Smart Reads February 19, 2013

Mamphela Ramphele, a veteran activist and former partner of Steve Biko, the anti-apartheid hero, has launched a new political movement to challenge the might of the governing African National Congress at next year’s elections.
Richard Dowden explains why the next pope should be African. “The Catholic Church in Europe used to be… part of the warp and weft of society. And if it wanted to become so again, it should send for an African Pope.”
US conservatives may suspect that the “a liberal press willingly and eagerly allows itself to get manipulated”, but according to Politico, it is Obama’s manipulation that actually shapes coverage of the White House.
In Deputatskoye, residents are rooting around in the snow in the hope of digging up fragments of the meteor that exploded over the Siberian town to sell. The excitement over the value of pieces of meteors has even brought visitors to the town, “men who refused to answer questions but offered stacks of rubles worth hundreds, then thousands, of dollars for the fragments.”
The New York Times has identified the PLA building where cyber-attacks on the US come from. If you missed it last week, Businessweek also has a feature on the real identity of a Chinese hacker (and the process of tracking him down).
For a bit of lighthearted relief, watch Drew Christie’s animated satire: a former KGB agent welcomes a future in which Americans live under the watchful eyes of drones.