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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 52]
Think Tankers Against China: The Australian Strategic Policy Institute
Monday, 7 December 2020, 3:58 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Security think tanks are the leeches of industry. Attached to their appropriate field, they compile analysis that is supposedly masterful, insightful and even useful. Reports can recommend courses of action, from a troop surge in a failing war, to ... More >>
Trump Exits Somalia
Sunday, 6 December 2020, 4:16 pm | Binoy Kampmark
These are things that might have been done earlier. During the last, flickering days of the Trump administration, activity is being witnessed across countries which have a US troop presence. Numbers are being reduced. Security wonks are getting the ... More >>
Imperfect Releases: Andrew Hastie, War Crimes Reports And Australia In Afghanistan
Saturday, 5 December 2020, 2:56 pm | Binoy Kampmark
If one were to get into the head of Australian government MP Andrew Hastie, a security tangle of woe would no doubt await. Having been a captain with the Special Air Services and having also served in Afghanistan, he has been none too thrilled by the publicity ... More >>
Jab Me If You Can: How Political Endorsements Defeat Vaccinations
Friday, 4 December 2020, 2:28 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Will they ever learn? When former US Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton announced that they would publicly take a vaccine against COVID-19, National Public Radio seemed impressed . “Who better to promote a product than ... More >>
The David McBride Case: Whistleblowing, Afghanistan And Australian War Crimes
Thursday, 3 December 2020, 1:07 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Much complaint can be had of the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force Afghanistan Inquiry Report . It exempts political actors of responsibility for alleged atrocities and war crimes. It suggests that those in the highest echelons of the ... More >>
Doctored Indignation: Australia-China Relations
Wednesday, 2 December 2020, 12:58 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Clay foot diplomacy is all the rage in Canberra, and the Australian government has become a solid practitioner. Having stuck its neck out across continents and seas to proclaim the need to investigate China over the origins of the novel coronavirus, ... More >>
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 >>
