Shooting at Hurricane Irma: The Seriousness of Humour
It has all the ingredients of screwball standup comedy, the necessary corrective to end-of-the-world scenarios. “And there she was, Irma, blowing herself through the room […]
Articles by Dr Binoy Kampmark
Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel Prizes and the Rohingyas
Scratch the skin of a saint, claimed George Orwell, and you are bound to find a sinner with an extensive resume. Such resumes are evaluated […]
Taking Aim: WikiLeaks, Congress and Hostile Agencies
Various scribbles have started to pepper the conversation started by the adventurous Mike Pompeo after he branded WikiLeaks a hostile intelligence agency before the Center […]
Beggars for War: The US, North Korea and Bankruptcy
The statement before members of the United Nations Security Council was both brash and high strung. The US ambassador had clearly decided that firm words […]
Lacking Transparency: Israeli Drones and Australian Defence
“Give us the chance to compete, to see our capabilities, to compare, to see the benefit we can bring with our [drone] system” (Shaul Shahar, […]
Unnerving the Donald: North Korea’s Sixth Nuclear Test
We are now into reckless territory with the latest North Korean nuclear test – in all probability a genuine hydrogen weapon – sending the ever […]
The Flawed Institution: Australian Marriage and the Same-Sex Debate
It’s a pretty curious thing to see: marriage being defended at all. Like slavery, and not necessarily inconsistent with it, marriage is an institution. It […]
Spinning Triumphs: Bangladesh’s victory over Australia
The cricket punter will be delighted by this result. Those favouring status quos and sides with long stretches of dominance will not. The first test […]
Durable Conspiracies: Twenty Years after Princess Diana’s Death
It has been two decades, and a stocktake of the conspiracy theories over the circumstances of Princess Diana’s death in the Pont de l’Alma road […]
The Myth of the Liveable City
In 2016, the Melbourne-based Herald Sun claimed with some consternation that Melbourne was “set to lose its status as the world’s most liveable city.” That […]
The Korean Powder Keg
It was famously dubbed the European power keg, a term deemed appropriate by such strategists as German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. Such figures feared the […]
Resting Sea Shepherd: A Pause in the Whale War Saga
What a colourful run this outfit has had. Branded in 2013 by Judge Alex Kozinski of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit […]
Loving the Bollard: Turnbull’s Anti-Terror Tool Kit
It has been a week of bollards. And defence barriers. And hedges and vegetation. No, not the radio garden hour, or the herbaceous borders special […]
Lying about Citizenship: Australian Politicians before the High Court
It was nothing short of fabulous. Before the public, the political lie is deemed an imperative, instinctively cultured to repel anything that might appear, let […]
The Rise of the Killer Robot
“As companies building the technologies in artificial intelligence and robotics that may be repurposed to develop autonomous weapons, we feel especially responsible in raising this […]