The Rundown - January 13

News & views on RFE's broadcast region

Tucson, Arizona Shooting
# Barack Obama's full remarks yesterday at a memorial service in Tucson

Belarus
# Some EU members think sanctions on Belarus could backfire
# Authorities have intensified scrutiny of Andrei Sannikov
# "Dictator Non Grata" - Editorial, "Financial Times"

Afghanistan
# Germany extended its mandate in Afghanistan for another year
# Ann Jones thinks women should be better included in Afghan civil society

Pakistan
# "Dawn" reports that U.S. patience is wearing thin on a North Waziristan military operation...
# ...While the "Express Tribune" reports that the U.S. is not pushing as hard for the operation
# "The Definition Of Insanity" - Sumit Ganguly & David Fidler, "Foreign Policy"

Iran
# "Iran Nuclear Standoff Heads to a Holding Pattern?" - Tony Karon, "Time"
# "Iran's Nuclear Slowdown" - Editorial, "The Washington Post"

Russia
# Wikileaks cables detail Russia-Norway relations
# The government wants 20% of bureaucrats to learn a foreign language by 2020

Iraq
# Joe Biden made a surprise stop in Iraq

Of Interest
# "A Walled Wide Web for Nervous Autocrats" - Evgeny Morozov, "The Wall Street Journal"
# Stepan Bandera has been stripped of the "Hero of Ukraine" award
# "How To Prevent The Next Wikileaks Dump" - Senators Joe Lieberman & Susan Collins
# "Social Animal" - David Brooks, "The New Yorker"

U.S. Politics/Foreign Policy
# "Your Blackberry Or Your Wife" - Elizabeth Rubenstein, "The Wall Street Journal"
# Christopher Soghoian on the Wikileaks/Twitter/Dept. of Justice case
# "A Fifith Star For David Petraeus" - Hegseth & Zerkle, "The Wall Street Journal"