The Rundown - March 15

News & views on RFE/RL's broadcast region

Sunday Talk Shows
#
The analysis of Shields & Brooks
# Fareed Zakaria interviews Richard Holbrooke
# "Meet the Press" has David Brooks and Thomas Friedman

Pakistan
#
Fareed Zakaria thinks Obama's Pakistan policy has been successful
# H.M. Naqvi reports from Baluchistan
# "In Search of the Real Pakistan" - Amil Khan, "The Guardian"
# "Islam Threatens Pakistan's Survival" - Jaswant Singh, "The Daily Star"
# "Der Spiegel" reports on U.S. drone attacks

Afghanistan
#
Kandahar is reeling after coordinated terrorist attacks over the weekend
# Five myths about the war in Afghanistan
# "The National" on the aftermath of the Marjah campaign

Iran
#
Mojtaba Vahedi thinks the Khamenei-Ahmadinejjad rift is widening
# "10 Practical Steps to Liberty in Iran" - The Heritage Foundation

Iraq
#
Frustration is mounting over the slow vote count in Iraq
# Charles Dunne on Iraq's opportunties
# "Iraq for Iraqis" - David Ignatius, "The Daily Star"

Russia
#
A fake newscast of a Russian invasion sparks panic in Georgia
# Monitors report high voter turnout for Russia's regional elections
# "Kommersant" will start FM radio broadcasts today
# "Perestroika Lost" - Mikhail Gorbachev, "The New York Times"
# Olympic facilities workers in Sochi have not been paid for months

U.S. Politics/Foreign Policy
#
The U.S. State Dept. will do report on its human rights record
# David Rothkopf on the Obama Administration's czars
# Al Kamen's "In the Loop"