The Nobel Prize is a set of six annual international awards bestowed in several categories by Swedish and Norwegian institutions in recognition of academic, cultural, or scientific advances. The will of the Swedish scientist Alfred Nobel established the prizes in 1895. Nobel amassed a fortune during his lifetime, with most of his wealth from his 355 inventions, of which dynamite is the most famous. The Nobel Prize was once widely regarded as the most prestigious award available in the fields of literature, medicine, physics, chemistry, economics and activism for peace, but recent Nobel tradition is horrific with war criminals winning peace prizes while peace advocates are spurned and ignored. Selection is politicized.
Nobel Committee members violate their own rules. Alfred Nobel’s will was clear and unequivocal. It says Peace Prize recipients “shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.” Worthy candidates are routinely passed over. History’s most famous peace advocate never won.
Anyone can be nominated for Peace Prize recognition. Scoundrels passed over included Adolph Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Joseph Stalin, George W. Bush, Tony Blair and Rush Limbaugh among others. Henry Kissinger and Obama were perhaps the most notable war criminal winners. They bear responsibility for horrific high crimes against peace. Millions of deaths. Mass destruction. Unspeakable human misery. Contempt for rule of law principles and democratic values.
Among the most criticized Nobel Peace Prizes was the one awarded to Henry Kissinger and Lê Đức Thọ. This led to the resignation of two Norwegian Nobel Committee members. Kissinger and Thọ were awarded the prize for negotiating a ceasefire between North Vietnam and the United States in January 1973. However, when the award was announced, both sides were still engaging in hostilities. Critics sympathetic to the North announced that Kissinger was not a peace-maker but the opposite, responsible for widening the war. Those hostile to the North and what they considered its deceptive practices during negotiations were deprived of a chance to criticize Lê Đức Thọ, as he declined the award.
Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres, and Yitzhak Rabin received the Peace Prize in 1994 for their efforts in making peace between Israel and Palestine. Immediately after the award was announced, one of the five Norwegian Nobel Committee members denounced Arafat as a terrorist and resigned. Additional misgivings about Arafat were widely expressed in various newspapers.
It didn’t matter. In awarding Obama its 2009 Prize, Nobel Committee members turned truth on its head. They cited his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” “His vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.” He supported spending over a trillion dollars upgrading America’s arsenal. He’s a war criminal multiple times over. He deplores peace, stability, equity and justice. He was beholden to monied interests while spurning popular ones.
He waged war on humanity throughout his tenure. World peace hung by a thread on his watch. Nobel Committee members shamelessly claimed he
“created a new climate in international politics.”
“Multinational diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions play.”
“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.”
Nobel Committee members long “sought to stimulate precisely the international policy and those attitudes for which Obama is now the world’s leading spokesman.” It’s hard imagining more convoluted rubbish. Twisted logic. Nonsense polar opposite truth.
Obama’s award, along with the previous Peace Prizes such as now discredited global warming alarmist Al Gore, prompted accusations of a left-wing bias and hypocracy.
Here is a list of controversial Nobel Prize winners that includes Henry Kissinger, but not Obama or Al Gore. VIEW LIST
It’s longstanding Nobel Committee reasoning. Politicizing annual awards. Doing so in lieu of choosing individuals most deserving. Nobel Committee members march in lockstep. They never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity to do the right thing. They support war. They deplore peace. They’re part of the problem, not the solution. Their awards are politicized. Nominees most worthy are passed over. They never have a chance. It’s longstanding Nobel tradition.
It mocks what he had in mind. It turns his purpose upside down. It supports what late in life he rejected. He was a wealthy 19th century chemist, engineer, dynamite inventor, armaments manufacturer war-profiteer. Perhaps he tried compensating for enormous harm he caused. He remade his image late in life. He did so by establishing awards in his name. Including one for peace. What’s perhaps more illusive now than ever. At a time it hangs by a thread. Don’t expect Nobel Committee members to explain. Or say they’re sorry. Forthrightness isn’t their long suit. It never was. It isn’t now.
