The Rundown -- November 7

# Andrew Sullivan's The Dish quotes Golnaz Esfandiari's coverage of the Iranian press reaction to congressional elections

# RFE/RL Russian Service cited in "Moscow Times" on Soviet-era dissident's trouble renewing his passport

# Backgrounds on the people who "observed" the separatist vote

# East Germans wary of helping Ukraine

# "How the War in Ukraine Has Left Shakhtar Homeless" - Goal

# "In Kharkiv, Ukraine, a Cafe is an Unlikely War Room" - Carol Williams, "LA Times"

# Gorbachev to use Berlin Wall festivities to defend Putin

# Prominent Echo Moskvy journalist fired over tweet by Gazprom media

# Putin defends Molotov-Ribbentrop pact

# Russia's currency is plummeting

# Latvian FM comes out on Twitter

# U.S. strike may have killed key French Khorasan Group jihadist

# Iraq's brutal Shi'ite militias

# Pentagon acknowledges more than 600 reported chemical weapons exposure in Iraq

# On trying to shut down IS Twitter accounts

# Obama wrote secret letter to Khamenei about fighting IS

# Ten tails of Iran and Europe

# Iran building "new Hizbollah" in Syria

# Iran’s dog walkers could face 74 lashes

# In Afghanistan, TV soap sends messages of hope

# NATO chief vows no loss of gains in Afghanistan

# The complete VICE doc: "Afghanistan: What we're leaving behind"

# Pakistan police officer kills 'blasphemer' with axe

# PM calls Alasania "adventurer, stupid and ambitious"

# Does Tbilisi have its own "Yanukovychs?"

# Azerbaijani Ambassador to UK says country is on "a journey towards human rights"

Uzbekistan's cruel cotton conundrum