Sun 11 Oct 2009
Why has Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize?
Posted by Canada / Pat Morin under Balkers
[19] Comments
There seem to be 2 lines of thinking. 1) The Norwegian Nobel Committee is making a criticism of the administration of George Bush about how they handled world affairs 2) They are telling Obama that world peace is what is now expected of him to live up to. The official statement from their website follows, and is posted at http://nobelpeaceprize.org/en_GB/home/announce-2009
Announcement
The Norwegian Nobel Committee
The Nobel Peace Prize for 2009
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
Thanks for digging that up Pat. They do refer above to a “new climate”. So the committee was not particularly concerned with upsetting Bush supporters – which they succeeded in doing with this announcement.
A lot of commentators are saying Obama won it for not being Bush… ;^)
That thrust of intense disdain for Obama’s predecessor, which Republicans still have largely not comprehended the reality of, is a big impetus behind the creation of Balkingpoints as well. After a few years of his confrontational presidency the world came to despise Bush en masse –
and that kind of a posture from the U.S. is just not going to cut it in the interdependent 21st Century. It was time to indicate to those who would find B/P, that many Americans rejected his approach to global relations as well.
And it’s not true that there is no success in 9 months of a changed posture: Obama and Hillary have broken through to new chapters with Russia, Cuba, Iran and just in the last few days both North Korea & Myanmar. They both showed up at the Fifth Summit of the Americas held in Trinidad and Tobago in April, which Bush never attended.
And in Ankara, Obama gave a speech in which he prodded Turkey to in some way acknowledge the genocide of Armenians in 1915, so that the two nations could finally normalize relations. That historic agreement, got signed two days ago.
I believe that the international community has realized tha M. Obama is trying his best to open communication, dialogue, and the use of diplomacy.
Something that was being neglected by the past Bush administration, and in my opinion I believe that the Bush administration alienated most of our foreign friends, probably for the lack of diplomacy that his administration practiced, or could have been his type of foreign policy.
And in general it was the arrogance that was practiced by such administration towards our foreign friends.
On the otherhand Mr. Obama is more open, and extending an open hand to all, and trying to unite all of our lost friends once again. And I believe that he is also gaining respect of some of our old enemeies as well.
I do hope that through open communication, dialogue, and sincere diplomacy, many controverses can be settled peacefully, but surely it will be a very hard hurdle to surpass, with internal opposition that he is being faced with.
Sammy, from Sicily
Ditto to the first two comments. In addition it should be noted (and considered by all in the US) that the world tends to regard the US as a “monolith” politically, and that the monolith is personified by the President. Contrast that with the UK, for example, where Brown may be despised, but since there is the enduring figure of the Queen, you don’t have to despise the whole country because you despise Brown or his policies.
The Bush administration’s attitude/ arrogance toward the rest of the world engendered hugely negative reaction from much of the world and managed to “tar the whole country with the same brush.”
In addition let it be said that the indifference to world opinion actually gave oxygen to such organisations as Al Quaeda.
Obama, whether you agree with what he’s doing or not, is different. He’s going about with such a different attitude that world leaders (and obviously the adjudication committee in Norway) see both the Administration and in fact the whole of the US in a different light – there is fresh air to breathe!
Now – whether their faith is justified remains to be seen. The proof of the pudding, as they say, is in the eating . . . .
I would say that Obama’s opponents in the U.S. are boisterous – they do control a good portion of the commercial media here – but also are ladened with very low credibility. They were in power for 20 of the 28 years of the Reagan/Bush Era, spanning 1981-2008. Their laissez-faire economic policies imploded, to the point of near collapse of the world banking system, and Bush II left office with the world virtually united against him.
The Republican leadership rubberstamped every part of it, and their followers have done no housecleaning of that leadership. It’s hard to recover when you don’t understand what has happened to you… ;^)
Jim that monolith dynamic is something I could sense when I built Balkingpoints. Even through the lense of a right-wing slanted (owned) major media – which usually just cheerled Bush’s foreign policies – Progressive Americans knew the administration leaving office had gone horribly wrong on the world stage. Although I’m a longstanding Clinton(s) supporter and
campaign worker, I could see that many parts of the world were supportive for the figure of Barack Obama, whatever that thing is that he presents. That gives you a start on repairs.
