{"id":3734,"date":"2012-07-21T18:17:30","date_gmt":"2012-07-21T23:17:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/?p=3734"},"modified":"2012-07-21T18:38:14","modified_gmt":"2012-07-21T23:38:14","slug":"alexander-cockburn-rip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/21\/alexander-cockburn-rip\/","title":{"rendered":"Alexander Cockburn, RIP"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alexander Cockburn<\/strong>, one of the best and most courageous writers of our time, has passed away after a two year fight with cancer.\u00a0 I was a huge fan of his writings from the Kosovo\/Serbian war onwards. He saw through and skewered the Clinton\/Albright BS on that disgraceful, unprovoked NATO aggression as well as anybody.\u00a0 I met him at an FFF conference in 2008.\u00a0 He was a superb speaker, with a rare combination of wit, grace, and insight.\u00a0 Shooting the bull with him after his talk, I realized that he was as jovial in person as he was in print.<\/p>\n

It always riled me that the mainstream American media lionized his fellow Brit, Christopher Hitchens – who ditched his principles and became a bloodlusting warmonger – and often ignored Cockburn, who never flinched after 9\/11.\u00a0 I had hoped that as time passed, Cockburn would reap more of the laurels he richly deserved.\u00a0 Unfortunately, any literary justice for Cockburn will arrive posthumously.<\/p>\n

Along with his excellent co-editor Jeffrey St. Clair, Alex ran the zesty, world-class hell-raising website, Counterpunch<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0 That was one of the few websites that welcomed my hardline views as the war on terror mushroomed and ravaged Americans\u2019 rights and liberties.\u00a0 I especially appreciated that Counterpunch did not balk at humorous riffs that made other editors I dealt with cringe, if not moan.<\/p>\n

In his writings, Alex fought doggedly to make the world a fairer and more peaceful place.\u00a0\u00a0 That is a legacy that will inspire other writers and activists long after his passing.<\/p>\n

Jeffrey has a nice\u00a0 tribute to Alex here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

James Bovard<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alexander Cockburn, one of the best and most courageous writers of our time, has passed away after a two year fight with cancer.\u00a0 I was a huge fan of his writings from the Kosovo\/Serbian war onwards. He saw through and skewered the Clinton\/Albright BS on that disgraceful, unprovoked NATO aggression as well as anybody.\u00a0 I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[95,20,96,17],"class_list":["post-3734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-alexander-cockburn","tag-ashcroft","tag-counterpunch","tag-elective-dictatorship"],"yoast_head":"\nAlexander Cockburn, RIP - James Bovard<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/21\/alexander-cockburn-rip\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Alexander Cockburn, RIP - James Bovard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Alexander Cockburn, one of the best and most courageous writers of our time, has passed away after a two year fight with cancer.\u00a0 I was a huge fan of his writings from the Kosovo\/Serbian war onwards. 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