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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 50]
Why The Cosmic Kite Never Fell: Football And Diego Maradona
Monday, 30 November 2020, 2:45 pm | Binoy Kampmark
In Argentina, beatification and canonisation can happen to living figures. Unlike the officialdom of the Catholic Church, the processes take place in accordance with an insurgent popular will. The death of various public figures – Carlos Gardel ... More >>
Not Adding Up: Australia, Iran And The Release Of Kylie Moore-Gilbert
Saturday, 28 November 2020, 2:47 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Australia’s ambassadorial offices and political leaders have a consistent record of ignoring their citizens in tight situations. David Hicks, Mamdouh Habib and Julian Assange are but a few names that come to mind in this inglorious record of indifference. ... More >>
Biden’s Promise: America Is Back(wards)
Friday, 27 November 2020, 12:31 pm | Binoy Kampmark
With President Donald Trump all but conceding to the transition team that will take over after January next year, interest now shifts to President-elect Joe Biden’s choices for cabinet. On the national security front, the imperial-military lobby ... More >>
Keeping The Empire Running: Britain’s Global Military Footprint
Wednesday, 25 November 2020, 3:31 pm | Binoy Kampmark
A few nostalgic types still believe that the Union Jack continues to flutter to sighs and reverence over outposts of the world, from the tropics to the desert. They would be right, if only to a point. Britain, it turns out, has a rather expansive ... More >>
Skewed Responsibility: Australian War Crimes In Afghanistan
Tuesday, 24 November 2020, 2:42 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force Afghanistan Inquiry was always going to make for a gruesome read – and that was only the redacted version. The findings of the four-year investigation, led by New South Wales Court of Appeal Justice ... More >>
The Yemen Civil War Arms Bonanza
Saturday, 21 November 2020, 2:19 pm | Binoy Kampmark
“Making billions from arms exports which fuel the conflict while providing a small fraction of that in aid to Yemen is both immoral and incoherent.” So thundered Oxfam’s Yemen Country Director, Muhsin Siddiquey after consulting figures from ... More >>
Dim Halos: Suppressing The Cult Of Pope John Paul II
Friday, 20 November 2020, 12:40 pm | Binoy Kampmark
As chief conductor of the saint factory, Pope John Paul II was always going to be, in time, canonised. Almost 500 saints were created under his watch. The previous 600 years had seen 300. But declaring him a saint in 2014, a mere nine years after ... More >>
Covid Offices And The Religion Of Remote Work
Wednesday, 18 November 2020, 3:57 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Masks can prove liberating. The hidden face affords security. Obnoxious authority breathes better, hiding in comfort. Behind the material, confidence finds a home. While tens of millions of jobs have been lost to the novel coronavirus globally, ... More >>
Rolling Heads At The Pentagon: Trump As Sacker-in-Chief
Friday, 13 November 2020, 4:08 pm | Binoy Kampmark
A sense of redundancy might encourage calm. The job is done, however well or poorly. The legacy charted. But in the case of President Donald Trump, there is still much to be done. Leaving aside his priority of fortifying himself in the White House against ... More >>
Petitions, Probes And Rupert Murdoch
Thursday, 12 November 2020, 4:04 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Australia has given the world two influential and disruptive exports in the field of media. One, currently in London’s Belmarsh Prison, is facing the prospect of extradition to the United States for charges that could see him serve a 175 year ... More >>
Hologram Daddies And Posthumous Molestation
Wednesday, 11 November 2020, 3:33 pm | Binoy Kampmark
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Viral Optimism: The Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine
Tuesday, 10 November 2020, 2:39 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The announcement that Pfizer Inc., along with its collaborative partner BioNTech SE, had come up with a successful vaccine candidate to combat the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 sent the markets soaring . In New York, Pfizer’s shares rose by 15 percent ... More >>
Biden’s Victory: A Eunuch Presidency Beckons
Monday, 9 November 2020, 12:28 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Whatever was set to happen on November 3, President Donald J. Trump would not lose. Falling in that establishment firebreak against democracy known as the Electoral College would not erase, let alone repudiate him. His now victorious opponent, far ... More >>
Fur Trades And Pandemics: Coronavirus And Denmark’s Great Mink Massacre
Saturday, 7 November 2020, 3:16 pm | Binoy Kampmark
“The worst case scenario is a new pandemic, starting all over again out of Denmark,” came the words of a grave Kåre Mølbak, director of the Danish health authorities, the State Serum Institute. According to the Institute, COVID-19 infections were registered ... More >>
The US Presidential Election: The View From Outside
Friday, 6 November 2020, 4:08 pm | Binoy Kampmark
It was now the turn of other states to vent about, and at, the United States. The 2020 US presidential elections were coming down to a razor sharp wire. The Democrats were starting to feel confident in the swing states. Republicans and the Trump camp ... More >>
Trump, Blue Mirages And False Polls
Thursday, 5 November 2020, 12:47 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The great bard remarks in Henry VI: Part II that all the lawyers ought to be killed. In entertaining this homicidal formula, William Shakespeare had yet to encounter that barnacle breed known as the pollster. There is much to suggest that those practising ... More >>
The US Republic, Trump And The Authoritarian Fear Mongering Club
Tuesday, 3 November 2020, 1:11 pm | Binoy Kampmark
It’s an oxymoron with a long history: American democracy. In referring to the United States, it does not exist. Nor does it take a follower of refrigerated communism to note the obvious point that democracy plays a small part in the processes of the ... More >>
Sawing The Sacred: Felling The Djab Wurrung Directions Tree
Monday, 2 November 2020, 4:00 pm | Binoy Kampmark
s“Djab Wurrung women are in an abusive relationship with Victoria’s government.” Sissy Eileen Austin, The Guardian , Sep 14, 2019 It was a penultimate day in the Australian state of Victoria. The state government had announced that some of harshest ... More >>
Factionalising Antisemitism: The British Labour Party Suspends Jeremy Corbyn
Saturday, 31 October 2020, 2:07 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Whatever stance taken by followers of the British Labour Party on the subject of antisemitism within its ranks, the suspension of Jeremy Corbyn must be seen as an exercise of muscle on the part of Sir Keir Starmer. Since coming to the leadership, ... More >>
Begging Outrage: British Journalists For Assange
Friday, 30 October 2020, 4:16 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Even that title strikes an odd note. It should not. The Fourth Estate, historically reputed as the chamber of journalists and publishers keeping an eye on elected officials, received a blast of oxygen with the arrival of WikiLeaks. This was daring, rich stuff: ... More >>