It can be common to define nations by their leadership, even though internal dissent exists within each. When it comes to international relations, we can make bad assumptions and decisions on incomplete understanding. That’s why I believe the WWW will be transformative as this century unfolds, not unlike how the printing press helped break down the feudal order. We can each use the technology and the medium as individuals, and eliminate those once-insurmountable barriers to direct communication. The leaders made the wars, the citizens will forge the peace…
I am very glad for President Obama, I support his dialog with other contrys and his efforts to help the uninsured and poor.
I just am concerned that in this case the cart went before the horse, he hasn’t actually gotton the job done on many issues. I also feel he hasn’t yet earned this award. I feel others were passed by on this award that have spent a lifetime doing great things, things already done. This award should be given only to people who have accomplished great things in the name of humanity and peace. Don’t get me wrong I am proud of our President recieving this award, I just think it should be things done not talked about.
What has Obama done? I think I can shed some light on that.
Before his election, Obama was on a train with 300 million passengers that was speeding down the wrong track and heading for a cliff. A majority of the passengers on that train selected Obama to go forward and stop that train. Just as the train was about to reach that cliff Obama applied the brakes and just in time, with the engine hanging over the precipice, the train stopped.
Now, there is lots of controversy as to what to do. Back up the train and search for the right track or just sit there and try to get everybody off the train. Complicating the issue is the fact that a large number of the passengers refuse to believe there is a cliff and are angry because the train has stopped. But, for many, just stopping the train was such a heroic accomplishment, Obama was awarded the prize.
I agree that the Bush administration managed to destroy US credibility in a mere 8 years, not to mention the world economy. The selection of Obama for the Nobel Peace Prize seems to me an accolade for sanity returning to our diplomatic agenda.
The Nobel judges have the sole say on who they award it to, that said I too believe the carts before the horse.While I wholeheartedly support our new president and his diplomatic approach, I also fear they are setting extremely high expectations for him. On the world stage there are many pitfalls, not all easily forseen. I wish him the best in fulfilling thse expectations.
While sites such as this one hopefully persuade the rest of the world that most Americans are not of the Bush/Cheney ilk, we as Americans can reinforce this by continuing to demand real accountability from our elected officials. Once the economy has settled, and the journey towards peace has begun, perhaps we could revisit the past years with an eye toward justice to those who subverted they’re constituents trust.
Welcome back IBDaChief. This is the first Balk with the flag avatars
enabled at it’s outset. I think they’re working well to highlight Balkback nationalities. They display after a first post beyond their enable date, of about 2 weeks ago. Anyone who would like their’s altered in any way, just email me (see About page).
IBD – the R’s can stay on the train and bicker (…if the Progressives get off, will it go over the edge? ;^)
Thoreau – we’ll have the final judgement of history on corrupts and incompetents, if nothing else. We approach the 2nd decade of the century, in which a massive accountability movement regardless of party in America, may perhaps arise. The tool of the WWW is there to facilitate it.
Imagine an active citizen coalition calling McConnell or Baucus out on their indebtedness to health insurers, in such a prominent way that it’s powerful enough to either end their Senate careers or keep them from voting anything that favors that contributor…
Hello! Roy I like your idea to display the flag of the nation of those that post on Balkingpoints, and it is very informative
to the readers, as well as to the fellow posters to know from where its posters live on this beautiful planet of ours.
I would like to ask you a favor, if it is possible for you to display the Sicilian Reginal flag after my posts,
Since I am a born Sicilian, I am very proud of my Sicilian heritage, and at times our beautiful Island, as well as its peaceful loving people, are, and have been badly respresented to the rest of the world.
Due to the speculation of the mass-media for financial gains, which loves to dramatize the criminal elements, which are not localized in no part of this beautiful planet of ours.
But anyone with a little common sense, and open mind, knows that criminal elements are not localized in a certain geografical area, or ristricted to a certain group of people, or have geographic origins in particular.
At times considering us Sicilians as being second class citizens in regards to some Northern Italians whom are still living in the
past, [culturally speaking] and have not accepted that there are no racial differences in forming the unity of Italy, which is made up of different culture groups.
But at the present there is a tense political climate which has been against our beautiful Island and its full representation, to make it very simple;
The fact is, that all the money that should have been spent in our beautiful Island for basic maintanance, etc. etc. has been siphoned to be spent in Northern Italy, while our people in Sicily are suffering the consequences in all paths of life, to impede our full development, so that we will always stay as second class citizens to our Northern cousins.
