RFE/RL

Highlights of compelling, original work by RFE/RL journalists this week.

# AZERBAIJAN
Khadija Ismayilova’s dual reports uncover the profitable ties of Azerbaijan’s first family to both the massive Eurovision Hall construction project and a gold mine worth about $2.5 billion

# IRAN
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has apparently become the latest victim of Iran’s Internet censorship regime — to which he himself has given his blessing and approval. Golnaz Esfandiari reports.

# BELARUS
This week, Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka made the unfortunate choice of quoting Russian literary giant Fyodor Dostoyevsky out of context. Richard Solash reports that scholars are not amused.

# RUSSIA
Putin 2.0 is now in charge and in this week’s The Power Vertical podcast, Brian Whitmore’s asks, “Does Putin have a plan?” Meanwhile, Daisy Sindelar explores the clever, strategic, and (shhhhh….quieter) ways protesters have shifted tactics, even while authorities try to “flush them out.”

# PAKISTAN
Daud Khattak examines the destruction of the mausoleum of poet, writer, and nationalist political leader Ajmal Khattak in northern Pakistan, one of a series of attacks by Islamist radicals on a Pakistani cultural figures.

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