Barack Obama has won the Nobel Peace Prize.

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warpie

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 7, 2009
Messages
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ok then, can someone explain me why he won the prize cause I'm a bit confused here.
Has he done anything of what he promised so far (guantanamo, Iraq war, afghanistan, etc.)?
I might be missing something...
 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8298580.stm

I agree that now the Nobel committee has made a radical decision, based mostly not on what he has done so far but on other factors which you can read from that link.

So, this _is_ quite "weird" in a way, usually people have to wait for their prizes for 10-40 years after they have been proven to be important in their field. Obama certainly didn't have the time yet. Give him some time. Call me naive if you want but looking from here things have changed _a lot_. It is all about contrast.

Peace :)

Jonte


 
I don't know much about him or his background
but the honeymoon seems to over
i mean WHO could fix all those problems
and how many terms will it take to turn it all around

maybe they see this as keeping the world in a positive trend
[ not sinking it and all the economies  ]
 
usually people have to wait for their prizes for 10-40 years after they have been proven to be important in their field

exactly, I mean if he doesn't do anything he promised what is gonna happen? Is he gonna return the prize? Is it some kind of 'in advance' prize?
I don't know, it might be just me but I think that Nobel Prize loosing its prestige and looks like another political 'toy' in situations like this.
anyway, personal opinion.  :)
 
warpie said:
usually people have to wait for their prizes for 10-40 years after they have been proven to be important in their field

exactly, I mean if he doesn't do anything he promised what is gonna happen? Is he gonna return the prize? Is it some kind of 'in advance' prize?
I don't know, it might be just me but I think that Nobel Prize loosing its prestige and looks like another political 'toy' in situations like this.
anyway, personal opinion.  :)

The nobel committee crossed that bridge into politics a long time ago...  They gave Obama the award pretty much because he isn't Bush. Even Obama publicly admitted he doesn't feel like he deserves it in his statement today. Actually smart politics on his part as people are getting a little weary of the press fawning over him.

I'll wait to see how he answers the troop request for Afghanistan.. If he doesn't support the effort there we'll all get an award from the Taliban and Alkeida and it won't be peace.

JR

 
Jonte Knif said:
usually people have to wait for their prizes for 10-40 years after they have been proven to be important in their field. 

Yeah, Y. Arafat for example, got his prize after many decades proving himself as an important bandit and terrorist... 
Go figure.

Best, M
 
JohnRoberts said:
The nobel committee crossed that bridge into politics a long time ago...  They gave Obama the award pretty much because he isn't Bush. Even Obama publicly admitted he doesn't feel like he deserves it in his statement today. Actually smart politics on his part as people are getting a little weary of the press fawning over him.

Exactly.

Bush was a warmonger and the whole world felt the effects. I hated the Bush years. I hated reading the news because it was always mindless, directionless war drums being beaten. It's not that I'm opposed to war in general. I just think war should be fought with some regard for the reason and what makes sense.

Obama hasn't solved any wars. But he has changed the entire international dialog and striven to move it in the direction of peace. In that respect he's done more than many who I'm sure have won before. How long it's taken is irrelevant. They are rewarding the spirit he was elected in. And they are giving him a political vote of confidence to strengthen his position in international negotiations.

As far as I'm concerned, it's premature, but definitely a positive.
 
Does anyone else think it interesting that this presentation was made just before the decision on the additional troops for Afghanistan?
Bruno2000
 
Last years price went to Martti Ahtisaari, the former president of Finland (1994-2000). One would think that we all here would have been super duper proud, but the fact is that he was not particularly popular as a politician, he actually came pretty directly from Namibia to the scene.

The Nobel statement said that Ahtisaari has played a prominent role in resolving many conflicts in Namibia, Indonesia, Kosovo and Iraq, among other areas.

It took me a while to understand that this actually was true, and he didn't get the price as the president, my image of him was not quite right, and that he really did accomplish a lot in other fields.

Anyhow, to the point:

It is true that Nobel Laureates for peace get their prizes a bit earlier than scientists perhaps sometimes to really try to force some attention to be paid to any particular crisis/government. It is easy to see that Crick and Watson did great job, Marie Curie too and nothing is going to change that. But politics is such a complex field and situations change, perspectives change that it would be impossible to be 100% sure that the price is given to right person. Persons can turn "evil", loose their idealism, beat their wives etc. DNA can not. History is rewritten all the time and usually by the winners.

