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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 92]
Binoy Kampmark: The Pine Gap Anniversary Party
Tuesday, 1 August 2017, 5:10 pm | Binoy Kampmark
It all happened without much fuss, since fuss was bound to be the enemy. Dignitaries, guests and various partners lined up for a gathering at Alice Springs in Australia’s Northern Territory on Saturday, commemorating the secret base’s half-century. More >>
The Failure of the Murray Darling Basin Plan
Monday, 31 July 2017, 4:57 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Water is gold to survival, the indispensable, the vast feeder for human civilization. Its absence entails certain death; its decline brings out the prospect that a civilisation might well collapse. When a water crisis is announced, panic sets in. Officials ready ... More >>
Fanciful Terrors: Bomb Plots and Australian Airport Security
Monday, 31 July 2017, 4:16 pm | Binoy Kampmark
In the classroom of international security, Australia remains an infant wanting attention before the older hands. During the Paris Peace talks, Prime Minister William Morris (“Billy”) Hughes screamed and hollered Australia’s wishes to gain greater concessions ... More >>
Mum Did It: The Canavan Argument and Citizenship
Friday, 28 July 2017, 1:26 pm | Binoy Kampmark
“A real Italian never blames his mum.” Australian Greens Senator Richard Di Natale, SBS, Jul 27, 2017 More >>
Refugee Conundrums: the UN and the US-Australia Deal
Wednesday, 26 July 2017, 3:47 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Having poured scorn and not an indecent amount of bile upon the refugee deal between the Obama administration and Canberra last year, US President Donald Trump was never going to make things easy for the resettlement of various groups held on Nauru and ... More >>
Binoy Kampmark: Justine Damond, Shooting Cultures and Race
Tuesday, 25 July 2017, 5:28 pm | Binoy Kampmark
It plays out as a horror story of law enforcement. A distress call to the Minneapolis police about activity taking place behind the house on Washburn Avenue, possibly a sound of intercourse, distress, or both, taking place after 11 during the night ... More >>
John McCain: Cancer as Combatant
Monday, 24 July 2017, 3:26 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Mortality can either make you bookish, or drive you into the arms of the spiritual. But in a more distinct sense, it can render you prone to attribute to nature mysterious powers of a human quality. To do so is seen as the first step on the road to defeating ... More >>
From Spicy to the Mooch: A Farewell to Sean Spicer
Saturday, 22 July 2017, 3:08 pm | Binoy Kampmark
What will entertainers do in his absence? White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer was more than grist to the mill of celluloid delights, becoming, by the admission of the US President, a “tv hit” smoking the ratings. When a press secretary’s ... More >>
Archaic Obstacles: Australia, Parliament and Dual Citizens
Saturday, 22 July 2017, 3:07 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Dusting away the must on a constitutional text may be a rare thing, but it should be a point of order for the elected officials of a country. Often, these contain laws that are irretrievably archaic, and resist change by virtue of being embedded ... More >>
Curbing Participation: The US Congress and Yemen
Friday, 21 July 2017, 3:17 pm | Binoy Kampmark
In recent times, there hasn’t been much cheery in the power circles of Washington. The US is gradually finding itself unmoored and floating from international agreements at a dizzying rate. Its president is cool-mad distant, self-serving and occasionally ... More >>
Threatening Mergers: The Turnbull Home Affairs Plan
Wednesday, 19 July 2017, 2:04 pm | Binoy Kampmark
“Among the many objects which a wise and free people find it necessary to direct their attention, that of providing for their safety seems to be first.” John Jay, The Federalist Papers , No. 3 More >>
Uhlmann’s Trump Problem
Wednesday, 19 July 2017, 1:29 pm | Binoy Kampmark
It’s all well and good to huff at the current President of the United States, who has managed to get under more irritated skin than an army of dedicated leaches. The immersion of the White House into the reality television show of Trumpland has set ... More >>
Militarising Civilian Life
Monday, 17 July 2017, 1:11 pm | Binoy Kampmark
It is far from unusual in recent times: a spate of terrorist activity, followed by police seemingly agog, then the call for cavalry, usually in the form of military forces to guard vital installations and furnish the public with a reassuring presence. ... More >>
A Question of Accountability: Cardinal Pell
Friday, 14 July 2017, 4:13 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The Catholic Church, much in the manner of a modern corporation, is a sprawling edifice of operations and functions. To hold part of it accountable for abuses – against human, bank account, or country – has presented a formidable legal obstacle. More >>
Patriotism, Witch Hunts, and Donald Trump Jr
Thursday, 13 July 2017, 4:12 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The momentum against the Trump administration is building, and it should come as no surprise that it comes via the least original of avenues: the Russians did it, and someone must pay. For decades, the feared Russian has played a vital role in ... More >>
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 >>
