Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Jeff Goldberg On "Chamberlain" Cohen

Andrew writes of Roger Cohen:
He too saw this coming, and was vilified by the usual suspects for reaching for peace. If you want to read classic old media journalism by a reporter with passion and courage, his missive tonight is as good as it gets. Cohen proves the old media is not dead. May it rise again.
On behalf of the "usual suspects," let me just say this: Roger Cohen in no way "saw this coming." In fact, he made a name for himself internationally as one of the leading Western apologists for Khamenei and Ahmadinejad, arguing that the regime was substantially benign and that engagement with these murderers was practically a moral necessity. He saw nothing coming, nothing at all. He has even admitted as much. To his credit, last week he wrote: "I erred in underestimating the brutality and cynicism of a regime that understands the uses of ruthlessness."