Links 05/11/14

Politics: 

Difficult to read, the NY Times has collected witness statements from people who were with the murdered ISIS hostages before their death. 

British and American forces left Afghanistan's Helmand province. 

The manner of the American and British egress from Helmand seems symbolic of both the campaign's outcome and the remaining danger. As Colum Lynch writes, despite the importance of the province, "there were no White House statements issued Sunday to commemorate the occasion, no press conferences convened to celebrate the day. Instead, U.S. Marines and British forces in southern Afghanistan quietly lowered and folded their flags in a solemn ceremony..." 

The Atlantic: An Elegy for Helmand, Afghanistan, October 27, 2014

openDemocracy on how the struggle for control of Kobane affects the regional dynamic.

The US midterm elections are coming to an end, one likely outcome is that the Republicans will win the Senate and control both houses of Congress. Here's a Guardian video explaining the elections and what they mean to non-US-citizens, and here's the NY Times coverage of the race (and a poem by Walt Whitman to accompany). 

Not surprisingly, legislation passed under the heading of counter-terrorism is used for other purposes, like cracking down on copyright infringements, in most cases, both in the US and in Australia.

The Guardian with a history of the 20th century in 100 maps. 

Foreign Affairs on how "The Internet of Everything" will change cities in the future (and NY Review of Books on the creepy side of things - "our intimate spaces will become advertising platforms"). 

CJR with a feature on Ta-Nehisi Coates, whose The Case for Reparations was a widely discussed essay earlier this year. 

Science Magazine made all its coverage of Ebola available to the public. 

Pop Culture: 

Bull Spec and Flavorwire interview William Gibson. 

The Rumpus and KCRW interview John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats (and Wolf in White Van - which is excellent). 

Texts from Jane Eyre and Other Conversations with Your Favorite Literary Characters

Kate Tempest' album is one of my favourites this year, here's a profile of her and her work (from slamp poetry, theatre to music) in The Guardian. 

And another favourite, Grouper's intimate and haunting Ruins, is available in full here. 

A previously unreleased track by Burial. 

A lullaby short story written by author AL Kennedy, and a programme about nothing, by Josie Long.