The FPA’s Must Reads (April 12 – April 18)

The Putin Doctrine: Myth, Provocation, Blackmail, or the Real Deal
The American Interest
By Lilia Shevtsova

Lilia Shevtsova’s extremely insightful and articulate analysis demystifies Putin’s strategy and suggests a new way for the West to deal with Russia.

The app men of Odessa
The Verge
By Chris Stokel-Walker

Despite Ukraine’s years of economic stagnation and political turmoil, a few entrepreneurial programmers have managed to build a successful hi-tech business. Chris Stokel-Walker tells the story of how these young men have struggled to set an example for a new modern Ukraine.

Evaporated
Vanity Fair
By James Harkin

James Harkin, himself a seasoned Syria reporter, retraces the steps of two, of more than 60, missing journalists. He reveals a dangerous and complex landscape populated not just by freelance journalists, but by freelance armed extremists.

North Korea’s Marathon: A Rare Chance to Tour Pyongyang on Foot
Mashable
By Jessica Plautz

This year the annual Mangongdae Prize Marathon in Pyongyang, North Korea was open to the first time ever to foreigners. Jessica Plautz talks to the athletes about their fascinating, and seemingly very positive, experiences in the reclusive state.

Hungary’s Cold War battle with polio
Medium
By Penny Bailey

Penny Bailey writes about the drama of a polio outbreak  in the midst of revolution and political turmoil in 1950s Hungary.

Blogs:

Fracking, U.S. Manufacturing, and Putin’s Crimea by Scott Monje
Failure of Imagination – Rumsfeld’s interpretation of American foreign policy by Maxime H.A. Larivé
Was Assad Not Responsible for the Chemical Weapons Attach Last August? by Rachel Avraham
Hagel Feels the Heat in Beijing by Gary Sands
Erdogan stays in control – for now by Scott Bleiweis