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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]
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 >>
The U-Turn Queen: Theresa May in Action - Binoy Kampmark
Wednesday, 7 June 2017, 1:53 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Authoritarian styles can come at cost. The manner with which the British Prime Minister has reacted to the concept of debate has been one such point. While the joys of the Westminster system hardly suggest untrammelled enlightenment, one superficial element ... More >>
John McCain in Australia - Binoy Kampmark
Friday, 2 June 2017, 4:29 pm | Binoy Kampmark
There is no getting away from the fact that a visit to that known outpost of American Empire, Australia, softens the mind and leads to a more vigorous wagging of tongues than usual. Away from the scrutiny of a full blooded Washington press corps, politicians ... More >>
Margaret Court and Same-sex Woes - Binoy Kampmark
Friday, 2 June 2017, 2:46 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Sports people are the show ponies of life, modern gladiators whose opinions should only be relevant to their field of endeavour. The end of the amateur, and the rise of the professional put pay to the rounded dabbler and dilettante, ably educated ... More >>
Forrest Donations and False Charity - Binoy Kampmark
Friday, 2 June 2017, 2:33 pm | Binoy Kampmark
It is easy to sneer, and availing oneself of this chance, let’s. The celebratory guff floating on the media glow of mining magnate Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest for giving away $400 million to charitable pursuits is reminiscent to that of Mark Zuckerberg. ... More >>
Deviant Diva: Schapelle Corby Returns to Australia
Tuesday, 30 May 2017, 2:22 pm | Binoy Kampmark
In his work on celebrity, Daniel Boorstin drew a firm line under a field that has since become the mirror of its own study, in industry within media studies. The modern celebrity, he surmised, is “well-known for their own well-knownness”. More >>
Barging Through NATO: Donald Trump in Europe
Monday, 29 May 2017, 1:13 pm | Binoy Kampmark
From his big white bird did the President descend upon his dreading European hosts, looking much like natives waiting to be slaughtered or ravished. As Donald Trump pushed his way through NATO members (the Montenegrin prime minister, for one, felt ... More >>
The Merry Life of Dragnet Surveillance - Binoy Kampmark
Monday, 29 May 2017, 12:09 pm | Binoy Kampmark
In the aftermath of Edward Snowden’s revelations in 2013, a grudging acceptance was made by the Obama administration that something had to be done about a roguish surveillance complex unhinged from its foundations. The National Security Agency ... More >>
Roger Moore in Bondage - Binoy Kampmark
Friday, 26 May 2017, 3:04 pm | Binoy Kampmark
What are we to make of Bond, that slightly leering brute who does all for Queen and country, always at the ready with quip, car and gadget? Certainly, when one of its own, the acting fraternity of which a certain number of Bonds can be counted, passes ... More >>
Twenty-Seven Hours: Donald Trump in Israel
Wednesday, 24 May 2017, 4:19 pm | Binoy Kampmark
It was time to do the Zionist boogie within a mere period of 27 hours, and anyone wishing to see two muggers of history enjoying each other’s company found themselves peering at Donald Trump of the United States, and Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu, ... More >>
Back to Realpolitik: Trump in Saudi Arabia - Binoy Kampmark
Tuesday, 23 May 2017, 12:23 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The business of making money on property, badly, has shifted to the business of making money, greatly, for the US industrial arms complex. This is the technique of President Donald Trump, who has been making various gestures, sword and wallet in hand, to ... More >>
