Erdogan leading Turkey-Iran trade mission in Tehran
# Would Iran sacrifice Assad for detente with the West?
# Iran and Iraq's "oil revolution" to challenge Saudi Arabia
# Iranian teacher -- and then class -- shaves head to stop bullying
Central Asia
# In Tajikistan, manuscripts that "offend the Tajik people"
# Population of endangered antelope in Kazakhstan has doubled over the last two years, according to environment minister
# Uzbekistan bans private security agencies
Balkans
# Mladic refuses to testify for Karadzic at Hague; calls court Satanic; forgets dentures
# Kosovo Roma family refused return to France
Of Interest
# Google autocomplete map of Europe; Middle East