The Rundown - April 19

News & views on RFE/RL's broadcast region

Sunday Talk Shows

# "This Week" interviews Bill Clinton
# The analysis of Shields and Brooks
# "Face the Nation interviews Scott Brown

Afghanistan
# Mullah Omar says he is open to "honest talks" with Western powers in Afghanistan
# "The Washington Post" reports on family blood feuds in Afghanistan
# The row over Hamid Karzai's handling of the electoral committee continues

Pakistan
# "Nuclear Manoeurves" - Cyril Almeida, "Dawn"
# Officials named in the UN's Benazir Bhutto report have been suspended

Iran
# "Haystack" software is helping Iran's web activists
# Abbas Milani remembers Ayatollah Montazeri
# "Tehran: Twinned with Jerusalem?" - Mahmood Delkhasteh, "The Guardian"

Russia

# "The New York Times" on Russian soft power in Kyrgyzstan
# "Kremlin Pulls PR Coup After Kyrgyz Revolution" - Vladimir Frolov, "The Moscow Times"
# "Lenin's Scent Lingers" - Alexei Bayer, "The Moscow Times"

Iraq
# A secret prison for Sunnis has been found in Baghdad
# "The National" reports on Iraq-Syria relations

Of Interest
# David Ignatius on promoting press freedom
# Nathan Fick on America's "Facebook Nation"
# "From Ukraine With Baggage" - Damon Wilson, "Foreign Policy"
# "Is Internet Civility an Oxymoron?" - L. Gordon Crovitz, "The Wall Street Journal"
# "Any Faith Can Become Violent" - Philip Jenkins, "USA Today"

U.S. Politics/Foreign Policy
# Robert Gates pushes back against reports about his views on Obama's Iran policy
# Hendrick Hertzberg on Obama's last month
# Al Kamen's "In the Loop"