Binoy Kampmark - Latest News [Page 123]
Violence in Miami: Bath Salts and Causeway Cannibalism
Thursday, 31 May 2012, 4:42 pm | Binoy Kampmark
One of the striking, brilliant paradoxes of American life is how it reconciles the legal with the brutal, the concept of a healthy rounded life with that of fast food and supersizing. At times, its legalism is sclerotic and mundane. Its violence, in ... More >>
The Failed Effort: Tony Blair before Leveson
Wednesday, 30 May 2012, 8:25 am | Binoy Kampmark
The Leveson inquiry on media ethics chaired by Lord Justice Leveson and spearheaded by the Arctic cool Robert Jay QC keeps humming along, and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is the latest star in its procession to be questioned. There was anticipation ... More >>
Star Gazing and Politics: Battling for the Square Km Array
Monday, 28 May 2012, 5:39 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Every intellectual discipline of the human race, even those supposedly keen on propagating pure knowledge, is political. Better candidates can be shunted off from positions they are qualified for in favour of less suitable appointments; appalling choices ... More >>
Space Frontiers: NASA and Private enterprise
Friday, 25 May 2012, 6:39 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Space has become an extension of the capitalist project. Not that it should surprise anybody. The market, when allowed, has a tendency to be all-consuming, and allowing the Russians the sole means of supplying the international space station was not ... More >>
Virtual Floats and Virtual Privacy: Facebook and 100 Billion
Monday, 21 May 2012, 5:22 pm | Binoy Kampmark
With cult-like projections, Mark Zuckerberg’s face was beamed across a screen at Hacker Square. Facebook was, after all, having its heralded float as a public company, though the occasion could not cease but be a social event of some magnitude. More >>
Bungling over Mladic: The Tribunal’s ‘unpleasant surprise’
Friday, 18 May 2012, 3:21 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The trials in the International Criminal Tribunal of the former Yugoslavia have had a habit of misfiring in its most high profile cases. Former Serb leader Slobodan Milosevic cheated the prosecutors with his well timed death after a four year period ... More >>
Hollande and Merkel: The Prospects for Disunion
Friday, 18 May 2012, 12:56 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Europe is, economically speaking, in dire straits, and the two most powerful economies on the continent are, at least on paper, led by individuals with considerable differences. More >>
Getting on the Bus: Obama and Same Sex Marriage
Monday, 14 May 2012, 6:12 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The gay marriage debate in New Jersey has gone national, with President Obama throwing his own hat in the ring with resounding approval for same-sex unions. Evangelicals are shuddering, and various pro-Obama supporters are shaking their heads. More >>
The Gibson Cauldron: Mobster Fantasies and Get the Gringo
Monday, 14 May 2012, 6:08 pm | Binoy Kampmark
It was supposedly a trumpet blast signalling Mel Gibson’s return, but Get the Gringo was released straight to view-on-demand in the US having failed to make a decent theatrical run. (Indeed, it might even be said it made no run at all.) More >>
The Language of Occupation: The Greek Collapse
Friday, 11 May 2012, 11:54 am | Binoy Kampmark
I take to the streets and go to rallies but maybe I should go to parliament to blow my brains out. Dimitris Christoulas to a friend, Business Insider , Apr 5, 2012 More >>
BoJo’s Return: The London Mayoral Election
Wednesday, 9 May 2012, 5:15 pm | Binoy Kampmark
When he first won the London Mayoral elections, writers threatened to leave in droves, have sex changes or become French. But Boris Johnson, known to many as BoJo, has been re-elected in a bitter and closely fought contest with his sparring partner ... More >>
The European Elections: The Assault on Austerity
Wednesday, 9 May 2012, 5:09 pm | Binoy Kampmark
It has been a busy weekend. France finds itself with a new president, its first socialist leader since François Mitterand left office in 1995. Greek voters flocked to the parties of the anti-bailout movement with indignant enthusiasm. The liberals seem ... More >>
The De-Civilising of Society: Apple Tax Avoidance
Tuesday, 8 May 2012, 10:29 am | Binoy Kampmark
It’s been gaining traction in broad circles, but Charles Duhigg’s work on Apple and the iEconomy in the New York Times is alarming in its revelations, though few can claim to be too surprised by them. The world’s most profitable company is also ... More >>
Tymoshenko and Football
Saturday, 5 May 2012, 1:21 pm | Binoy Kampmark
A familiar battle is unfolding between sports and politics, with various countries taking a stance on Ukraine’s treatment of ex-premier Yulia Tymoshenko. The choice of battleground is the Euro 2012 championships which are being co-hosted by the Ukraine ... More >>
Twenty Years On: Official Negligence, Rodney King, the Riots
Tuesday, 1 May 2012, 10:13 am | Binoy Kampmark
Even after twenty years, the Los Angeles riots that were precipitated as a reaction to the Rodney King trial divide rather than affirm positions. So much in the pursuit of life’s answers lies in exposing errors rather than unearthing truths. The King ... More >>
Adult Certification Needed: Lady Gaga in South Korea
Monday, 30 April 2012, 10:53 am | Binoy Kampmark
She has a habit of lousing up proceedings with a manic dedication. Now, Lady Gaga has overly impressed South Korean authorities and religious groups with her particular branding of religious interpretation and provocation. More >>
Strings of Power: Rupert Murdoch and the Leveson Inquiry
Monday, 30 April 2012, 10:48 am | Binoy Kampmark
One commentator observed that he seemed like a potentate disputing an arrangement of borders and obligations. Others noted that he was back to his calculating best, having abandoned his previously doddering manner after the closure of The News of ... More >>
Strings of Power: Rupert Murdoch and the Leveson Inquiry
Friday, 27 April 2012, 3:06 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Strings of Power: Rupert Murdoch and the Leveson Inquiry One commentator observed that he seemed like a potentate disputing an arrangement of borders and obligations. Others noted that he was back to his calculating best, having abandoned his previously ... More >>
Strings of Power: Rupert Murdoch and the Leveson Inquiry
Friday, 27 April 2012, 10:12 am | Binoy Kampmark
One commentator observed that he seemed like a potentate disputing an arrangement of borders and obligations. Others noted that he was back to his calculating best, having abandoned his previously doddering manner after the closure of The News of ... More >>
A Silly Sort of Patriotism: Meditations on ANZAC Day
Thursday, 26 April 2012, 9:16 am | Binoy Kampmark
Anzac Day is a volatile dynamic phenomenon (that) will keep changing as we do David Malouf More >>