Some of the most compelling photographs from RFE/RL's broadcast region and beyond for the 28th week of 2013. For more photo galleries, see our "Picture This" --> http://www.rferl.org/archive/rferl-photo-blog/latest/16235/16235.html archive.
Four years and a new office in Paris later, the Ukrainian activist group Femen, which professes to use “sextremism” to fight against patriarchy as manifested by dictatorship, the church, and the sex industry, more closely resembles a girlie show. More flash than substance.
Unlike fully authoritarian regimes like Uzbekistan or North Korea, Azerbaijan does not want to close itself off from the world. So, Sarah Kendzior argues, holding international conferences in places like Baku opens up the possibility of respectful critical dialogue in an environment where dialogue rarely takes place.
It is unlikely that Afghan special-operations soldiers will ever achieve the level of operational proficiency exhibited by their Western advisers. But this is one of the few instances where “Afghan good enough” makes sense, and is not just an excuse for lowered standards of performance.
Questioning the Nobel Peace Prize selection, contributor Tanya Domi asks how -- knowing what happened and did not happen to stop the wars in the Balkans -- the European Union can claim it has carried out an honorable diplomatic and military effort in the Balkans?
The Nobel Committee in Oslo must be inhaling a hallucinogenic drug this morning by awarding the Peace Prize to the EU.
There are two misconceptions about sanctions on Iran and the country’s currency crisis: one, that sanctions are the only cause for the rial’s free-fall in value last week. And two, that sanctions are achieving their strategic objectives.
