Links 14/12/13

Politics: 

The French army (troops are still deployed in Mali as well, is discovering the cope of the violence between warring fractions in the Central African Republic, with hundreds of deaths last week and the New York Times choosing to reference the long shadow of the genocide in Rwanda. 

The Atlantic about Mandela's legacy and the question of non-violence (in the face of oh-so-many articles written about him focusing on "peaceful protest" and "forgiveness", as if those were the sole reasons to commemorate the death of someone facing down a violent racist regime).  

The New Yorker with an extensive article on the U.S. intelligence community and its resistance to oversight or reform, and the effect the Snowden leaks could have. 

A haunting portray of a homeless girl in New York City (in the wake of the land-slide election of Democrat Bill De Blasio for mayor) by the New York Times: 

In the short span of Dasani’s life, her city has been reborn. The skyline soars with luxury towers, beacons of a new gilded age. [...] These are the crown jewels of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s long reign, which began just seven months after Dasani was born.

In the shadows of this renewal, it is Dasani’s population who have been left behind. The ranks of the poor have risen, with almost half of New Yorkers living near or below the poverty line. Their traditional anchors — affordable housing and jobs that pay a living wage — have weakened as the city reorders itself around the whims of the wealthy. 

The New York Times: Invisible Child, December 9, 2013

Pop Culture: 

Variety's Best Actress Roundtable is a bit similar to that of the Hollywoord Reporter - it unites Adèle Exarchopoulos, Greta Gerwig, Kathryn Hahn and also Julie Delpy and Brie Larson (also Blue is the Warmest Colour actually made the New York Times Best Films list, despite the fact that the same newspaper featured one of the most ridiculous articles written about the film). 

The literary feuds of 2013, collected by The New Yorker. 

PopMatters' Top 75 Albums of the Year, here, and gorilla vs. bear's favourite songs. 

The New York Review of Books reviews a book about how converting to Christianity changed sexual morality in antiquity.