More reactions:
Lech Walesa: "Who, Obama? So fast? Too fast — he hasn’t had the time to do anything yet."Lech, look at it the other way. If they wait, he might do something that makes him undeserving. And since he must win it, best to give it preemptively, before any pesky "achievements" cloud the picture... the picture of hope.
Nils Butenschon, director of the Norwegian Center for Human Rights at the University of Oslo: “It seems premature to me... I think the committee should be very careful with the integrity of the prize..”Integrity? Why start now?
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66 comments:
Lech Walesa: "Who, Obama? So fast? Too fast — he hasn’t had the time to do anything yet."
Well not so fast there perogi boy. He's been in office long enough to add more debt than that idiot Bush did in 8 years.
Now that take some doing.
"Well not so fast there perogi boy. He's been in office long enough to add more debt than that idiot Bush did in 8 years."
Evidence, please?
"They are handing him the Nobel Peace Prize because he isn’t George Bush."
No, they're handing it to him because fellatio cannot be delivered long distance.
Now that take some doing.
Indeed.
And now I want some pierogi's!
He's also been awarded the victory in next springs new reality show "So You Think You Can Appease".
I agree this is a slap at Bush, but I think the Nobel folks get a Chris Matthews tingle whenever The One apologizes for America.
They have no interest in a proud people who favor strong military.
What does Walesa mean Obama "hasn't had the time to do anything yet"?
US funds dry up for Iran rights watchdog
By Farah Stockman, Globe Staff October 6, 2009
WASHINGTON - For the past five years, researchers in a modest office overlooking the New Haven green have carefully documented cases of assassination and torture of democracy activists in Iran. With more than $3 million in grants from the US State Department, they have pored over thousands of documents and Persian-language press reports and interviewed scores of witnesses and survivors to build dossiers on those they say are Iran’s most infamous human-rights abusers.
But just as the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center was ramping up to investigate abuses of protesters after this summer’s disputed presidential election, the group received word that - for the first time since it was formed - its federal funding request had been denied.
“If there is one time that I expected to get funding, this was it,’’ said Rene Redman, the group’s executive director, who had asked for $2.7 million in funding for the next two years. “I was surprised, because the world was watching human rights violations right there on television."
Many see the sudden, unexplained cutoff of funding as a shift by the Obama administration away from high-profile democracy promotion in Iran, which had become a signature issue for President Bush. But the timing has alarmed some on Capitol Hill.
“The Iran Human Rights Documentation Center is at the forefront of pioneering and vitally important work,’’ said Senator Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut independent, in a statement yesterday. “It is disturbing that the State Department would cut off funding at precisely the moment when these brave investigations are needed most.’’
Michael Rubin, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative Washington-based think tank, said, “It is a shock that they did not get funding.’’ A reason, he asserted, may be that “the Obama administration is so focused on engaging Iran that they don’t want this information to get in the way."
This just reinforces my ongoing impression that we've been living out a satire for the past year or two. We elected a callow nobody as President on the strength of a few vacuous speeches. The healthcare debate -- driving trillions of dollars in anticipated future expenditures -- got turned around by comments someone scrawled on Facebook, and now the Nobel Peace Prize committee has decided to award prizes for good intentions. It's like no one's even serious about anything anymore. None of it matters. It's the Society of the Spectacle.
It's a prize for weakening America.
From CNN: "[The Nobel selection committee chairman] said he hoped the prize would help Obama resolve the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan."
So instead of recognizing those who have actually, you know, already promoted world peace, the Nobel prize has become some kind of endorsement from the committee that awards it. It's like saying "Hey world! We like this guy, so you should totally listen to him!" Ridiculous.
