The Rundown - February 19

RFE/RL In The Media
# Read RFE/RL In "The Atlantic" on five years of independence for Kosovo
# "NBC" cites RFE/RL reporting on the teddy bear drop in Belarus
# "Foreign Policy" links to RFE/RL reporting on cults of personality

International Press Review

Iran
# Iran rejects calls for it to shut down the Fordow site
# Mahmoud Ahmadinejad continues to get scolded
# TEDx comes to Tehran (not from "The Onion")

Russia
# The Kremlin says a Texas woman killed her adopted Russian child
# The meteorite hunt is on
# Sergei Magnitsky's trial will begin next month
# Meet the Russian Zoroastrian population

Afghanistan
# The Taliban is targeting more women...
# ... and civilian casulaties are down for the first time in six years

Pakistan
# Attacks on Shia Muslims have sparked protest and brought Lashkar-e Jhangvi into focus
# China has been given the contract to operate the Gwadar port

RFE/RL Target Region
# In Iran, an Iran-backed group is reinventing itself as a political movement
# Serzh Sarkisian has been re-elected President of Armenia

Of Interest
# An interview with the head of German intelligence
# "Dissent Is the Health of the Democratic State" - Cosma Shalizi, "Crooked Timber"
# The AP looks at the case against Oscar Pistorius

Science/Tech
# Death by asteroid remains unlikely
# The sun in GIFs

U.S. Politics/Foreign Policy
# "How Obama Can Avert Another Cold War" - Stephen Cohen, "The Washington Post"
# The U.S. has tied several cyber attacks to an obscure group in the Chinese PLA
# Foreign Affairs interviews Stanley McChrystal

http://www.rferl.org/content/rundown-press-review/24906115.html