The Rundown - February 25

News & views on RFE/RL's broadcast region

Afghanistan
#
Terry Glavin sits down with Berhanuddin Rabbani
# Pakistan will extradite Mullah Baradar to Kabul
# Andrew Exum on limiting civilian casualties
# Christopher Chivvis bemoans the ineffectiveness of European nation-builders

Pakistan
#
Pakistan says it has arrested half of the Afghan Taliban leadership
# Imtiaz Gul thinks the U.S. and Pakistan may finally be able to trust each other
# "The New York Times" reports on cautious cooperation between the U.S. and Pakistan
# Pakistan and India are holding their first high-level meetings since 2008

Iran
#
Iran will make a movie about the arrest of Abdolmalek Rigi
# Reza Zia-Ebrahimi thinks Iran needs broadband
# Matthew Kuntzel on German businesses operating in Iran

Russia
#
"Global Post" on being an African in Russia
# Vladimir Ryzhkov on the demise of Russian science and innovation

Iraq
#
Ayad Allawi warns of sectarianism in Iraq
# Anthony Shadid reports from Nasiriya
# David Ignatius on Iranian influence in Iraq

RFE/RL Broadcast Region
#
"The New York Times" editorializes on Europe's security future
# Timothy Snyder on the status in Ukraine of Stepan Bandera
# George Hewitt thinks Georgia's plan to reintegrate Abkhazia and South Ossetia will fail

U.S. Politics
#
James Traub wonders if Obama has a freedom agenda
# Alexei Bayer thinks the U.S. needs a rival to counter-balance its influence
# Piers Brendon does not think the U.S. "empire" is in danger of collapse
# David Rittgers defends drone attacks in some instances
# Al Kamen's "In the Loop"