Cultures of Death: Pope Francis, Apology and Child Abuse
It was long overdue, but Pope Francis’s letter of condemnation and apology regarding the abuse of children by Catholic priests did sent a few ripples […]
Articles by Dr Binoy Kampmark
Prime Ministerial Chaos: Turnbull’s Last Days
No one is in charge in Australia. Monday’s leadership challenge by Home Affairs minister, the potato-headed former police officer Peter Dutton, was cutting enough to […]
Charisma and Banality: Kofi Annan and the UN
Being the head of a creature essentially without spine, and, even more to the point, with vague form, must be something of a challenge. Part […]
Readying Knives: The Mortality of Australian Prime Ministers
The opinion poll prime ministership is a modern Australian disease. Not only does it suggest an ailing in the Westminster system, but a profound contempt […]
Warring against Encryption: Australian proposals for the Tech Giants
What is it with Australia’s law enforcement authorities? Their uncontrollable appetite for encrypted data – primarily the data of private users – is so voracious […]
Great Barrier Reef Politics
Australia’s environment has been in precarious hands since European settlement found its lengthy and persistent way to the continent. It has been mined, mauled, drained, […]
Meaningless Titles and Liveable Cities: Melbourne loses to Vienna
The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has gone about its annual business of releasing its World’s Most Liveable City index, the sort of flotsam that matters […]
Using the Burka: Boris Johnson’s Bid for Popularity
Comedy, Boris Johnson, and the Tories – these three share a certain comforting, if chaotic affinity, lobbed together in some nightmarish union that risks consuming […]
Authoritarian Revocations: Australia, Terrorism and Citizenship
Contrary to any popular perceptions of Australia’s legal system, a dislike of rights reigns with pious conviction on both sides of the political aisle. Rights […]
Trump versus Journalism: The Travails of Fourth Estate
You have to give it to him: President Donald Trump loathes the Fourth Estate with a dedication verging on caricature. He splutters at the members […]
Banning Alex Jones and Infowars
He is treated as the bogeyman of conspiracy entertainment, and Alex Jones has become a prominent figure for advancing a host of unsavoury views. High […]
The Non-University and the Manager
We have been seeing over the last few decades the birth of the non-university, an institution hollowed out of its seminal functions: teaching and scholarship. […]
The Lasting Condition: Drought in Australia
Humans are a funny species. They create settlements along fault lines that, on moving, can create catastrophe, killing thousands. They construct homes facing rivers that […]
Trillion Dollar Companies: The Apple Empire and Concentrated Markets
It seems a distant reality, or nightmare now: a company that was near defunct in 1996, now finding itself at the imperial pinnacle of the […]
Fought to the Table: Talks with the Taliban
“Attempting to control rural areas in Afghanistan always eventually ends up boiling down to personal survival” (Evan McAllister, former Marine staff sergeant, New York Times, […]