[Airbornelawyer]

From the RFE/RL Newsline:

Russia

• PUTIN SHAKES UP ADMINISTRATION.
  Russian President Vladimir Putin introduced on 14 November two new deputy-prime-ministerial positions, Russian news agencies reported. To these posts, he named presidential-administration head Dmitrii Medvedev and Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov. Ivanov will retain his current post as defense minister as he takes on his new position as deputy prime minister, while Medvedev will be a first deputy prime minister. Replacing Medvedev as head of the presidential administration will be Tyumen Oblast Governor Sergei Sobyanin, who was appointed to a second five-year term last February. According to Yevgenii Minchenko of the International Institute for Political Expertise, Sobyanin is one of Putin's favorite governors and was on the short list to be appointed prosecutor-general for the Russian Federation, Novyi Region reported. Another advantage to naming Sobyanin, according to Aleksei Makarkin of the Center for Political Technology, is that he is new and therefore will not alter the current alignment of forces within the Kremlin, gazeta.ru reported on 14 November.

• RUSSIA AND UZBEKISTAN SIGN TREATY.
  Putin and his Uzbek counterpart Islam Karimov signed a bilateral-cooperation treaty on 14 November, Russian news agencies reported the same day. Speaking at a press conference after talks in the Kremlin with Karimov, Putin said the treaty takes Russia and Uzbekistan "to the closest possible degree of interaction." Citing an unidentified Kremlin source, RIA-Novosti reported that the agreement paves the way for long-term cooperation in trade and security, including defense coordination and intelligence sharing, mutual use of military facilities, and cooperation in battling terrorism and drug trafficking. "We think there is a need to do everything possible to neutralize the narcotic and terrorist threat coming from Afghanistan, and we will, of course, continue to provide our neighbors with help in developing their economic and social infrastructure," Putin said. The agreement also aims to boost trade and cooperation in the energy, food, and agricultural sectors.

Southwestern Asia And The Middle East

• AFGHANISTAN ESTABLISHES MILITARY COURTS
  Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zaher Azimi told a news conference in Kabul on 13 November that military courts have been established within the framework of the Afghan National Army, the official Radio Afghanistan reported. The courts were established following the approval of a law on military courts by Afghan President Hamid Karzai. The new courts, which would be limited to trials for military offenses, should have five primary courts within the central and regional corps and an appellate court within the chief of staff command. The so-called Third Court, or high court, for military offenses would be set up within the Afghan Supreme Court.

• U.S. RAID UNCOVERS UNDOCUMENTED PRISONERS IN IRAQI INTERIOR MINISTRY FACILITY
  U.S. troops raided an Interior Ministry detention facility in Baghdad on 13 November and discovered "a large number" of undocumented prisoners, some exhibiting signs of abuse, latimes.com reported on 15 November. U.S. Brigadier General Karl Horst told reporters on 14 November. Horst said that when U.S. soldiers entered the detention facility, located in Baghdad's Al-Jadiriyah district, they were told that it held just 40 prisoners, but that as "we kept opening doors," more than 200 detainees were discovered. Horst said the detainees who suffered abuse will be moved to facilities where they will receive medical treatment, the website reported. Horst said that U.S. and Iraqi troops intend to check every Interior Ministry detention center in Baghdad.