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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 48]
White House Briefings For Children: Jen Psaki Circles Back
Sunday, 31 January 2021, 4:45 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The Biden administration’s first White House press secretary is keen that things will be done differently under her guidance. The jaw dropping, sniping sessions between the press and government that were characteristic of the Trump administration were ... More >>
Boris Johnson And The Deaths Of The Hundred Thousand
Friday, 29 January 2021, 2:55 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Not exactly Thermopylae. Not even close. The hundred thousand who have now been taken by COVID-19 in Britain were not determined warriors holding up the forces of a mighty empire to save their land. They were the innocent victims of infection, ... More >>
The Mad Monk Strikes: Tony Abbott, Taxi Rides And Coronavirus Despotism
Thursday, 28 January 2021, 1:22 pm | Binoy Kampmark
This is a man who decries the use of experts. He prefers things rough, ready, pungent with vernacular promise and populist feeling. To be in the front seat of a taxi, no less, is considered a right. But former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott, ... More >>
Not Knowing What You Stand For: Deborah Birx And Public Health
Tuesday, 26 January 2021, 2:02 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Pity the public health official tasked with convincing those beyond convincing that a pandemic crisis is worthy of serious consideration. This is further complicated in instances where such officials feel the need to play court jester, appeaser or ... More >>
Masking Up Under Biden: The Perils Of Tribalism, Bureaucracy And Lawsuits
Sunday, 24 January 2021, 4:32 pm | Binoy Kampmark
One crackling theme streaking through the US elections of 2020 was the issue of mask wearing. Critics initially felt that facemasks were of the too important category in combating the novel coronavirus: purchasing and using them was tantamount to prizing ... More >>
Immortal Wins: India Defeats Fortress Australia
Friday, 22 January 2021, 5:04 pm | Binoy Kampmark
It was never meant to be like this. After the Indian cricketing team met misery and disaster in the first test match at Adelaide, registering a paltry 36 in its second innings, little hope was had for the touring side. Australia threatened rout ... More >>
Sunk Before Service: Australia’s Disastrous Submarine Project
Thursday, 21 January 2021, 1:50 pm | Binoy Kampmark
One only gets into the submarine procurement business to spite government treasurers and economic managers. Efficiency and effectuality are bonus additions, but hardly necessary. Witness the evolving disaster that is Australia’s SEA 1000 Future Submarine ... More >>
Reading The COVID Fine Print: The Undoing Of The Australian Open
Monday, 18 January 2021, 2:56 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The decision to go ahead with the Australian Open, the first of the grand slams of the tennis calendar, was always going to be fraught with problems. Players journeying from designated “hot spots” of novel coronavirus outbreaks; large entourages ... More >>
Trigger Finger For Armageddon: Trump And The Thermonuclear Monarchy
Sunday, 17 January 2021, 4:14 pm | Binoy Kampmark
It is the sort of breezy, skimpy and careless reasoning that is laying the ground for the Biden Republic. A person, kicked off a social media babbling platform and having the means to incinerate the human race multiple times over, seen as corollaries ... More >>
Encircling China And Praising India: The US Strategic Framework For The Indo-Pacific
Friday, 15 January 2021, 2:18 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The feeling from Rory Medcalf of the Australian National University was one of breathless wonder. “The US government,” he wrote in The Strategist , “has just classified one of its most secretive national security documents - its 2018 strategic framework ... More >>
Julian Assange, WikiLeaks And Australia’s Complicity
Wednesday, 13 January 2021, 3:24 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Australia’s Foreign Minister, Marise Payne, said little in the statement from her department , which was a good thing, as it might have been dangerously useful. The finding of a UK court on whether Julian Assange would be extradited to the United ... More >>
Twitter Nukes Trump
Tuesday, 12 January 2021, 3:01 pm | Binoy Kampmark
This was Twitter Safety’s January 8 post , full of noble concern: “After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them - specifically how they are being received and interpreted off Twitter - we ... More >>
Trump, Insurrections And The 25th Amendment
Saturday, 9 January 2021, 4:28 pm | Binoy Kampmark
How strange it must have seemed for US lawmakers to be suddenly facing what was described as a “mob”, not so much storming as striding into the Capitol with angry purpose. A terrified security force proved understaffed and overwhelmed. Members ... More >>
Proxy Jailor: Denying Assange Bail
Friday, 8 January 2021, 10:59 am | Binoy Kampmark
History, while not always a telling guide, can be useful. But in moments of flushed confidence, it is not consulted and Cleo is forgotten. A crisp new dawn can negate a glance to the past. Having received the unexpected news that Julian Assange’s ... More >>
In Diversity We Trust: Joe Biden’s Cabinet Choices
Wednesday, 6 January 2021, 4:10 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Perfumed and tailored for a certain brand of folksy, identity politics, Pete Buttigieg hoped to blast his way to the White House having run a community of 102,000 constituents in South Bend, Indiana. Mayor Pete was hoping for the best, though his effort did ... More >>
'It’s Not As Bad As Iwo Jima, I Suppose': The Julian Assange Extradition Verdict
Tuesday, 5 January 2021, 5:23 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The barrister-brewed humour of Edward Fitzgerald QC, one of the solid and stout figures defending a certain Julian Assange of WikiLeaks at the Old Bailey in London, was understandable. Time had worn and wearied the parties, none more so than his ... More >>
Environmental Capitalism And Climate Change Wars: Australia In 2000
Sunday, 3 January 2021, 3:26 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The Australian was convinced . “Australia could have avoided two decades of climate change wars had the Howard government pushed ahead with its majority view of an emissions trading scheme (ETS), newly released documents reveal.” Historian Chris Wallace ... More >>
Tinkering With National Anthems: Australia’s Patriotic Song For Children
Saturday, 2 January 2021, 3:45 pm | Binoy Kampmark
It was a New Year gimmick that would have warmed advertising executives across the country. For the first time since it was proclaimed as Australia’s national anthem on April 19, 1984, Advance Australia Fair has been tinkered with. The jarring words ... More >>
Same Procedure As Every Year: The Story Of Dinner For One
Friday, 1 January 2021, 6:34 am | Binoy Kampmark
Memories are thick of this: the respectful, even reverential German introduction of a comedy sketch; the scratchy string orchestral music that adds a layering of anticipation. Black-and-white film. Dining room, white tablecloth, silver chandeliers. ... More >>
The Julian Assange Pardon Drive
Wednesday, 30 December 2020, 4:29 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The odds are stacked against Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks publisher who faces the grimmest of prospects come January 4. On that day, the unsympathetic judicial head of District Judge Vanessa Baraitser will reveal her decision on the Old Bailey proceedings ... More >>