I could write a book on this subject of all the abuses that our people have encountered, but at my age, it is too late to take up such task, but eventually the newer generation will do it for me.
And you know! What? between the three languages that I speak, I always prefer our beautiful Sicilian Dialect, But fortunately I think in English, and I believe that much of my English thinking coincides with my Sicilian thoughts and early teachings, of freedom, fairness and respect for others, especially for those of different etnic origins, in which us Sicilians give more value to those that need a helping hand, infact we have many immigrants that live in our beautiful Island, and some have adopted our culture, and have married our locals, because we have surpassed the prejudice barriers, in which our Northern cousins have not.
So mind you, I am an American, Italian, and Sicilian. And I am very proud to be part of all three nationalities, and I believe in all fairness to have my Regional Sicilian flag to be displayed, because I am very proud of it as well as being equal to the others.
My best regards:
Sammy from Sicily.
Thank-you very much Roy G. for placing the Sicilian Regional flag after my post.
Best regards
Sammy from Sicily
Most welcome Sammy, glad to accommodate. It’s looking good.
Most Americans are quite uninformed of the world, and know nothing about Sicily’s situation vis-a-vis Italy. I myself needed to verify it was part of Italy and not it’s own nation, before uploading the Italy avatar. Although high schools in the U.S. teach Roman history and Latin, and we’ll sometimes see tourism ads for Palermo.
Has there ever been an independence movement there?
Yes, Roy G. There is a lot of missinformation going on in the world, and at times this missinformation is for capital gains by evil people, at the expense of others, destroying peoples’ entire lives.
I believe that the Sicilians do not care who governs them, because they are a docile population
that have their traditions of internal indipendence in their DNA, But they do not support abuses,
as it was indicated during the past history, where there have been Indipendence movements, and
all have flopped, due to outside political elements that it was not to their convinience to have, an
indipentent Sicily.
But there is one characteristic about the Sicilians, they do not want their feet to be stepped
upon, or their traditions modified by external interference.
On Easter Monday (30 March) 1282, at the Church of the Holy Spirit just outside Palermo, at
evening prayer (vespers), a Frenchman harassed a Sicilian woman, and this started an internal
ribellion where the Sicilians to maintain their honor, traditions, and the respect for their women,
led to the massacre of four thousand Frenchmen over the course of six weeks.
Charles I, was an Angevin, and his French followers had a legacy of mistreating the native people
of Sicily.
And who knows, if this was the spark that started the formation of the Mafia, as being a protective
organization to safeguard its people from being abused or mistreated by those invadors who controlled
Sicily and its government.
But then during the lapse of time, this protective organization deviated into criminal organizations,
which surely must have extended its branches to many countries outside of Sicily.
I believe
due to this presumed origin, the people of Sicily, have been plagued as being connected to criminal elements
to which many people have fallen into this missconception that has been promoted by the
film industry, as well as the Mass-media for their financial gains, and many tourist organizations, have also
jumped into the bandwagen to promote their tourism, at the expense of the innocent Sicilian people.
I can assure you that Sicily, is a very hospitable region to visit, and its crime rate is as normal as any other
place on this planet. I believe that if the mass-media and the film industry would stop speculating at the
expense of the Sicilian people, to peddle their wares, Sicily would regain its equal recognition among nations
that are not based upon prejudice, or are influenced by organizations that practice prejudice for their financial
gains, and at the same time destroy the life of others.
Who knows; If it is the film industry as well as those of the mass-media who are probably infiltrated with
criminal elemets, that speculate at the expense of the innocent Sicilian people, who have, and are being the victims
of this false scenario
Sicily is the cross road of the mediterranean, it has been invaded by many different cultures, and
each has left some influence upon its people. But still the Sicilians, have somewhat maintained
their age old traditions, and their internal indipendence, as well as their basic culinary traditions,
their language, their self respect, and honor, as well as a self internal way of interpreting their
way of fairness towards its own people, as well as towards others. Infact we can say that Sicily is
the melting pot of the Mediterranean where you find many etnic groups forged into one. Calling themselves Sicilians
Sicily is an Autonomous region of Italy, which surely indicates a certain amount of indipendence, it has its
own Regional parlament, as well as its Regional president, but still the Sicilian is always in someway being
snobbed by its Northern cousin, who is more money oriented, and less open to accept social differences, as well
as etnic origins. In my opinion, the Northern cousin, always wants to bully its Sicilian cousin by practicing
his racial supremacy thinking of being lily white, and not accepting full intergration of his darker Southern cousin, which considers to be of African origin.
