Rupert Cornwell

Known for his commentary on international relations and US politics, Rupert Cornwell also contributes obituaries and occasionally even a column for the sports pages.

With The Independent since its launch in 1986, he was the paper's first Moscow correspondent - covering the collapse of the Soviet Union – during which time he won two British Press Awards. Previously a foreign correspondent for the Financial Times and Reuters, he has also been a diplomatic correspondent, leader writer and columnist, and has served as Washington bureau editor. In 1983 he published God's Banker, about Roberto Calvi, the Italian banker found hanging from Blackfriars Bridge.

Rupert Cornwell: Out of America

Could last week go down as the moment when the roof fell in for Barack Obama? True, just 48 hours before Tuesday's crucial primaries in Indiana and North Carolina, the pundits maintain – albeit with a mite less conviction than before – that the Illinois senator is still overwhelmingly likely to be his party's nominee after the last vote is cast in this extraordinary Democratic primary season. But something fundamental has changed.

Recently by Rupert Cornwell

Rupert Cornwell: We must never forget the evil inspired by Hitler's regime

Thursday, 1 May 2008

Why bother with these doddering, pathetic old men, some of whom surely are dead and the youngest of whom now are in their mid-80s, when witnesses to their crimes of more than 60 years ago are themselves either no longer alive, or their memories have been hopelessly corroded by age?

Rupert Cornwell: Curse this sheer dumb Republican luck!

Thursday, 24 April 2008

In my wallet is a chit for a $100 bet I took out last summer with a Republican friend that a Democrat would win the US Presidency in November. These days I peruse the chit with the equanimity of a Bear Stearns hedge fund manager watching the sub-prime mortgage market go up in smoke.

Rupert Cornwell: The PM, the Pope, and some political realities

Friday, 18 April 2008

How easy to mock Gordon Brown and his current visit to America. Once again, nature's brooding, seemingly pre-ordained number two is playing second fiddle. For a decade Tony Blair dominated the stage. Now, in the capital of Britain's most important ally, thanks to a quirk (or should one say blunder?) of diplomatic scheduling, he is being eclipsed by Pope Benedict XVI.

Rupert Cornwell: Out of America - The obsession with polygraphs ignores the problem of human fallibility

Sunday, 13 April 2008

The Pentagon, the mightiest source of military power on the planet, is also its mightiest source of acronyms. Who else could have turned Maids from household helps into Multipurpose Automatic Inspection and Diagnostic Systems? In terms of creepiness, however, few come close to PCASS: Preliminary Credibility Assessment Screening System for acronym buffs, but in plain English, the hand-held instant lie detector.

Rupert Cornwell: Out of America

Sunday, 6 April 2008

Thank heavens there's at least one thing that Barack Obama is lousy at. Anxious to polish his credentials as an ordinary Joe, the super-polished and super-cool Democratic contender ventured the other day into a bowling alley while campaigning in Pennsylvania and – not to put too fine a point on it – disgraced himself.

Rupert Cornwell: The world's lone superpower is on the wane

Wednesday, 19 March 2008

Even now, here in the US, if you turn off the radio or television blaring the latest news of financial apocalypse, you can pretend that it's still business as usual.

Rupert Cornwell: Out of America

Sunday, 16 March 2008

As in the wilderness, so in politics: don't mess with grizzly bears. That lesson has just been learnt the hard way by someone you would have thought was pretty good at looking after himself.

Rupert Cornwell: Out of America

Sunday, 9 March 2008

Americans love numbers, so here's a simple question. Which were the most important numbers last week for Hillary Clinton? You will surely reply 54 and 51, her share of the vote in the crucial primaries of Ohio and Texas, given that defeat in either would almost certainly have meant the end of her presidential campaign.

Rupert Cornwell: Out of America

Sunday, 2 March 2008

Whatever happened to American conservatism? Last week saw the death of William Buckley, founder of the National Review magazine and prime intellectual architect of three decades of Republican political dominance here. He was mourned scarcely less by the liberals he tormented than by the Republicans who revered him.

Rupert Cornwell: Out of America

Sunday, 24 February 2008

Maybe it was her finest campaign moment to date. The candidate's guard dropped; the carefully honed policy statements were cast aside, and Hillary Clinton spoke not from her head but her heart – poignant and wistful, as if in graceful acceptance of a fate that could no longer be avoided.

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