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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 91]
Exaggerated Victories: The Mosul Effect
Wednesday, 12 July 2017, 10:22 am | Binoy Kampmark
The need to tick off the tactical and strategic boxes in the interminable war against Islamic State is so pressing it acquires the quality of ham acting, where generals and leaders become thespians of exaggerated promise before the camera. More >>
Tensions in Hamburg: The G20 Fractures
Sunday, 9 July 2017, 11:20 am | Binoy Kampmark
“I think it’s very clear that we could not reach consensus, but the differences were not papered over, they were clearly stated.” Angela Merkel, BBC News, Jul 8, 2017 More >>
Trump and North Korea’s Missile Program
Friday, 7 July 2017, 10:43 am | Binoy Kampmark
It’s all fine while it remains on the stage, a matter of contained, almost camp displays of grunting and strutting. The diplomats can still have some say; the foreign ministries retain some hold over the military instinct. But the longer the Korean ... More >>
Rise and Fall: Boxing, Horn and Pacquiao
Tuesday, 4 July 2017, 4:47 pm | Binoy Kampmark
“Every round on the bag, hold the dream. Don’t lose sight of what we set out to do 10 years ago. Hold the dream.” Glenn Rushton to Jeff Horn, The Australian Magazine , Jan 27, 2017 More >>
Costly Representation: The Georgia Congressional Election
Tuesday, 4 July 2017, 3:00 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Tom Price’s vacating of a Georgia congressional seat set the scene for exactly what is darkly wrong with US politics. In the sprawling kleptomanic entity known as USA Inc., with its distancing between the concept of representation and the money ... More >>
Hillsborough: Holding the Police to Account
Thursday, 29 June 2017, 9:05 pm | Binoy Kampmark
“It is also a story of deceit and lies, of institutional defensiveness defeating truth and justice. It is evidence of a culture of denial within South Yorkshire Police.” Anne Burkett, BBC, Apr 27, 2016 More >>
The European Commission, Google and Anti-Competition
Wednesday, 28 June 2017, 12:07 pm | Binoy Kampmark
“Google’s practices have deprived millions of European consumers of the full benefits of competition, genuine choice and innovation.” More >>
Binoy Kampmark - Pride in San Francisco
Tuesday, 27 June 2017, 10:45 am | Binoy Kampmark
The security guard grinned at the bag with rheumy eyes. It had already begun to ache, the shoulder strap held down by writing material and a bottle of water. “Thank you, sir!”, came the emphatic note of approval. The bag had passed the test, as ... More >>
Twitter Building: Tech Incubators and Altering Perceptions
Tuesday, 27 June 2017, 10:42 am | Binoy Kampmark
The Twitter Building on Market Street, San Francisco, sounds like an aviary bustling with activity. With its bright open spaces and chirping entrepreneurs hatching the next project, it might as well be. Several floors are dedicated to what can only ... More >>
Escalations in Syria
Saturday, 24 June 2017, 6:42 pm | Binoy Kampmark
To become enmeshed in a war of incalculable variables; to be at bloody bruised loggerheads – this is the Syrian nightmare, where there are more punters than odds. Savagely, Syria as a state is being ravaged and mauled to the point of non-recognition. It ... More >>
Puppet of History: Panama’s Manuel Noriega
Monday, 19 June 2017, 4:28 pm | Binoy Kampmark
“Bush appeared on television to praise the invading troops and to say his cowardly vision – all that a wimp with an inferiority complex could be capable of.” Manuel Noriega on George H. W. Bush More >>
To Wake in Fright
Monday, 19 June 2017, 4:24 pm | Binoy Kampmark
What is inescapable in the Australian landscape is its cosmic character, one that mixes suggestively astral dust with the brilliance of the blinding sun. Desolate, parched earth becomes poetic affirmation, though it is the poetry of death and distraction, ... More >>
Teasing Theresa: The EU, Brexit and the British Elections
Thursday, 15 June 2017, 2:32 pm | Binoy Kampmark
It took little time for political leaders in the European Union to start dangling the carrot in front of a wounded British Prime Minister. Theresa May’s defeated victory in the British general elections had barely sunk it, and the comments, even ... More >>
Binoy Kampmark: Punishing Qatar
Monday, 12 June 2017, 1:37 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Are we in need of distractions? The political masters obviously think so. There have been hackings, cuttings, slayings and crushing events. As battles continue raging in Syria and northern Iraq, European cities face the next round of urban slayings. More >>
Binoy Kampmark: Dreams of Detention
Monday, 12 June 2017, 1:31 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Detention comes in various forms, and all have a basic premise: the removal of liberty of the subject, the presence of permanent control and surveillance, the utter reduction of rights to life to obligations to the state. More >>
Binoy Kampmark: James Comey’s Testimony
Monday, 12 June 2017, 1:22 pm | Binoy Kampmark
“A man hears what he wants to hear And disregards the rest.” Simon and Garfunkel, “The Boxer” (1970) More >>
Binoy Kampmark: Jeremy Corbyn’s Surge
Monday, 12 June 2017, 1:18 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The pollsters only got it partly wrong this time, though the most spectacular prediction cock-up was that on what would happen to British Labour prior to the exit polls. Scotland crept up with a Tory surge, netting 12 seats, and there were scattering ... More >>
The Saudi Hand in British Foreign Policy - Binoy Kampmark
Wednesday, 7 June 2017, 2:26 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia always knows when it’s onto a good thing. That particular “thing”, in the few days left before the UK elections, is the May government. That same government that has done so much to make a distinction between policy and ... More >>
Terror as Opportunity: Exploiting the London Attacks
Wednesday, 7 June 2017, 2:16 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The hallmark of any administration worth its corruptly curing salt is making hay while the sun shines its searing rays. Not long after the slashing and running down was taking place in London, moving from London Bridge to Borough Market, the tweets ... More >>
Predictable Exits: Trump and the Paris Agreement
Wednesday, 7 June 2017, 1:58 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The distress caused by US President Donald Trump in over the last week continues the theme of exit: old alliances and agreements need revision; compacts need unpacking. Thursday saw Trump add another graceless if direct announcement: the United States ... More >>
