Binoy Kampmark - Latest News [Page 2]
Identifying Imperial Venality: Day One Of Julian Assange’s High Court Appeal
Thursday, 22 February 2024, 7:10 pm | Binoy Kampmark
On February 20, it was clear that things were not going to be made easy for Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder who infuriated the US imperium, the national security establishment, and a stable of journalists upset that he had cut their ill-tended ... More >>
Swiftie Nonsense Down Under
Wednesday, 21 February 2024, 6:13 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Gaza. Palestinians. Israel. Genocide. Taylor Swift? This odd cobbling of words is the extent celebrities make a mockery of serious conversation, even in such middle-brow outlets as Australia’s Radio National. Admittedly, it was breakfast, and the presenter ... More >>
Joe Biden: The Damnation Of Age
Monday, 19 February 2024, 12:07 pm | Binoy Kampmark
He was sweet and well meaning, but he was old. He was hazy. His memory was poor. Doddering, confused, the self-proclaimed leader of the Free World seemed ready to check into a retirement village. That, at least, is the thick insinuation of the ... More >>
Here Come The Steroid Games
Saturday, 17 February 2024, 6:34 pm | Binoy Kampmark
To attribute weighty moral codes to athletes has always been a silly pastime of the judging classes and flesh admiring voyeurs. But sporting bodies, in a manner similar to the clergy, demand something called the level playing field. Fairness ... More >>
When Courts Intervene: Halting The Transfer Of F-35 Parts To Israel
Wednesday, 14 February 2024, 1:06 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Legal challenges regarding the Israel-Gaza War are starting to bulk lawyers’ briefs and courtroom proceedings. South Africa got matters underway with its December application before the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of genocide in its campaign ... More >>
Feathery Infiltrators: The Case Of The Pigeon Spy
Tuesday, 13 February 2024, 12:14 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Animals have, at times, been given the same dismissively nasty treatment humans love giving themselves. Be it detention, torture, trial, and execution, the unwitting creatures can be found in the oddest situations, anthropomorphised with all the characteristics ... More >>
Absence Of Evidence: Israel’s Case Against UNRWA
Sunday, 11 February 2024, 7:31 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Statistics are often given lanky legs that take their user far. But how they are used, and how they are received, is striking. The current figure of 27,500 dead is a blighting, grotesque fact. But as they are Palestinians, the issue is less significant ... More >>
When Times Were Better: Victoria’s Ties With Israel’s Defence Industry
Friday, 9 February 2024, 12:12 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Times were supposedly better in 2022. That is, if you were a lawmaker in the Australian state of Victoria, a busy Israeli arms manufacturer, or cash counting corporate middleman keen to make a stash along the way between the two. That view is premised on the ... More >>
The Dangers Of Complicity: The US Courts, Gaza And Genocide
Wednesday, 7 February 2024, 9:53 am | Binoy Kampmark
Holding the foreign policy of a country accountable in court, notably when it comes to matters criminal, can be insuperably challenging. Judges traditionally shun making decisions on policy, even though they unofficially do so all the time. The Center ... More >>
Unaccountable Hackers: The CIA, Vengeance And Joshua Schulte
Monday, 5 February 2024, 1:39 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The release of the Vault 7 files in the spring of 2017 in a series of 26 disclosures, detailing the hacking tools of the US Central Intelligence Agency, was one of the more impressive achievements of the WikiLeaks publishing organisation. As WikiLeaks ... More >>
Forget The Kids: Social Media, Congress and Child Safety
Sunday, 4 February 2024, 3:05 pm | Binoy Kampmark
It was a struggle to see how a child’s welfare was relevant in the latest, shrill debates about technology taking place on The Hill. The Senate Judiciary Committee and the leaders of social media companies were on show to thrash out matters on technology ... More >>
Flashpoint For War: The Drone Killings At Tower 22
Thursday, 1 February 2024, 12:22 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The BBC’s characteristically mild-mannered note said it all: What is Tower 22? More to the point, what are US forces doing in Jordan? (To be more precise, a dusty scratching on the Syria-Jordan border.) These questions were posed in the aftermath ... More >>
Cannibalism, Conservatives And Lies: Australia’s Nemesis Story
Wednesday, 31 January 2024, 1:17 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Palace coups have become a seasonal tradition in Australian politics. Between 2007 and 2018, Australia had six prime ministers, four of whom were overthrown by their own parties, the first five never being allowed to complete their first term in office. ... More >>
Judicial Murder In Alabama
Tuesday, 30 January 2024, 12:46 pm | Binoy Kampmark
During the evening of January 25, Kenneth Eugene Smith, having failed to convince the US Supreme Court to delay his execution, became yet another victim of judicial, state-sanctioned murder. A previous, failed effort, using lethal injection, had been ... More >>
Freezing Aid To Gaza: Israel’s International War Against The UNRWA
Monday, 29 January 2024, 12:06 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Imperilled, tormented Palestinians in Gaza had little time to celebrate the January 26 order of the International Court of Justice. In a case brought by South Africa intended to facilitate a ceasefire and ease the suffering of the Gaza populace, Israel ... More >>
The ICJ’s Provisional Orders: The Genocide Convention Applies to Gaza
Saturday, 27 January 2024, 2:34 pm | Binoy Kampmark
On January 26, legal experts, policy wonks, activists and the plain curious waited for the order of the International Court of Justice, sitting in The Hague. The topic was that gravest of crimes, considered most reprehensible in the canon of international ... More >>
Mesmeric Weapons: South Africa’s Nuclear Program
Friday, 26 January 2024, 1:00 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The lessons of the South African nuclear weapons program are deep, profound and largely ignored by non-proliferation dogmatists. They show that a regime, even one subject to sanctions and exiled to the diplomatic cold room, can still show aptitude ... More >>
May His Like Never Be Seen Again: Scott Morrison Departs
Wednesday, 24 January 2024, 1:40 pm | Binoy Kampmark
His type should never be seen again. Born from the dark well of swill and advertising, former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison was always the apotheosis of politics’ worst tendencies: shallow form, public service for private interest, and, ultimately, ... More >>
When The Cookie Crumbled: The Ron DeSantis Campaign Ends
Tuesday, 23 January 2024, 2:26 pm | Binoy Kampmark
So much for that. Much had been promised by Florida Governor Ron De Santis to derail Donald Trump’s bid to return to the White House. But the attempt to wrest the Republican Party from the orange ogre’s meaty, waving hands was never convincing. In the end, ... More >>
Cancelling The Journalist: The ABC’s Coverage Of The Israel-Gaza War
Thursday, 18 January 2024, 9:49 am | Binoy Kampmark
What a cowardly act it was. A national broadcaster, dedicated to what should be fearless reporting, cowed by the intemperate bellyaching of a lobby concerned about coverage of the Israel-Gaza war. The investigation by The Age newspaper was revealing ... More >>