Sunday, October 11, 2009

Peace prize or war prize to Obama?

Nasir Khan, October 10, 2009

According to the normal practice the Nobel Peace Prize is to be
awarded to someone who has contributed to the cause of peace. In
President Obama’s case, we see no such evidence. On the contrary,
since taking office he has escalated and extended the war of
aggression in Afghanistan which his predecessor Bush had started.

American pilotless drones target Pakistani territory and kill people
there with impunity. The ever-increasing death-toll of Afghans and
Pakistanis) at the hands of US-led occupation forces shows the reality of this president’s policies. Obama is following the criminal war policies of his immediate predecessor. From Gitmo to Iraq and to the Occupied Territories of the Palestinians his promises have been
futile; he has backed down on each of his policy statements he had
tossed around.

Except for his empty rhetoric, Obama has produced no concrete results; neither has he shown any consistent and steadfast line of action to pursue the goals for which people around the world had hoped for. His nuclear disarmament statement is praiseworthy, but his warmongering does not entitle him to the peace prize. I suggest that this award should be called War Prize to President Obama. Those in the Nobel Committee who have chosen him for the award have made a joke of the term ‘peace’ once again.

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4 comments:

ratty said...

Quite, this and last year's award make a mockery of the prize which is a great shame.

Do you have any ideas as to why, in an age already dominated by those who get publicity, people with teams of media experts get the award?

In the past the prize has been used to draw attention to people fighting forgotten causes.

Nasir Khan said...

Ratty, I try to focus on those who are victims of wars, institutionalized oppression and injustice at the hands of the powerful states and powerful people. If you look at my postings you will see how I try to inform about such causes as much as I can, which you rightly call 'forgotten causes'.

ratty said...

I know that you do, but what are the Nobel prize committee playing at then?

What is their reason for doing this? Publicity for Norway when the Obama show hits town? Are they trying to influence poilicy in Afghanistan or the middle east? Are they trying to bring popularity to the prize itself. Perhaps it is a snub at George Bush, which would be very childish.

What is the remit given by Nobel to the commitee? I am sure that they have gone outside of it in the last few years.

Nasir Khan said...

You may find an article in Wikipedia of interest that deals with Norwegian Nobel Committee:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_Nobel_Committee

If the aim of the Committee (your question) was to seek publicity then they have made a mess. By the way, they have not done so for the first time! Such actions and decisions have brought Norway in bad light internationally. This time a famous American historian Howard Zinn has advocated that the task of handling the peace prize should be given back to Sweden; Norwegians are not able to manage such a task. I have certain sympathy with his views. It will save Norway from further embarrassments.

Finally, the question of Norway influencing American polices in Afghanistan or the Middle East.Norway does not and cannot influence the foreign policy of the United States. It is a small country, and its influence in such matters is non-existent. However, it faithfully follows what the State Department decides.