The Rundown -- August 25

# Two book reviews and an article about Abubakar Siddique’s book, "The Pashtuns," in GulfNews (review; article) and Dawn

# RFE/RL Turkmen Service mentioned in "Financial Times" piece about Turkmenistan's authoritarianism

# "Moscow Times" opinion piece says RFE/RL and VOA have done little to sway public opinion

# "New York Times" mentions RFE/RL past broadcasts in story on tensions with Russians in Latvia

# On Independence Day, separatists march hostages through Donetsk streets

# Donbas battalion abandoned in the east

# Ukraine says trucks from "aid convoy" were used to loot high-grade military equipment

# Inside besieged Luhansk

# "Russia won’t feel absolutely secure unless all its neighbors feel absolutely insecure"

# Russia sanctions hurting British dairy farmers

# "Russia Pines for the 19th Century" - Alex Bayer, "Moscow Times"

# China hosts largest ever military drill with Russia

Iraq/Syria

# Iran says it shot down Israeli drone

# Iran unveils new short-range missiles

# Worst fighting in years in southern Afghanistan district

# Does Afghanistan need a unity government?

# Abdullah on Hard Talk

# Khan stirs fears of crisis

# Pakistan's largest city thirsts for a water supply

# Tony Blair gives Kazakhstan’s autocratic president "tips on how to defend a massacre"

# The women Tajikistan's Russia-bound men leave behind

# Is Macedonia going neo-classical or kitsch?

# The Palestinian "Gandhi"

# Using interactives in newsrooms

# How we've paid for music from 1983 to today in one gif