The Rundown - December 10

News & views on RFE/RL's broadcast region

Afghanistan
#
Robin Wright on the geopolitics of failure in Afghanistan
# Steve Coll, George Packer and Hendrik Hertzberg discuss Afghanistan
# Azeem Ibrahim says any solution must involve the Taliban
# Anatol Lieven & Maleeha Lodhi on a "plan B" for Afghanistan

Pakistan
#
Asif Ali Zardari on repairing the U.S. - Pakistan relationship
# President Zardari has assets of $1.5 billion
# Pakistan has detained 5 Americans on suspicions of terrorism
# Tarek Fatah on the possibility of a military coup in Pakistan

Iran
#
Amnesty International details prisoner abuses in Iran
# Amir Taheri on Iran's democratic movement
# Genieve Abdo on cracks in the Iranian regime
# The U.S. Congress did not act on an Iran sanctions bill

Iraq
#
Ranj Alaadin on political fortitude in iraq
# Nuri al-Maliki fires Baghdad's security chief

Russia
#
Medvedev tells Russian journalists to "tell the truth"...
# ... and hints at softer ties with Georgia
# Simon Shuster on Putin's political aspirations
# Moscow's mayor chastises meteorologists for a snowstorm

Of Interest
#
David Stern on political drama in Moldova
# "Foreign Policy" interviews Vaclav Havel
# Thorbjorn Jagland on a multipolar world

U.S. Politics/Foreign Policy
#
David Ignatius wants some passion from Obama
# Jeff Danziger thinks the U.S. needs to reinstate the draft
# Embassy Row from the "Washington Times"

-- Zach Peterson