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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 95]
Triumphing over Reality: China, Australia and Free Trade
Monday, 13 February 2017, 12:39 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The suspended reality across the Pacific took hold as the Australian Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop, conversed with her Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, in a state of mild delusion. Assuming the air of a clairvoyant, Bishop insisted that she knew that the ... More >>
Populism in Australia: Channelling Trump Down Under
Friday, 10 February 2017, 2:20 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Australia’s prime minister has been politically tone deaf for the duration of his tenure, which was won by the political assassination of his predecessor, Tony Abbott. Since being in power, he has squandered a workable majority, been held in a headlock ... More >>
The Courts versus Donald Trump - By Binoy Kampmark
Tuesday, 7 February 2017, 11:51 am | Binoy Kampmark
The resilience of the US legal system is being tested in the first great and continuing confrontation between the Trump administration and his marshalled opponents. The battle is testing the Republic to its limits, pitting views of sovereign will and ... More >>
The Brexit Debate: Down the Rabbit Hole with Parliament
Tuesday, 7 February 2017, 10:23 am | Binoy Kampmark
What role Parliament? Edmund Burke put forth his known idea before the electors of Bristol on November 3, 1774. An ideal, and therefore refutable notion , was advanced: “Certainly, gentlemen, it ought to be the happiness and glory of a representative ... More >>
Queen Elizabeth II and Trump Traumatic Disorder
Thursday, 2 February 2017, 4:08 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Trump Traumatic Disorder has been making its away across the Atlantic, numbing British officials, activists and commentators on one vital point: Should President Donald J. Trump be able to see the Queen on an official state visit? More >>
The Fake News Inquiry: Old Wine in New Bottles
Wednesday, 1 February 2017, 1:13 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Any inquiry into fake news is much like having a Royal Commission into the make up and motivation for Halal food. (The latter absurd proposition has been put forth by a few Australian politicians irritated by the Islamist bogeyman.) Neither mission ... More >>
Chaos at the Airports: Blocking Trump’s Executive Order
Tuesday, 31 January 2017, 10:39 am | Binoy Kampmark
The diary of this particular US administration is bound to be heavy with incident. Executive orders are now coming out of the Trump administration at pace, and the question of whether they will compel obedience or not looms. In many parts of the ... More >>
Killing the TPP: Trump’s Executive Action - Binoy Kampmark
Monday, 30 January 2017, 11:51 am | Binoy Kampmark
One of the conspicuous absences from the sound and fury last weekend’s protests was the impending executive act of President Donald Trump affirming the US exit from the Trans-Partnership Agreement. Not that that was much in doubt: it had not been ... More >>
Brexit and the UK Supreme Court - Binoy Kampmark
Friday, 27 January 2017, 1:05 pm | Binoy Kampmark
It was predicted, it was warned against, and it happened: Prime Minister Theresa May’s government cannot commence the official process for leaving the European Union without parliamentary approval. More >>
The Revolt of the Intelligence Community
Tuesday, 24 January 2017, 3:03 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Factionalism and fury are basic ingredients of the US Republic. Designed as a classic response to the lynch mob fantasy of direct democracy, and the weakness of unaccountable monarchy, those behind the US constitution contrived a select form of paternal snobbery: ... More >>
Ignored Ironies: Women, Protest and Donald Trump
Monday, 23 January 2017, 12:25 pm | Binoy Kampmark
The USA has Urinary Trump Infection. Protest sign, San Francisco Women’s Rally, Jan 21, 2017 More >>
The Birth of Trumpland: Notes on an Inauguration
Saturday, 21 January 2017, 10:52 pm | Binoy Kampmark
With the country ridden by woe and revulsion; with the discontent so profound and vicious, the Trump presidency began. It did so by way of comparison – of the chalk-cheese variety. In 2008, when the shining armour of Knight Obama took centre stage, there ... More >>
Donald Trump and the History of an Alliance
Friday, 20 January 2017, 3:04 pm | Binoy Kampmark
It should be a point of some delicious reflection for peace activists who have fought for decades against the nature of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. It brought the US deep into West European affairs, turning European states into garrisons. It ... More >>
Scoundrels of Patriotism: The Freeing of Chelsea Manning
Friday, 20 January 2017, 2:12 pm | Binoy Kampmark
He might have had a sharp attack of conscience, but President Barack Obama decided, in the flickering days of his administration, to do good by Chelsea Manning, forever linked to WikiLeaks and the disclosure of US military war logs and 250,000 state ... More >>
Binoy Kampmark: Health Fears Ahead of Trump’s Inauguration
Tuesday, 17 January 2017, 4:51 pm | Binoy Kampmark
“Ain’t going to let no ego maniac turn me around, turn me around, keep on walking, keep on talking going to build ourselves a brand-new world.” Joan Baez, San Francisco, Jan 15, 2016 More >>
Zygmunt Bauman and the Rootless Condition
Friday, 13 January 2017, 1:02 pm | Binoy Kampmark
Modernity, as the late Zygmunt Bauman noted in his magisterially provocative Modernity and the Holocaust (1989) has not necessarily entailed enlightenment, the liberation from immaturity. Since the cave dweller existence, humanity has retained traditional ... More >>
Squeeze and Wiggle: Transport Chaos in London
Tuesday, 10 January 2017, 9:01 am | Binoy Kampmark
It has the air of being a well minted yet distinctly first world problem: inconvenienced commuters in one of the world’s first true megalopolises, gnashing their teeth as they are pushed and grounded together during the rush hour. All because of a strike ... More >>
Pollution, Dementia and the Modern Condition
Monday, 9 January 2017, 9:11 am | Binoy Kampmark
London. The journey from Tooting to the British Library tends to be a crowded affair at the best of times. More >>
Tony Abbott, Israel and Australian Foreign Policy
Thursday, 5 January 2017, 12:00 pm | Binoy Kampmark
He is one of Australia’s truly singular politicians, relentlessly zealous, hewn from the granite of an older fanaticism. Despise him, loathe him, but consider him for one fundamental point: he has escaped the management artists, the curbing focus ... More >>
The Trouble with Mary: The Fourth Series of Sherlock
Tuesday, 3 January 2017, 9:26 pm | Binoy Kampmark
There was much fanfare for the first episode of series 4 of the BBC’s Sherlock , which graced British television screens on New Year’s Day with its fair share of shock and delivery. It promises to be the first of three episodes, dangling the ... More >>
