RFE/RL in the Media
# Golnaz Esfandiari's recent Iran reporting cited in Democracy Digest and the USC Center on Public Diplomacy
# Joanna Paraszczuk's "Under the Black Flag" blog cited in Al Monitor, International Business Times and NewsMax
# The "Independent" cites RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service on Bishkek's Putin Pub
# Read Golnaz Esfandiari in the "Atlantic" on an artist asking Iranians about their fears
Russia
# U.S. diplomats in Moscow are facing Cold War era harassment ; Moscow denies
# U.S. used 1,000 Nazis during the Cold War
# "Washington Post" editorial: "Vladimir Putin Lays Out a Menacing Choice for the West"
# Russia's Deputy PM Shuvalov reportedly used offshore companies to avoid import tax on $2 million in dacha construction material
# Nordic, Baltic states face 'new normal' of Russian military threat
Ukraine
# Behind the scenes with the Ukrainian fighters at Donetsk airport who are surrounded, but "refuse to give up"
# Still and East-West divide? Hromadske TV attempts to explain the low turnout
# Russia will be recognizing elections in "people's republics"; Kyiv calls decision destructive ; so tensions ratcheted up for gas talks
# "In Divided Ukraine a Border Takes Shape" - James Marson, "Wall Street Journal"
Iraq/Syia
# Vox takes a look at how the advance of IS has been stopped over the past month
# Treasury says IS selling smuggled oil to Turkey and Iraqi Kurds
# IS hostage provides "report" by hostage from Kobane; Daily Beast speculates about whether hostage has Stockholm Syndrome
# Stories from Iraq of people on the run
# How the West buys "conflict antiquities" from Iraq and Syria
Iran
# Reyhaneh Jabbari's heartbreaking last words
# "Economic Pain Looms Large for Iranians in Nuclear Negotiations" - Thomas Erdbrink, "New York Times"
# "Iran's Shadow War in Iraq" - Paul Shinkman, "U.S. News and World Report"
# "A New York Times Correspondent’s Story of Fleeing Iran with Her Family" - Nazila Fathi, "Vogue"
Afghanistan/Pakistan
# Attack punctuates Taliban advances in Kunduz
# Afghanistan draws closer to China
# "Let's learn" from West's institutional failure in Afghanistan
# Burqa Avenger is now trying to fight Polio
# "The Second Funniest Person in the world is Pakistani" - Haroon Rashid, BBC
Balkans
# EU drops sanctions on Milosevic, family and associates
# Opposing nationalists need to reach power sharing agreement in Bosnia
Caucasus
# Crimea-Armenia flight hangs in the air
Of Interest
# A very detailed breakdown of how Snowden communicated in the early days of his leak
# Twitter will soon seem a lot like Facebook