The Rundown -- April 2

# Brian Whitmore on Monocle to discuss Russia's role in the Middle East

# Washington Post cites report by Ganjinai Ganj and Farangis Najibullah on sex workers wearing hijabs in Tajikistan

# Moscow Times reprints Carl Schreck's piece on Western scholars being deported

# East Ukraine separatists pay pensions in Russian rubles

# Simon Ostrovsky goes to Ukraine "border" with separatists, where he reports Ukrainian authorities don't allow essential goods through

# New Russian spring offensive "likely"

# Ukraine refuses to extradite Saakashvili

# Russian trawler sinks, leaving at least 54 dead

# World Bank says Russian recession will be longer than expected

# Forty-five percent of Russians polled think Stalin's repressions "justified"

# Greece turning to Russia and China as EU negotiations sour

# Assertive Russia jolts Norway's air defenses into action

# In the 11th hour, Obama ordered negotiators to ignore deadline

# Is the nuclear deal "too big to fail?"

# "Deal or No, Iran Will Remain a Nuclear Threat" - Dennis Ross, Politico

# "Obama's Diplomatic Gamble On Iran Adding Instability In Middle East" - Scott Horsley, NPR

Middle East
# Does IS "want a truce?"

# A snapshot of IS militants' Libyan stronghold

# Yemen disaster "summed up in one depressing tweet"

# NYT reviews books on IS

Afghanistan/Pakistan

# "Karimov's Crumbling Kleptocracy" - Alisher Ilkhamov and Jeff Goldstein, Foreign Affairs