About the political side. Now, lets take any opposition leader or human rights "fighter". He/she is by default going to be a political figure and the price is going to have political "message". How are you going to give Peace prize always safely to persons with _no_ bridge into politics. As long as the opposing side is something like Burma, we all agree that it was right.

Lets take Nelson Mandela. He got the price in 1993. South Africa held its first multi-racial elections in 1994 and started to loosen the apartheid in 1990. How political is that?

Aung San Suu Kyi as a Laureate on the other hand is not going to bother us too much. But how about next price to some of the journalists still alive in Russia, somebody trying to work to expose delicate issues in Chechnya. Putin would obviously not be too happy about it, and the political message would be extremely strong, even harmful. I think we should be happy that at least sometimes the price is politically acute and feel sorry that some powers are just a bit too strong to be irritated.

Does anyone else think it interesting that this presentation was made just before the decision on the additional troops for Afghanistan?

I dunno, at least they don't change the day and the vote has been done before, I guess :)

Just my 5 pennies,

Jonte
 
I'm gonna bring peace to the middle east myself in a few years.  Seriously, I promise.  Where's mine?

I agree with JR.  This isn't for Obama, it's against Bush.  I myself got lots of "at least your not like your brother" awards when I was a kid.  I know how Obama feels.

My next peeve is that more often than not, the prize in chemistry is awarded for progress in biology (yeah, yeah, yeah.... I know, it's biochemistry).

-Chris
 
Either way obama is a good dude,peace prize worthy.....not yet.as far as the previous post(dont get me wrong im i hated bush)but iraq was a a given for us,how many people in iraq were killed by sadam?anyone?he was the next hitler plus at that time iraq controlled oil trade and were cutting us of if we dont have oil we cant protect ourselves against our enemies so it was a national security issue....bush picked a bad time to invade iraq or he could have been upfront but there are rules for engaging in war due to the u.n. You cant just invade a country for nothing so he exploited the whole 9/11 thing.....we cannot just leave iraq we destroyed that country and we try to rebuild but rebels just keep attacking so were stuck in iraq its not obamas fault....our economy isnt obamas fault either so screw the press it gets so out of hand....
And for the record we are supposedly chasing binladen so thats why we keep invading...so many people hate obama and i just dont get it what would you do if you had to protect billions of people? He will definatly earn the peace prize in due time but he doesnt control who gives it to him so why bash the guy for it?
 
obama_nazi_communist_muslim_peace.jpg
 
clintrubber said:

Don't ya just love shoehorning things into convenient little packages for the masses (aka sheep).

I think the talking heads / pundits call this 'framing an issue'

From http://www.manlyrash.com/blog/remember-its-only-hate-when-we-do-it

   Experts who track hate groups across the U.S. are growing increasingly concerned over violent rhetoric targeted at President Obama, especially as the debate over health care intensifies and a pattern of threats emerges.

   The Secret Service is investigating a Maryland man who held a sign reading “Death to Obama” and “Death to Michelle and her two stupid kids” outside a town hall meeting this week. And in New Hampshire, another man stood across the street from a Presidential town hall with his gun on full display.

Here ya go, now they can be buddies.

bush_hitler.jpg


Mark
 
The Nobel Peace prize has been a worthless advert for popularity since before WWII...funny the people who got it prior to WWII were actually at fault for allowing the war in the first place...so the few years during the war where one was not handed out is quite ironic.
 
:shiver:
Is that Bush, or Mel Brooks from "To Bo Or Not To Be"     
"Heil Hitler"  "Heil Hitler!"  "Heil Hitler!!". . . . ."Heil myself!"
That movie is a diamond tiara in Mel's creative jewel box.  I hope he can score that for B-way next. . .
Mike
PS: Eff Matthew Broderick.  P-tuuh!!!
 
One can not argue that getting a Nobel Peace Prize within the first 8 months into his Presidency is not odd, if not down right mind boggling. So much so that "fat boy" Rush Limbaugh said, "I'm on the same side of something with the Taliban, and that we all are on the same side as the Taliban."  How screwy is that?  I think Rush has really lost it now. 

Anyway- Word from the Nobel Committee is that they bestowed this honor on Obama, because of his movement to reduce nuclear weapons. And some feel that by awarding him with this prize, it will hopefully elevate or legitimize  Obama as a man of real change, and the US in the eyes of the world again; that the world may become a safer place, that it's not the same old "business as usual" BS; that would be, the lies and deceit that we had with Bush.

As out of the blue that this all is. I think they took a calculated risk. In that; Obama is now held to a higher level of performance, i.e. his feet are now held to the fire. 
 
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