RFE/RL in the Media
# CPJ cites RFE/RL Azerbaijani Service on another journalist arrest
Russia
# Czech intelligence accuses its politicians of being soft on Russia
# "Putin’s Moscow is Anxious, Gilded and Hollow" - Lucian Kim Reuters
# Beware the share button in Russia
# FIFA places Crimea on map of Russia
# "Time" exclusive: Putin's Secret Agents
Ukraine
# Ukraine and Russia reach gas agreement
# Some 64 supporters of "dictator laws" return to parliament; and Moscow not happy with negative disposition toward them
# "After Ukraine Vote, a New Test: Burying a Legacy of Dysfunctional Politics" - David Herszenhorn, "New York Times"
# "Eastern Ukraine's Fake State is About to Elect a Fake Prime Minister" - Lily Hyde, Foreign Policy
Iraq/Syria/Turkey
# Is the U.S-Turkey alliance crumbling?
# IS destroys important 11th century shrine
# Survivors describe massacre of 600 prisoners in Mosul
Iran
# "The Revolution is Over" - "Economist"
# Does Israeli Iran policy threaten the "special relationship" with the U.S.?
# The recent uptick in hostility towards women in Iran could be directed at Rohani
Afghanistan/Pakistan
# Afghanistan "going off the rails" as U.S. withdraws
# Pakistan province rewrites text books to satisfy Islamic conservatives
# "Behind India's Pakistan Quandary" - Sharat Sabharwal, The Hindu
Caucasus
# Exotic zoos -- the new status symbol for Armenia's elite
Central Asia
# Turkmenistan reportedly suffering gas shortages
Of Interest