Alexander Cockburn

This page is on the journalist Alexander Cockburn. For the Lord Chief Justice of that name, see Sir Alexander Cockburn, 12th Baronet.

Alexander Claud Cockburn (pronounced coburn) (born June 6, 1941) is a radical Irish journalist who has lived and worked in the United States since 1973. Together with Jeffrey St. Clair he edits the political newsletter Counterpunch. He also writes the "Beat the Devil" column for The Nation and a weekly syndicated column for the Los Angeles Times. Cockburn is also a regular contributor to the Anderson Valley Advertiser.

Born in Scotland, Cockburn grew up in County Cork, Ireland, son of the well-known Socialist author and journalist Claud Cockburn. After studying at Oxford, Alexander worked in London as a reporter and commentator, and after moving to the United States wrote extensively for numerous publications, including The New York Review of Books, Esquire, and Harper's. Until 1983 Cockburn was a writer with the The Village Voice, originating its longstanding "Press Clips" column, but he was suspended for accepting a grant from a Palestinian organization without disclosing this. He left the publication upon being offered the "Beat the Devil" column with The Nation. Since leaving the Voice he has also written columns for the Wall Street Journal, New York Press and New Statesman and Society.

Other the years, Cockburn has consistently pushed certain themes in his writings (for evidence, see his writings on Counterpunch or the books listed below). These include:

• Outspoken criticism of US foreign policy, from its policies in Central America in the 1980s, to the First Gulf War in 1991, the Kosovo War in 1999, and the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and 2003 invasion of Iraq .
• Hostility to the state of Israel based on its treatment of the Palestinians.
• Calls for political reform in the United States, mostly focused on criticising the Democratic Party for failing to provide a progessive alternative to the Republican Party, as well as strong support for Ralph Nader's presidential candidacies in the 2000 and 2004 elections.
• Contempt for the liberal establishment, in particular for public figures who are not sufficiently committed to radical causes by his standards or who, in his view, garner mainstream respectability by criticising those to their left; targets have included the New York Times, representative Bernie Sanders, the late academic Irving Howe and The Nation colleagues such as Marc Cooper, David Corn [1] (http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn1114.html) and Eric Alterman;
• a particular animus towards fellow ex-patriot and former friend, Christopher Hitchens . Cockburn frequently highlights Hitchens's alcohol intake [[2] (http://www.counterpunch.org/snitch.html).

At times acerbic, Cockburn can also be gently ironic, once declaring Gerald Ford America's greatest president for doing the least damage and praising the Lewinsky scandal's entertainment value.[3] (http://www.wsws.org/news/1998/sep1998/cbrn-s02.shtml) In the same vein, he has also expressed his admiration for the beauty of both Tipper Gore and Laura Bush.

Cockburn has two brothers, Andrew Cockburn and Patrick Cockburn who are also journalists. Journalist Laura Flanders is his niece.

Books

• Idle Passion: Chess and the Dance of Death (1975)
• Smoke: Another Jimmy Carter Adventure (1978)
• Corruptions of Empire (1988)
• The Fate of Forest: Developers, Destroyers and Defenders of the Amazon (1989) (with Susanna Hecht)
• The Golden Age Is in Us: Journeys and Encounters (1995)
• Whiteout: The CIA, Drugs and the Press (1998) (with Jeffrey St. Clair)
• Washington Babylon (1995) (with Ken Silverstein)
• Five Days That Shook The World: The Battle for Seattle and Beyond (2000) (with Jeffrey St. Clair)
• Al Gore: A User's Manual (2000) (with Jeffrey St. Clair)
• Counterpunch: The Journalism That Rediscovers America (2002) (with Jeffrey St. Clair)
• Trials of Sex (with Jeffrey St. Clair)
• The Politics of Anti-Semitism 2003 (co-edited with Jeffrey St. Clair)
• Dimes Worth of Difference 2004 (co-edited with Jeffrey St. Clair)

Compact disk

• Beating the Devil: The Incendiary Rants of Alexander Cockburn

External link

• Counterpunch website (http://www.counterpunch.org)