The Rundown -- August 8

# Huffington Post France quotes RFE/RL Russian Service interview with former prisoner of separatists

# In interview in "Diplomat," author cites reporting by RFE/RL in Pakistan

# Business Insider cites explainer on Nagorno-Karabakh by Carl Schreck and Luke Johnson

# Read Daud Khattak in Foreign Policy on North Waziristan operation

# RFE/RL Ukrainian Service video of dolphins forced from Donetsk used by NowThis

# Obama approves limited airstrikes, food drops, in Iraq

# "Obama, With Reluctance, Returns to Action in Iraq" - Peter Baker, "New York Times"

# "Why Obama just authorized air strikes on ISIS in Iraq" - Zack Beauchamp, Vox

# The "maddening" situation for Iraqis desperate to get U.S. visas

Ukraine

# Moscow bans Western foodstuffs and threatens more sanctions to come

# "Russia’s Empty Shelves Won’t Just Hurt the Cheese-Eating Moscow Crowd" - Natalia Antonova, "Guardian"

# "Why the Kremlin Is Betting on Escalation and Isolation" - Joshua Yaffa, "Foreign Affairs"

# "Putin Hits Tipping Point as Ukraine Tightens Rebel Noose" - Bloomberg

# Snowden given three more years in Russia

# Top U.S. official warns that Russia-Iran deal could threaten nuclear negotiations

# "Sorry, Skeptics: The Iran Nuclear Deal Is Working" - Greg Thielmann, The National Interest

# Can Iran have -- and does it want -- a genuine thawing with the West?

# Kerry makes unannounced visit to press compromise

# Taliban taking advantage of Afghanistan political paralysis

# Pakistan arrests activists ahead of planned political rally

# "A Bubble Called Pakistan" - Husain Haqqani, Indian Express

# Azerbaijan's "alarming" human rights situation