United States Post Office announces the Obama Nobel Forever Stamp to honor our Nobel Laureate President Obama. * The Obama Nobel Forever Stamp first will go on sale on Tuesday, November 3, 2009. Already, more than 1 billion Obama Nobel Forever Stamps have been produced. * As the name suggests, Obama Nobel Forever Stamps can be used to mail all letters and packages regardless of when the stamps are purchased or used and no matter how prices may change in the future. A single stamp is all that is required. * Obama Nobel Forever Stamps will in the future be sold at the same price as a regular First-Class Mail stamp. Obama Nobel Forever Stamps will initially be sold for 25 cents to honor President Obama and will be sold for 43 cents starting January 20, 2010. * The Postal Service developed the Obama Nobel Forever Stamp for consumers to ease the transition during price changes. There is only one Obama Nobel Forever Stamp — it features an image of the Nobel Laureate, President Barrack Obama. * Obama Nobel Forever Stamps will be available for purchase at post offices worldwide. * Customers can use Obama Nobel Forever Stamps for international mail even though all international prices are higher than domestic prices, all foreign nations have accept the Obama Nobel Stamp as full postage for all mail regardless of size or weight. * For media use only, an image of the Obama Nobel Forever Stamp is available for download at: http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/photos/uncategorized/2008/06/03/obama_hope.jpg
@rhhardin:
You've nailed it. Exactly right.
I agree that a lot of what Obama's doing to promote world peace is merely undoing the damage caused by W. The first Peace Prize went to the man who organized the first Geneva Convention, and who founded the International Red Cross movement.
Shamelessly stolen from another forum (Note - Link is to a members only area):
"In keeping with their lofty standards, the Nobel Prize Committee has announced the following Nobel Prizes for 2009:
Economics: Bernard Madoff
Chemistry: Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons
Medicine: Jenny McCarthy
Physics: Steven E. Jones
Literature: Sylvia Browne "
Why do they hate Obama?
The Peace Prize, much like the Olympics, means less and less every year. This just sped it to the very bottom all the more quickly.
Can't we just fricken Crown this clown World Emperor and get it over with already?
Oh, and Robert Cook? If you can add you can easily see that Barry has added more debt in his time few months in office than Bush did in eight years. It's not rocket surgery.
I thought it was a joke. An episode of the Onion.
No. It's the Twilight Zone.
OMGF.
Maybe Harry Connick, Jr. was speaking for the Nobel Committee as well?
I just wanted to say on behalf of my country, I know it was done in humour ... but we have spent so much time trying to not make black people look like buffoons, that when we see something like that we take it really to heart," Connick Jr said.
Rollingdivision,
I am guessing your post is a joke. It's very well done. Please let it be a joke.
"I agree that a lot of what Obama's doing to promote world peace is merely undoing the damage caused by W."
What is this damage he has undone? Seriously, what has substantively changed in these past few months? Besides Iran being closer to nuclear capability, Afghanistan being worse because he won't make a damn decision, North Korea shooting more and more missiles our way every day, Gitmo still being open, rendition still being used, etc., etc.
Interested minds want to know.
This will make up nicely for having only one term.
I just wanted to say on behalf of my country, I know it was done in humour ... but we have spent so much time trying to not make black people look like buffoons, that when we see something like that we take it really to heart," Connick Jr said.
Yes, because of course anything that happens to one black person makes all black people look bad. But of course that's not racist at all.
Remember, nominations for the NPP ended in February.
Just like he was the democratic nominee, not for any accomplishments but for his charisma (and if he did have accomplishments, this would have created a record to criticize, which he couldn't have), the NPP amounts to the same thing. Award him now before he has a track record to criticize.
I have not been able to take the NPP seriously for a long time (though I do respect the selection of Muhammad Yunus). This action just shaves off what little credibility that they have.
North Korea shooting more and more missiles our way every day
North Korea developed nuclear weapons on W.'s watch, although their missile development began during the Clinton era. Other than adding North Korea to his axis of evil, W. had no significant accomplishments -- his hatred of WMD and states that tortured their own citizens began and ended in Iraq.
