The Rundown -- December 11

# Abubakar Siddique quoted in "New Yorker" piece about drones in Pakistan

# Read Arzu Geybullayeva in Global Voices on Azerbaijan's cracking image

# Gorbachev calls for U.S.-Russia summit

# Russia's creeping descent into Internet censorship; new filtering system coming

# "The Myth of the Russian Oligarchs" - Masha Gessen, "New York Times"

# "Why Moscow Should Worry about Terrorism" - Ilan Berman, "Foreign Affairs"

# IMF warns Ukraine faces financial collapse without $15 billion bailout

# Reuters finds Chechens fighting among east Ukraine separatists

# Russian general says small military mission is in eastern Ukraine at Kyiv's request

# Families living in Donetsk cellars feel they've been abandoned by Kyiv

# IS trying to sell body of James Foley for $1 million

# IS fighting creating three separate armies in Iraq

# Baghdadi "ruthless in his dealings and quiet in person"

# Little surprise in Iraq over Senate report on CIA interrogations

# Rohani calls drop in oil prices "treachery"

# Iran calls on US to "stop the practice of racism and inhumane behavior"

# A rare animal shelter in Tehran

# "Washington Post" suggests revised timetable for troop drawdown in Afghanistan

# "Seven Ways Afghanistan is a Total Mess" - AJ Vicens, "Mother Jones"

# Afghanistan's Bruce Lee "reincarnation" becomes Web hit

# The complicated ties between Afghanistan, Pakistan and the U.S.

# "China's Big Plans for Pakistan" - Gordon Chang, "National Interest"

# Kazakhstan's debt comeback spoiled by drop in oil and Russia sanctions

# EU turns to Azerbaijan for gas

# Russia's lower house approves Armenia's entry into Eurasian Union

Balkans

# A mirror universe?