45 Facts About Roger Cohen

Roger Cohen was born on 2 August 1955 and is a journalist and author.

Roger Cohen is a reporter and former editor and columnist for The New York Times, and the International Herald Tribune.

Roger Cohen has worked as a foreign correspondent in fifteen countries and was named Paris bureau chief in October 2020.

Roger Cohen won a scholarship and would have entered College, the scholars' House, but was told that a Jew could not attend College or hold his particular scholarship.

In 1973, Roger Cohen travelled with friends throughout the Middle East, including Iran and Afghanistan.

Roger Cohen drove a Volkswagen Kombi named 'Pigpen' after the late keyboard-playing frontman of the Grateful Dead.

Roger Cohen left that year for Paris to teach English and to write for Paris Metro.

Roger Cohen died there in 1999 and was buried in Johannesburg.

In 1983, Roger Cohen joined The Wall Street Journal in Rome to cover the Italian economy.

Roger Cohen joined The New York Times in January 1990.

Roger Cohen worked for The New York Times as its European economic correspondent, based in Paris, from January 1992 to April 1994.

Roger Cohen then became the paper's Balkan bureau chief, based in Zagreb, from April 1994 to June 1995.

Roger Cohen covered the Bosnian War and the related Bosnian Genocide.

Roger Cohen's expose of a Serb-run Bosnian concentration camp won the Burger Human Rights Award from the Overseas Press Club of America.

Roger Cohen wrote a retrospective book about his Balkan experiences called Hearts Grown Brutal: Sagas of Sarajevo in 1998.

Roger Cohen wrote in Hearts Grown Brutal that his coverage of the war changed him as a person, and that he considers himself lucky to still be alive.

Roger Cohen later called this period the proudest achievement in his entire journalistic career.

Roger Cohen returned to the paper's Paris bureau from June 1995 to August 1998.

Roger Cohen served as chief of the Berlin bureau after September 1998.

Roger Cohen was then stuck in diplomatic limbo for several hours.

Roger Cohen has called this the most embarrassing moment in his career.

Roger Cohen has written columns for the Times since then.

Roger Cohen criticised the Bush administration's handling of the occupation while still supporting the cause given the brutality of Saddam Hussein's regime.

Roger Cohen opposed the 2007 'surge' of troops into Iraq.

In November 2008, Roger Cohen stated that "gains are real but fragile" in Iraq.

Roger Cohen criticised Democratic candidate Barack Obama's calls for a 16-month withdrawal from the country, calling it irresponsible.

Roger Cohen wrote that "we're going to have to play buffer against the dominant Shia for several years".

Roger Cohen wrote a series of articles for The New York Times in February 2009 about a trip to Iran.

Roger Cohen defended his views and analysis on Iran and Israel to a partly hostile audience.

Roger Cohen argued that the results of the June 2009 Iranian presidential election were fabricated, and incumbent President Ahmadinejad "cheated" his way to victory over reformist Mir Hussein Moussavi.

Roger Cohen replied that the pair were guilty of, amongst other things, "a cavalier disregard for the Islamic Republic's intermittent brutality", were "apologists without a conscience".

Roger Cohen wrote in January 2009 that the Israel-Palestinian conflict should not be seen by the United States as just another part of the War on Terrorism.

Roger Cohen called for the ending of Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank and the ending of the blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Roger Cohen supported the reconciling of Hamas with Fatah after their violent split.

Roger Cohen has accused Israelis of the "slaying of hundreds of Palestinian children" in the campaign.

On 8 November 2007, Roger Cohen described the then $10 billion given to the Pakistani government and $22 billion given to the Afghan government as "self-defeating".

Roger Cohen called Pakistani leader Pervez Musharraf "a dictator with a gentleman's itch".

Roger Cohen stated that "the US must stick with him and maintain aid for now", but it should press Musharraf for more political reforms.

In September 2008, Roger Cohen stated that only the Afghan people themselves can win the war.

Notwithstanding these positives, in said op-ed Roger Cohen still acknowledges that Fox News has "made a significant contribution to the polarization of American politics".

Roger Cohen received an Overseas Press Club award for his coverage of third world debt in 1987, the Inter-American Press Association "Tom Wallace" Award for feature writing in 1989.

In 2012, Roger Cohen won the Lifetime Achievement award at the 8th annual International Media Awards in London.

Roger Cohen was first married to Katherine Lund and had two children.

Roger Cohen subsequently was married to the sculptor Frida Baranek and had two more children.

Roger Cohen wrote a remembrance of Holbrooke five months later after the diplomat's unexpected death.