Sammy from Sicily
Wikipedia cites Sicily as being of major strategic importance because of it’s location at the center of Mediterranean trade routes. I’m sure that brought about a lot of invasions over the centuries.
Hollywood has indeed done numerous films and television about the Mafia. One thing Americans are not ignorant on however, is that we know to take their shows as fictionalized and dramatized, and usually not an accurate depiction of reality. So I would say that the vast majority of Americans would not allow their impressions of Sicily to be affected by such depictions.
The American coastal cities like New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Miami,
San Francisco, Seattle, Los Angeles, etc., have also had that melting pot of ethnicities for many generations now. And likewise to Sicily, are for that reason far more tolerant and unbiased regarding race. It is ethnic isolation and segregation that causes the prejudice – I think that sociological fact can be verified in many different parts of the world.
I have an email pal in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. She is ethnic Chinese, whom are a minority of about 25% of the population. As a former UK colony, Malaysia has a parliamentary government and regular elections as we do
in the West. But they have tight restrictions on speech and especially demonstrations, because the nerves are so raw between immigrant Chinese and the indigenous Malaysian population. The laws are needed to head off racial riots, as she explained it.
And we saw similar ethnic hatreds boil over after Yugoslavia broke up. As it is with women’s rights around the world, many nations still have a long way to go to realize ethnic equality within their populations.
Your post gives a clear description of how important is is to fight ignorance, prejudice, and
racial intolerance, which is generally isolated to areas that are not exposed to cosmopolitan
cities, or areas, where you have a mixture of various populations that come from different etnic
backgrounds, learning to live in harmony with one another in a peaceful atmosphere.
I know this from my own personal experience, because I was fortunate enough to be raised and
educated in San Francisco, which is a city that is tolorent to all races, and my education was
multietnic, where I was exposed to many people of different races, by going through the
San Francisco public school system.
Then with the type of job that I had, I was always in contact with people. Fortunately I worked
in a large center, where our customers came from different racial areas, and I believe that this
also was part of my education, meeting foreigners who where impressed how tolerant the City
of San Francisco was towards all.
Yes there are many cosmopolitan cities on this planet, that are the shining example that we all
can live peacefully with one another, and I believe the black sheeps of our societies today are those
internal small towns, and isolated areas that are not exposed to various racial groups. So their
thinking is very protective, and a lot of them live in fear of being exposed or contaminated with new
ideas, ways of living, or simply fearing of losing their identity as an isolated, closed knit society.
And I do believe this is what brought Mr. bush to win his elections, because he received most of
his votes in rural areas, where people were more conservative, and less liberal that they are in most
cosmopolitan areas. Maybe for this reason, they called them the “neocons”. Certainly this neocon
thinking did a lot of damage to slow down progress, and almost ruined our nation, but the rest is
history.
I do hope that Mr. Obama, will somehow bring some of these backward minds into the 21st Century
thinking, by promoting more racial intergration, and reduce the isolationists. Possibly by sending more
government employees of different etnic backgrounds to rural areas, to sort of awaken those who are
still hibernating in their protective thinking.
I believe this is part of the reason for Mr. Obama to be given the Nobel Peace Prize, because people
hope that he could achieve to bring America back to the right track of positive thinking, and continue
the full intergration of all races to arrive at a world free of nukes. But to do this he should set the
example for others to follow, and not use the old concept, “Do as I say, and not as I do”.
Sammy from Sicily
The Nobel Committee also makes point of the references Obama has made to a world rid of nuclear weapons. Seems that has caught their fancy but does not seem too realistic. The best that might be hoped for is holding the spread of them in check. The notion that any country now having them will just sign them away I really doubt.
Human beings will see a uni-world government before it sees a world without atomic bombs!
Many nations live in fear of one another, and for their protection they resort to arming themselves
with all means possible, even with nuclear weapons.
But if this state of fear will be eliminated, I believe that gradually many nations will abandon their
nuclear weapons programms, and resort to work for the good of humanity, rather for its destruction.
