NYT Magazine contributing writer Elizabeth Rubin spent some time with the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team in the Korengal Valley, located in Afghanistan's Kunar province. She found a place where -- from my reading -- a My Lai-like situation could be just one more ambush away.

This is a must read.

In January, Vanity Fair published an article on fighting in Afghanistan's Korengal Valley. To my mind, it buttresses another remarkable article on U.S. troops in that area by NYT Magazine contributing writer Elizabeth Rubin.

With Vladimir Putin about to shuffle titles, the NYT is looking at just how tightly he has controlled Russian public life. While life is freer than it was under Soviet times, it's still pretty restricted. This is the first part of a series.