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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 68]
Childish Diplomacy: Donald Trump’s New Play Against Iran
Thursday, 27 June 2019, 9:49 am | Binoy Kampmark
Diplomacy has been seen historically as a practitioner’s art, nurtured in schools of learning, tested and tried in the boardrooms of mild mannered summitry. Klemens von Metternich and Otto von Bismarck practiced it with varying degrees of ruthlessness ... More >>
The Pinkerton Effect: The US Marines in Darwin
Tuesday, 25 June 2019, 5:20 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Subordinates rarely have a good time of dictating matters to their superiors. In the webbed power relations that pass as realpolitik, Australia is the well behaved child in the front of the room, yearning to be caned and spoilt in equal measure. ... More >>
Violent Voyeurism: Surveillance, Spyware and Human Rights
Monday, 24 June 2019, 3:01 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Surveillance is merely a variant of violent voyeurism, the human behind the camera or visual apparatus observing behaviour in a setting, often private. Its premise is privacy’s violation; its working assumption is privacy’s irrelevance; officially ... More >>
Bill Clinton in Kosovo
Saturday, 22 June 2019, 4:21 pm | Binoy Kampmark
“War in the name of morality provides as many reasons for historical shudders as war in the name of self-interest, for at least the latter may be easier to call off when self-interest calls for compromise.” More >>
A Slow Death: The Ills of the Casual Academic
Thursday, 20 June 2019, 2:13 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Any sentient being should be offended. Eventually, the casualisation of the academic workforce was bound to find lazy enthusiasts who neither teach, nor understand the value of a tenured position dedicated to that musty, soon-to-be-forgotten vocation ... More >>
Nigel Farage’s Grand Tour of Sabotage
Wednesday, 19 June 2019, 4:08 pm | Binoy Kampmark
He is all about being the romantic saboteur. He is destructive, hates the business of a steady vocation, and the idea of being desk bound. Little details trouble him; an indignant bigger picture is enthralling. Bomb throwers tend to be of such ilk, ... More >>
Hong Kong, China and the Extradition Bill
Tuesday, 18 June 2019, 2:52 pm | Binoy Kampmark
It has been a history of turns and the occasional betrayal, but Hong Kong’s experiment with democracy, incubated within the Special Administrative Region, was always going to be contingent on some level. Its colonial past is a poke, a reminder of British ... More >>
Julian Assange and the Scales of Justice
Friday, 14 June 2019, 12:56 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The Home Secretary of the United Kingdom did his thing, which was little in the way of disagreement. The superpower has issued a request; the retainer would comply. This week, the US Department Justice Department formally sought the extradition of ... More >>
Defanging the Predators: Oxfam’s Woes
Wednesday, 12 June 2019, 5:05 pm | Binoy Kampmark
First came the abuses. Then, the allegations. Then, the tardy response, with lacings of apologia. The UK Charity Commission could not have been harsher about the conduct of Oxfam, which is a charity fallen most foul. The inquiry into its past misdeeds, ... More >>
Cleansing the Platforms: YouTube, Censorship and Grievance
Monday, 10 June 2019, 3:16 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Stripping the altars, burning the heretics and cleansing the stables are the usual fare of a morally crazed order. The engaged agents think they have found the reason for existence and need to bother everybody else about it. Some of this can be a very ... More >>
The Danish Elections: Social Democracy with an Inhumane Face
Sunday, 9 June 2019, 2:31 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The great centrist European tradition of social democracy has been receiving a rattle for the last few decades. The European Parliament elections were a reminder how much their appeal has diminished. In Denmark, by way of contrast, they have established ... More >>
Snubs, Bumps and Donald Trump in Britain
Thursday, 6 June 2019, 2:16 pm | Binoy Kampmark
He may not be popular in Britain, but he still has shavings of appeal. For a country that has time for Nigel Farage, pro-Brexit enthusiast and full-time hypocrite (he is a member of the European Parliament, the very same institution he detests), President ... More >>
Warring Against Sources
Wednesday, 5 June 2019, 3:02 pm | Binoy Kampmark
“What’s gone on this morning sends clear and dangerous signals to journalists and newsrooms across Australia. This will chill public interest reporting.” More >>
Cults of Impeachment: The Mueller Report & Trump
Monday, 3 June 2019, 1:38 pm | Binoy Kampmark
It is a giddy intoxicant, and making all who partake fall over in puddling nonsense. The Mueller Report is not turning out to be the cleansing agent any of its readers were hoping for. Originally encouraged to identify the cause behind Trumpland and ... More >>
Findings of Torture: The UN Rapporteur and Julian Assange
Sunday, 2 June 2019, 10:20 am | Binoy Kampmark
Another crude and sad chapter, yet more evidence of a system’s vengeance against its challengers. Julian Assange, like they dying Roman emperor Vespasian, may be transforming into a god of sorts, but the suffering of his mortal physical is finding ... More >>
Clubs, Cartels and Bilderberg
Friday, 31 May 2019, 3:25 pm | Binoy Kampmark
“After decades of neoliberalism, we are at the mercy of a cluster of cartels who are lobbying politicians hard and using monopoly power to boost profits.” More >>
Lies in Politics: Boris Johnson, the Law and the EU
Thursday, 30 May 2019, 1:03 pm | Binoy Kampmark
An enduring memory of the 2016 Brexit campaign, so marked by the foppish-haired blusterer, Boris Johnson, was the claim that the European Union was hungrily drawing out from British coffers £350 million a week. It was insufferable, unqualified and dishonest. ... More >>
A Compulsive Matter: Mandatory Voting and its Discontents
Wednesday, 29 May 2019, 12:49 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The session is on Radio National, Australia’s effort at highbrow airings on the wireless. And, to be fair, it often does not disappoint. But on this occasion, there was a general sense of bonhomie amongst the participants on the Big Ideas segment, ... More >>
The Espionage Act and Punishing WikiLeaks
Tuesday, 28 May 2019, 3:03 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The time was 1917, and for anyone keen to impress us about any liberal feelings on the part of President Woodrow Wilson, the following should be said. Having deemed the United States too proud to fight, he proceeded to commit the very same to the ... More >>
The End of Theresa May
Monday, 27 May 2019, 3:08 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The vultures of the British conservative party have gathered, and the individual who seemed to thrive in failure, to gain momentum in defeat, has finally yielded. UK Prime Minister Theresa May will leave the way for change of leadership on June ... More >>