"North Korea developed nuclear weapons on W.'s watch, although their missile development began during the Clinton era. Other than adding North Korea to his axis of evil, W. had no significant accomplishments -- his hatred of WMD and states that tortured their own citizens began and ended in Iraq."
With all due respect that's a non-answer. I asked what Barry had done in the past few months to earn this prize. You said he had done stuff to undo Bush's damage.
Even if I accept the premise that Bush did damage, which I do not, what damage has Barry undone?
What is this damage he has undone? Seriously, what has substantively changed in these past few months?
If the damage that Bush wrought is Afghanistan and Iraq then we should have been out of there 9 months ago. The minute Shortpants was inaugurated, he should have issued withdrawal orders for both theaters. He has not therefore he hasn't don't jack shit to undo any damage unless crawling around the planet apologizing for fighting a nihilistic death cult fits the theme.
Perhaps point me to a former ally that has cut ties with us. Point us to a former enemy that is now an ally, or at least on less hostile terms.
North Korea developed nuclear weapons on W.'s watch
A. Q. Khan sold nuclear secrets to North Korea from the late 80s to the late 90s. Given that Bhutto wanted to give nuclear secrets to Iran supports the accusation that she approved of Khan's dealings with North Korea.
Sure, the Nobel Peace Prize is a joke and has been for some time, in fact, all Nobel Prizes outside the hard sciences have beena joke for years, but this one does cross a line.
For the same reason it's not wise to name a public works project after a living person, they've made a crucial mistake in giving this prize to someone who has so few acheivements and so much time left in the spotlight.
The book of Obama's life is less than half written and no sane person would try to publicly guess at the ending.
Surely there's at least one dyed-in-the-wool liberal/leftist out there who, upon hearing the news, went: "HUH?"
Something is very wrong when the award of a peace prize makes me want to throw breakable items against the wall. I had to put the laptop down and walk away.
VW: tranki == What I desperately need just now to calm down.
FLS,
"I agree that a lot of what Obama's doing to promote world peace is merely undoing the damage..."
You've got that totally backward: what he's done w/r/t Iran, North Korea, and Eastern Europe increases the chances of conflict in the near future.
"The first Peace Prize went to the man who organized the first Geneva Convention, and who founded the International Red Cross movement."
And in comparison to those accomplishments, Obama talks a good, if profoundly misguided, talk. Totally comparable, dude!
"...And since he must win it, best to give it preemptively..."
I think the legitimacy of preemptive action was successfully defended over the last 7 years, wasn't it? Nothing wrong with more of it then.
MrBuddwing, here's a liberal who went "Huh?" on hearing the announcement.
The first reaction from my wife, a scientist herself, is that this taints the other Nobel prizes.
NPP has been a joke for a long time, no? I mean they gave it to friggen AlGore for his hypocritical GW scare-mongering. They'll give it to any leftist du jour. The good thing is that no one outside of the far left takes the NPP seriously.
I mean when they gave a NPP to that killer Arafat that immediately invalidated it forever in my eyes.
"all Nobel Prizes outside the hard sciences have beena joke for years"
There are still exceptions; recall they just recently gave the Literature prize to Naipaul.
Around 492AD the Western Roman Empire that had been the Roman Empire for 500 years, until spliting into an Eastern(Byzantine)Empire at Constantinople and a Western Empire at Rome, was beset with Barbarian invaders. Its Fall was caused by promoting into leadership Generals serving in the Roman Army from foreign born barbarian tribes on the borders in hopes that their tribal mixtures other than Roman would appease the hostiles. But these Generals simply sold out for Money. The elevation of Obama and Pelossi to co-Emperors in the American Empire in 2006-09 has for the same reasons excited all of the barbarians at the gate from the same European areas that those Huns and Visigoths came flooding in from around 492 AD. Obama's plans to knock off the American Army by a shilly shally of bad leadership, and by an economy with no money left, leads to the Pax Americana withering away overnight...So Hurrays for Obama are going up across northern Europe which is todays home of the Huns and Visigoths. Will Rome become the restored world Capital soon. Stay tuned.
this taints the other Nobel prizes.
