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Binoy Kampmark
Dr. Binoy Kampmark was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge. He lectures at RMIT University, Melbourne.
Binoy Kampmark - Latest News [Page 118]
Whistleblowing: Snowden, Manning and Manifest Surveillance
Friday, 16 August 2013, 5:09 pm | Binoy Kampmark
It is a pity that an Attorney General with the surname of Dreyfus has decided that history, notably one of injustice, is something for other people. The Dreyfus Affair, France’s divisive scandal involving Captain Alfred Dreyfus’ alleged communication ... More >>
Consular Non-Assistance: The Demon of Australian Policy
Wednesday, 14 August 2013, 12:50 pm | Binoy Kampmark
It is about time that the Australian Parliament consider having a viable foreign affairs department or abolish it altogether. Affairs might as well be relocated to Washington, D.C. The libertarians would have a point were they to assert that claim. ... More >>
The WikiLeaks Party, the Australian Election and Beyond
Monday, 12 August 2013, 3:34 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Surprised at the disgust of politics in Australia and elsewhere? This would itself be a surprise. Disliking Australian politics has not only been a pass time for decades in the country; it has become something of a nervous tic. More >>
A Parliament of Leakers: WikiLeaks and the New Vision
Friday, 9 August 2013, 11:34 am | Binoy Kampmark
It sounds like a plumbing deficiency with a moral purpose: one leaks at times because one just has to. The condition is biological, innate. The suggestion in the case of politics is that a party that specialises about this will be formidable, and, ... More >>
Finding Justifications: The NSA and Global Terror Alerts
Tuesday, 6 August 2013, 11:06 am | Binoy Kampmark
Let us not get too worked up. Let us not even feel too conspiratorial. But is it coincidence that, after a series of exposures of such programs as PRISM, that a “global terror alert” has been announced? More >>
Refugee Imperialism: Kevin Rudd and Dumping on the Pacific
Monday, 5 August 2013, 11:25 am | Binoy Kampmark
The pro-refugee groups are milling about along Swanston Street, Melbourne, the arterial route of the city centre in what apparently qualifies as Australia’s “cultural” capital. The actions of protest took place over the weekend to respond to the first ... More >>
Convicting Manning:Implications for WikiLeaks/Whistleblowers
Monday, 5 August 2013, 10:40 am | Binoy Kampmark
The state has not disappointed. The U.S. military legal system has done badly, and it is scant comfort that it might have done something even worse. It was hard to expect that Army Colonel Denise Lind could do anything else. More >>
Snowden Escapes: Russian Asylum and the issue with XKeyscore
Saturday, 3 August 2013, 1:34 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Not so fast, but very furious – U.S. officials have been checked by the latest move on the part of the Russian government to grant Edward Snowden a year’s asylum. This is not so much cat and mouse as better feline against tricked feline, a combination ... More >>
Awaiting Judgment: The Manning Trial Rests
Monday, 29 July 2013, 3:13 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The farce is done, and one might say that the farce has ended – at least for now. An interregnum of unclear and sinister stupidity has descended in Fort Meade, Maryland. Certainly, Rabelais would express considerable disgust at the folly that has been ... More >>
Making the Bastards Honest: Launching the WikiLeaks Party
Friday, 26 July 2013, 5:37 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The opening crackled and sparkled in the old reading room of the Fitzroy Library in Melbourne, with Julian Assange beaming in via Skype at a time he has become use to – 3 in the morning. In a space where work and insomnia are firm friends, grabbing ... More >>
Catching WikiLeaks: Australian Diplomats & the Manning Trial
Wednesday, 24 July 2013, 5:58 pm | Binoy Kampmark
With the Australian election stuttering towards its hideous climax (we hope with a hideousness moderated by the effects of smaller parties), it is worth noting what has been happening in terms of perceptions of the Manning trial. More >>
Death by Lunch: Food Poisoning in Bihar
Friday, 19 July 2013, 8:21 pm | Binoy Kampmark
This was not a Jamie Oliver lunch special, or a school meal specifically designed for nutritional enhancement. The battle to feed the learning young, and to do so properly, remains a global struggle. But those aged four to twelve who ingested the ... More >>
Riled Over Zimmerman: Self-Defence in Florida
Wednesday, 17 July 2013, 1:01 pm | Binoy Kampmark
An intelligent, self-interested observer of this case, who happens to live in Florida, would not be wrong to do as George Zimmerman did – buy a gun, master the finer points of Florida self-defence law, and then wait. Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Atlantic ... More >>
Empire of Paper: Frustrating Snowden’s Asylum Bid
Thursday, 11 July 2013, 12:36 pm | Binoy Kampmark
In its struggle against whistleblowers, the United States has exerted a variegated form of power, one that focuses on documents and an anaemic reading of the law. The international relations canon searches desperately for what that might be. More >>
The Revolution Shall be Cannibalised: Egypt and Government
Thursday, 11 July 2013, 12:34 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Too much food makes one obese, or at the very least flabby; too much revolution strips the credentials of those who want it, destroys the premises with which it is started, and undermine the cause. We have seen how rebellions cannibalise themselves. More >>
The Mask of Intolerance:Homeless Industries in San Francisco
Thursday, 4 July 2013, 12:01 pm | Binoy Kampmark
It is a condition that the United States has given a particular meaning to. From being the light on the hill for liberty, the American vision has become a case of survival on the streets. Homeownership, even renting, is a privilege. More >>
Ruddstoration and the Refugees: The Ancient Regime Returns
Tuesday, 2 July 2013, 12:55 pm | Binoy Kampmark
They are at it again. The not so ancient regime which was the previous ancient regime has promised that refugees heading to Australia will be given their fair share of rough treatment. More >>
The Failed States Index: Misunderstanding a Definition
Saturday, 29 June 2013, 10:49 am | Binoy Kampmark
Quentin Crisp, socialite, illustrator and famed curmudgeon, suggested that, if at first you don’t succeed, failure may be your only option. Are some states similarly disposed, doomed to chronic collapse, spouts of improvement only to be undermined ... More >>
Farewell to Gillard: The Disease of Caretaker Governments
Thursday, 27 June 2013, 12:13 pm | Binoy Kampmark
A tear should be shed, though keep in the singular. Australia’s first female Prime Minister Julia Gillard and probably last for some time, is no more. Elected by unelected officials, she was knifed by the same individuals who encouraged the knifing of her ... More >>
Snowden’s Grand Escape: The Limits of U.S. Power
Tuesday, 25 June 2013, 1:02 pm | Binoy Kampmark
There is no mores striking anger than that which comes from impotence. This is well illustrated by the bullying line being taken by Washington regarding countries granting passage to Edward Snowden as he veers his way to Ecuador. Cooperate with us, or else. More >>
