WTF!?
No way!
No.Why?
Why have they given it to an American president whose been in office all of 30 seconds? He hasn't really done anything has he? He hasn't had any time to do anything yet. They were already winding it down in Iraq after the "surge" - so that's not really his doing - and they are ramping it up in Afghanistan - which is more warfare under his watch... for which he gets (I can't even say it) - the prize. ? Medvedev and Obama signed a reduction programme for nukes a month or so ago, but that's a joint initiative - not Obama's alone.
Is this a prank?
"for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples,"
- Extraordinary. I wouldn't have thought so.
Looks official - no prank. They're serious:
For the record (because I've lost a pub quiz question on this even though I was right) the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo, Norway (by a Norwegian committee) - the rest of them are awarded in Stockholm, Sweden.
Press release:
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The Committee has attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations. Thanks to Obama's initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened.
Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population.
For 108 years, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has sought to stimulate precisely that international policy and those attitudes for which Obama is now the world's leading spokesman. The Committee endorses Obama's appeal that "Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges."
Oslo, October 9, 2009
So it's a snub to George W Bush and an encouragement to his successor not to be like George W Bush. That's how I read it.
posted by Tim Selwyn @ 11:53 am
10 comments
10 Comments:
IN HIS 1895 WILL, ALFRED NOBEL STATED THAT THE PEACE PRIZE SHOULD HAVE GONE TO PEOPLE LIKE HELEN CLARK FOR THE SCRAPPING OF 17 TRAINER JETS (aermacchis) AND 17 FIGHTER JETS (skyhawks) OR THE STRIKE AIR FORCE "AND THE ABOLITION OR REDUCTION OF STANDING ARMIES" AND HER VALIANT OPPOSITION AT THE TIME TO THE IRAQ WAR NOT BEING SANCTIONED BY THE REQUIRED U.N RESOLUTION FROM THE SECURITY COUNCIL AND EVEN THEN WAR IS ONLY LEGAL IN SELF DEFENCE.
Common Misconceptions about the Nobel Peace Prize
_ Myth: The prize is awarded to recognize efforts for peace, human rights and democracy only after they have proven successful.
More often, the prize is awarded to encourage those who receive it to see the effort through, sometimes at critical moments.
Even more interesting is the process.
September: invitation letters are sent out (Obama was still campaigning, he was still the leader of the opposition)
February: Deadline for Submission (Obama was only sworn as president in 20th Jan or 21st -thereabouts)
February - March: they write the short list already, (Obama is still on political honeymoon)
March - August: Advisor review.
October: Nobel laureates are chosen! (well I guess that just happened. All hail to Obama)
December: Nobel Laureates receive their prize.
Surely never was a Nobel Prize least deserved or worked for.
What do you expect?
Didn't Henry Kissinger get one?
Let's hope this is a catalyst and a good kick in arse for Obama to actually practice peace in the middle east and make some change.
Remember folks, he was put into office through clever mass propaganda by the few that really control the world. This is either going to force real change or it will be a huge PR problem for this administration.
Might force Obama to think hard about his war mongering...
It's a "hopefully thinking" award in the case of Obama! Yassir Arafat won it in the same manner... We all saw what that did for peace in the middle east - Arafat was mysteriously taken gravely ill and died. Some people in the know claim his illness was not a natural one, and that Mossad was behind his demise - I wonder if there are a few drams left in the bottle - maybe enough for a 6'3" and very fit US Black President?
Ron Paul on Obama receiving Nobel Peace Prize. Foreign Policy 101 folks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbcDk-bNoc8&feature=player_embedded
Arafat was mysteriously taken gravely ill and died. Some people in the know claim his illness was not a natural one,
That fact that he was a frail old man with medical problems had nothing to do with his death?
Sam, prove you assertion with a link, or go sit in the conspiracy corner.
The U.N. Security Council washed its hands of Iraq despite the secretary
generals disapproval and left it to the U.S. and U.K. to go it alone in
violation of the U.N. Charter.
To put the war in a broader context the U.N. became more obedient to
Washington
and London after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the
cold war.
The U.S indifference of U.N. instructions for peace and the U.S and
Britain
vetoes of Security Council resolutions against War were an
outrage.Instead they
claimed that they had UN resolutions supporting this illegal invasion in
revenge for 9/11!
PGB?
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