No, Economics taints the other Nobel Prizes. Over the years, expounders of every type of economic theory have been honored, irrespective of their compatibility with any other theory. The search for truth in Economics is like the search for the One True Religion -- any path will do.
Yes, we all remember Paul Krugman's award last year.
Just heard Norwegian TV interview a peacenik outside the White House, and he said he read this on the Internet and was ecstatic, and that... Wait for it...
Obama's the best leader in the history of the world.
Yes. This man actually said that. Good grief.
Surely there's at least one dyed-in-the-wool liberal/leftist out there who, upon hearing the news, went: "HUH?"
Is there any liberal who didn't?
Here's a comment posted shortly after the news broke on the heavily liberal Metafilter (which has many other comments like this):
"I love Obama. Love him.
"But what on Earth? He won the Nobel Peace Prize for having "captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future?" So, you don't actually have to accomplish anything to win the Nobel Peace Prize? All you have to do is be really popular and have a good slogan on a poster? Saying that you're going to stop a war is enough? You don't actually have to stop the war?
"This isn't real, right? It's a joke? It's satire?"
I thought this was a compensation prize for Obama not winning the Olympics?
We need a redo of the "12 days of Christmas" to the "12 days of Obama" on why he won the prize.
Seriously (and I say this as an Obama supporter on many things), my initial reaction was "What? Why? For what?" Followed by "This is going to be a fun. (/sarcasm)" thinking of the reactions that this would cause.
Glad to see that both side are proving this to be true.
It really is an absurd world.
Balfegor said...
It's the Society of the Spectacle.
So starts the Bespectacled age.
I wonder how many of us will still be so amused by all of this stupidity when (referring to EDH's post on the end of the Iranian Rights monitor) our next couple of elections look like the one they just had in Iran.
Everyone will know the Dear Leader and his gaggle of scumbags lost but somehow they won an overwhelming victory.
Why do you think Pharoabama's been so low key on Iran? That was just a program test for what is going to be done here in 2010 and 2012.
FLS blames Bush for the North Korean nukes, but it's OBVIOUSLY Clinton's fault. Clinton created the agreements that Bush was obligated to abide by.
Jimmy Carter won his nobel for helping with that disaster.
Blaming Bush for North Korea's nukes is deeply irrational. Ignoring that he didn't have the capital to deal with every problem at once, he could have attempted to change the path and break the deal Clinton naively created, but it's Clinton's agreement. Clinton obviously deserves the responsibility.
It's also bullshit to assert you even know that between 1994 and 2000 the North Koreans did not make any nuclear weapons advances and only began in January 2001 under Clinton's 1994 deal.
Sorry, Charlie, that's just absurd. Bush did all he could reasonably do in the climate he inherited.
Would this also qualify to be a igNobel award at the same time?
Would this qualify President Obama's handling of the Afghanistan war as a Nobel adventure?
Finally, if President Obama showed up at a hockey game, would he win the Stanley Cup for his appearance?
Inquiring minds want to know...
The One wins the prize, but he fits the three criteria for Nobel prizes: 1. He is Liberal; 2. He is anti-Israel; and 3. He is anti-American
No where to go but down. A year from now after the democrats lose the house AP will trot out "Even after winning the Nobel Peace Prize storm clouds were gathering..."
Isn't it awesome to watch President Erkle finally get his reward? Andrew Sullivan must be jizzing himself crazy in one of his marathon ascendant 12-hour rectal-fests right about now.
wv = dinge. How appropriate
I would like to make an announcement. I am hereby convening the 'Sane People's Nobel Peace Prize Committee'. On behalf of sane, thinking and caring people everywhere, I am officially awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to the brave pro-democracy protesters in Iran - those still 'free', those in prison, those who have died. This is not a joke.