This has been indicated with North Korea, and the Republic of Iran, that have accelerated their
nuclear programm, when they were considered to be the Axe of evil by the past bush administration. And till this day North Korea lives in a state of fear of being attacked, and its people are facing semi-starvation, while their military budget is gubbling all their resources, for its nuclear programm.
I do hope thar Mr. Obama will work to defuse this present world fear that was imposed by the past
reckless administrations, and bring peace and tranquility among nations, where controverses will
be discussed through communication, dialogue, and sincere diplomacy, and once this phase is
achieved, maybe nations will realize that through dialoge, and not through force, a peaceful coexistence
can be achieved.
Certainly nuclear disarming will be an evolutionary process that will take a lot of time,
but if a fearless climate exists it can be achieved.
Sammy from Sicily
Pakistan and India fell into the same dynamic that the U.S. and Soviet Union did during the Cold War; both sides believing they needed to have atomic weapons to stay up with their potential adversary, to ward off a nuclear attack. Building them for defense, as strange as that is for such a horrifying offensive weapon.
Mutually Assured Destruction, as it was known in America during the Cold War. There is a perverse logic to it, in that each holder of the missiles knows it would be struck by some in return, keeping hostilities from occurring. Even though Pakistan and India, are simply too close in proximity to use on each other in any event.
In the early decades of the technology after WWII – and especially given the short time it took for Soviet and then Chinese intelligence to intercept the top-secret fission process – the nuclear powers were in a simple test & build, test & build mode.
Then something positive happened. 2 Republican presidents – to the surprise of peaceniks – entered into treaties with the Soviet Union to slow the arms race down. Nixon & Brezhnev in the early ’70’s, then Reagan & Gorbachev in the 80’s. Reagan (who put America on a major military buildup during his 8 years), even made the statement “A nuclear war
cannot be won and must never be fought.”
It was totally out of character to the rest of his militaristic posture as president, but he said it and he signed an arms reduction agreement with Moscow. So it’s fitting then that a Progressive president like Obama would try to push the issue further, by suggesting their total elimination from the planet.
I agree with you Sammy, the climate of threats and fear would have to be eliminated nearly throughout the world first. It may never be possible, but should always be the goal to strive for IMO. And I think that is Obama’s objective in mentioning it. He believes nations should always be trying to reduce tensions and find ways to cooperate, and knows that it has to start with his own efforts.
Barack Obama has been recognized for the Nobel Peace Prize solely on the merits of his campaign rhetoric. Many Americans also believed they were electing someone different, someone honorable and someone sincere, but they were wrong. In a very short time these campaign promises were being cast aside and Obama had quickly fallen from grace, he now has the lowest approval rating for any fist-year President in US History.
Yes, even lower then George W Bush or Jimmy Carter.
In office just four days, House members met with President Obama to discuss his Economic Stimulus plan, Obama then demonstrated just how bipartisan his Administration would actually be. When Republican lawmakers took issue with provisions in the bill Obama quickly shut them down by declaring “I Won”. The promises of “change” and bipartisanship in his new administration were gone.
The arrogance was unleashed that day but little was made public as the US News Media continued to protect and preserve the image of the Savior they had helped to create. Many were fooled but none as embarrassing as the Nobel Prize, even Obama himself thought it was a joke. The Nobel Foundation has soundly degraded their Award and their Organization for believing such campaign rhetoric and by not requiring even the slightest of achievement before honoring an individual.
The World just got a little taste of the Obama arrogance for themselves in Copenhagen, perhaps now they will stop believing the US Media’s image of Obama and see the man for who he really is and it’s not honorable or sincere.
Do you mean Max that Republicans went in all willing to compromise with Obama and were denied?
If you poll that you will find that only core-Republicans who want to return
to the failure of the Bush policies, (i.e. cut taxes on the rich and cut regulation on business), think that is what has been happening in 2009.
The context of that “I won the election”, was Republican unwillingness in that meeting to accept any of his economic agenda. When a new president wins that is what happens. They call the tune of the economic philosophy. The losing minority might bend it a little bit, but it does not get to cancel the result of the election.
The Republicans have proven their unwillingness to accept that time and time again this year. They were totally against the stimulus and the Obama budget and now are filibustering health reform at every chance.