The Rundown - August 20

News & views on RFE/RL's broadcast region

Pakistan
# The "PBS Newshour" interviews Richard Holbrooke
# "Why Doesn't The World Care About Pakistanis?" - Mosharraf Zaidi, "Foreign Policy"
# "The Politics of Floods" - Steve Coll, "The New Yorker"
# "The Tide of Failure" - Cyril Almeida, "Dawn"

Afghanistan
# "The New York Times" interviews Afghanistan's new intelligence chief
# "Afghanistan Needs A Walter Cronkite" - Al Neuharth, "USA Today"

Iraq
# "The Beginning Of The End" - John Negroponte, "Foreign Policy"
# Roula Khalaf on Iraqi politicians taking reponsibility for their country
# "The National" reports on political deadlock in Iraq
# "Winning The Peace In Iraq" - Max Boot, "The Wall Street Journal"

Russia
# "Sleeping Giant" - Masha Lipman, "Foreign Policy"
# "5 Barriers To A Western Partnership" - Yevgeny Bazhanov, "Moscow Times"
# Descendants of the Rurik dynasty want their land back, including the Kremlin

Iran
# The U.S. has reportedly assured Israel that Iran is not an imminent threat
# The "Christian Science Monitor" on the Bushehr nuclear facility
# "Bombs Of August" - David Kay, "National Interest"

U.S. Politics/Foreign Policy
# RFE/RL interviews Senator John Kerry in Afghanistan
# "The Next Muslim Controversy" - Reza Aslan, "The Daily Beast"
# Stephen Rademaker sees no room for improvement on the START Treaty

From the Blogs
# Flynt Leverett and Reuel Marc Gerecht debate Iran's nuclear program
# "The Economist" on journalism warning labels
# Willis Sparks on "Vladimir Putin: Superstar"