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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 138]
Nicholas Kristof and the Pepsi Humanitarian
Friday, 14 May 2010, 4:56 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Nicholas Kristof is a busy man with much to be busy about. Evil has few sabbaticals, and cruelty is constantly in the employ of power. Having related his persuasive style of reporting to readers of the New York Times , it is hard to, at least initially, ... More >>
The Mismatched Bat: Die Fledermaus in Melbourne
Wednesday, 12 May 2010, 5:31 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The plotline of Die Fledermaus (1874) by Johann Strauss II is familiar to followers of opera. Gabriel von Eisenstein has been condemned to an eight day sentence for insulting an official. Adele, Eisenstein’s maid, receives a letter from her enthusiastic ... More >>
Imelda Marcos on the Campaign Trail
Tuesday, 11 May 2010, 7:20 pm | Binoy Kampmark
When does the pornography of violence sweeten and remould political messages for public consumption? In a feature on the BBC, which provided a platform to air an example of astonishing guff, we have an apologia in motion, enriched by missives ... More >>
VE Day: ‘Noble’ Stalinism and Western partners
Tuesday, 11 May 2010, 6:38 pm | Binoy Kampmark
There is always a time for firsts, and the Russian VE parade on Sunday to commemorate the defeat of Nazi Germany 65 years ago was no different. On this occasion, there was something rather unusual: forces from Nato countries, including the United States, ... More >>
Making Room for Mr Cock-up: UK General Election
Sunday, 9 May 2010, 3:31 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Cranky returning officers, with names such as Longbottom. Solemn punters awaiting the results of their candidate’s performance with funereal dignity. Then, calls of ‘Yes we Khan’ (in favour of Labour member Sadiq Khan) stopped when they became ... More >>
Slash and Burn: Greece’s Austerity Measures
Friday, 7 May 2010, 7:29 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The Greek government, and its citizens, are feeling the economic pinch. A brutal reaction to protestors who fear the winding back of the country’s social system has stunned visitors and the public alike. A general strike has been in progress ... More >>
Vague, Passionate and Erratic: The Last Station
Friday, 7 May 2010, 6:25 pm | Binoy Kampmark
In Michael Hoffman’s The Last Station , a portrayal over the last days of Leo Tolstoy’s life and a battle over the disposition of his estate and copyright to his works, politics and personalities clash. The wily aide and pejoratively labelled ... More >>
Banning the Burqa: The Battle over Dress & Freedom
Tuesday, 4 May 2010, 12:33 pm | Binoy Kampmark
At the end of last week, it became clear that Belgium had become Europe’s first country to vote for a ban of the Islamic dress, the burqa, in its lower house. On Thursday, all legislators of the Lower House who were present in the chamber voted ... More >>
A Russian Freeze: Halting Adoptions to the US
Saturday, 1 May 2010, 1:08 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The Russian government is having an apoplectic fit. Not over those usual things – deadly weapons of nuclear import and American foot dragging on the subject, energy disputes that involve strangling neighbours into submission, and that distinctly ... More >>
The Clegg Factor: The Coming British Elections
Wednesday, 28 April 2010, 3:31 pm | Binoy Kampmark
What are we to make of Nick Clegg who now holds the banner of the Liberal Democrats in Britain? The historian Max Hastings in The Daily Mail (Apr 28) is dismissive. ‘It would be foolish to expect honesty from Nick Clegg and his party,’ he suggests, ... More >>
Rotten in Victoria: The Carl Williams Case
Monday, 26 April 2010, 1:06 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The murder of Carl Williams in a Victorian maximum security prison is troubling on various levels. It suggests that something is not merely rotten in the state of Victoria, but positively putrid. On the watch of the prison authorities and the state, Williams ... More >>
Binoy Kampmark: Obama and Regulating the Market
Monday, 26 April 2010, 10:43 am | Binoy Kampmark
President Barack Obama has become the chief sales officer for market regulation, a theme he has been labouring over for some time. Cooper Union, its location pitched within a few miles of Wall Street, doesn’t seem to be tiring of luminaries with ... More >>
Bliss in Hell – An Operatic Vision
Thursday, 22 April 2010, 12:02 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Mismatched clothing, awkwardly shaped bags, and diverse shapes. Grand dames of the art establishment, slouching over champagne glasses; the occasional cape tuxedo. Even the former Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett is present, immaculately dressed yet ... More >>
Binoy Kampmark: Volcanic Plumes and Surreal Scenes
Monday, 19 April 2010, 1:28 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The scenes of empty skies over Europe are surreal after the explosion of Iceland’s volcano Eyjafjallajökull. Flights continue to be grounded in the most extensive reaction to a volcanic plume in Europe's history. Global cancellations of flights ... More >>
Fearing the Nuke: The Nuclear Security Summit
Friday, 16 April 2010, 2:10 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Bernard Baruch’s words come to mind when looking at the latest nuclear summit in Washington, hosted by President Barack Obama. Speaking as US representative to the UN Atomic Energy Commission in June 1946, Baruch reminded those who cared to listen ... More >>
Binoy Kampmark: Rudd’s Refugee Woes
Wednesday, 14 April 2010, 1:56 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The Australian government, as is often the case on the perennial matter of refugees, is muddled about its role in the world. The latest update in the sordid treatment it has offered Sri Lankan and Afghan refugees is that its information on the security ... More >>
The Apocalyptic Absurd: Poland’s Plane Tragedy
Monday, 12 April 2010, 8:45 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The apocalypse, suggested Frank Kermode, is part of the modern absurd. Certainly, for the Poles, this must be true. The loss of 96 distinguished figures over the weekend in a crash of their 26-year old Tupolev 154 is yet another historical tragedy to ... More >>
Trundling Greats: Sir Alec Bedser
Monday, 12 April 2010, 9:14 am | Binoy Kampmark
Line and length crop up in cricket vocabulary with a frequency that must bore the unfamiliar and uninitiated. But such terms are particularly important for the medium quick bowler, whose ability in seam bowling and mastery of swing is crucial to success. ... More >>
Playing Nuclear Charades: The New START
Friday, 9 April 2010, 5:13 pm | Binoy Kampmark
When the two largest holders of nuclear weapons sign treaties reducing their lethal stockpile, the optimist might have reason to crow. Another step taken to rid the world of various, fabulously terrifying weapons. US President Barack Obama and Russian ... More >>
Binoy Kampmark: A Tribute to Chateaux de Cardboard
Tuesday, 6 April 2010, 11:03 am | Binoy Kampmark
Wine from a cask, or a bladder pack as it is colloquially known, is now an immoveable feature of many a drinker’s day. Whether they come in 2 liters or 5, drinkers across the globe are relieved that they can derive the benefits of the grape through a nozzle ... More >>
