The Rundown -- October 23

# Radio Farda cited in Global Voices story on conservative media coverage of acid attacks

# Central Asia Online cites RFE/RL Turkmen Service on Turkmenistan's attempts to fortify its border with Afghanistan

# Russian economy stalled in September

# Andrei Tsygankov argues Russian "strong-state" better than Western style democracy

# Russian violations of airspace/maritime in Baltics growing

# "Mud and Loathing on Russia-Ukraine Border" - Stepan Kravchenko, Bloomberg

# 6,000 year old temple with sacrificial alters discovered in Ukraine

# EU approval of Russian pipeline may be seen as a move against Ukraine

# "Russian Soldiers Still In Ukraine As Shadow State Takes Form" - Max Seddon, Buzzfeed

# Crimeans won't have much representation in the next parliament

# "Ukrainians See Election Reviving Lost Ardor for Change" - Kateryna Choursina, Daryna Krasnolutska and Peter Laca, Bloomberg

# Russia to stop meat imports from Moldova

# For Czech firms it's "destination Belarus"

# "Surviving 'Europe's Last Dictator' in Belarus" - Will Nicoli, "Moscow Times"

# Four guards convicted in 2007 Blackwarter shooting

# Attempted kidnapping in Turkey shows reach of IS

# Senior al-Qaeda fighter pleads for IS to spare Kassig

# Syrian military steps up airstrikes against rebels

# How IS performs a stoning of an alleged adulterer

# More acid attack protests in Iran

# Who will be Iran's next supreme leader?

# Carter said he could have "wiped Iran off the map"

# U.S. ordered to explain withholding of torture photos

# Police reportedly selling arms to Taliban in Kandahar

# Economic optimism returns to Afghanistan

# Pakistan Taliban spokesman sacked after pledging allegiance to IS

# "Following the New Silk Road" - Erica Marat, "Diplomat"

# Tajikistan looks to China as Russian remittances dry up; while the country also touts itself as investment frontier

# Kazakhstan to offer caviar baths to tourists

# Farm family in Kyrgyzstan "rehabilitates" troubled teens from Germany

# "Azerbaijan's Increasingly Intolerant Regime" - Gunay Ismayilova and Samir Kazimki, "New York Times"

# "Economist" on Leyla Yunus

Of Interest