Official announcement over.
A note: An Afghan women's rights activist is not given the prize, but Obama, who is now throwing the women of Afghanistan under the Taliban bus to once again be stoned in soccer stadiums and imprisoned in their houses, gets the prize.
A final note: 'Those who the gods want to humble, first they raise high'. This will hurt him in the long run.
This just really sucks for Obama, because now he can't send more troops to Afghanistan until after he receives the prize in December.
Either that or the Nobel Committee has just successfully altered US policy on Afghanistan by handing out a gold medallion to a fan of waffles. And waffling.
Well, this certainly puts him on track to be White House Employee of the Month!
North Korea is a special case. Yes, Carter and Clinton were naive fools who were duped by the Kims, and Bush talked a good talk but in the end accomplished nothing.
The reason for this is that the city of Seoul lies very close to the border, behind which the North Koreans keep tens of thousands of artillery pieces on constant alert. Seoul could be annihilated in half an hour, with hundreds of thousands of casualties, at the snap of Kim's fingers.
If this were not the case, I am sure the Norks would have suffered the fate of the Taliban under W, or maybe even under Clinton.
SLowJoe said
"Blaming Bush for North Korea's nukes is deeply irrational. Ignoring that he didn't have the capital to deal with every problem at once, he could have attempted to change the path and break the deal Clinton naively created,"
Actually, I'd add that blaming Bush for leaving the messes of North Korea and Iran for Obama to clean up is doubly ignorant/duplicitious/insane since it is precisely the leftists who did their damnedest -- successfully-- to undermine the national will and diminish Bush's capital.
Break out the dynamite. We gotta get Washington off Mt Rushmore if there's gonna be room.
How can the man on the street in Cairo say that?? Why, Obama got the award for inspiring the Arab world with his Cairo speech and his middle name!
He deserves the prize for de-horning the Great Satan, turning the self-proclaimed sole superpower into a banana republic whose words are as devalued as her currency.
Clinton created the agreements that Bush was obligated to abide by.
Clinton's agreements broke down in late 2002. What's Bush's excuse after that?
Ignoring that he didn't have the capital to deal with every problem at once,
I'll have to remember this excuse.
he could have attempted to change the path and break the deal Clinton naively created,"
Ah, but Bush did.
If they think this will raise his status here at home, they don't get America. It will only lower the prestige of their silly prize and create another tangled issue to preoccupy him while he's trying to manage the war in Afghanistan.
Maybe they should have given it to Bill Ayers.
Clinton's agreements broke down in late 2002. What's Bush's excuse after that?
Bush did better than I expected, but I wasn't expecting much. North Korea is a sovereign nation that is willing to live in complete isolation and are shamelessly duplicitous in their dealings. There is very little the US or any nation can do short of invasion, but with enough nerve gas and artillery to obliterate Seoul (the amount of both is nothing short of astonishing), that's a non-starter.
The best Obama can do is maintain the status quo. And I'll never fault him for that given the realities of the situation. If he improves it, all power to him. On the flip side, a failure could be quite catastrophic.
Iran is also a largely intractable problem. For all the hand wringing by some about what Bush did and now Obama, I don't think it makes much of a difference. Yeah, some stronger symbolic support by Obama for the democratic movement would have been welcome, but to be pragmatic, it won't matter and may have backfired.
A similar stalemate, though without the dire consequences, exists with Chavez and Venezuela. Again, if Obama can improve the situation, that would be great, but I'm skeptical and maintaining the status quo is the best of the rest of the choices.
It’s interesting to see how CNN and other right-wing-zionist media are trying to narrow the topic to “what has Obama done to deserve it?” Nobel Peace Price awards are often given not for de facto accomplishments but for a desire to challenge the existing reality and for courage to take up the struggle. Lech Walesa received his Nobel Peace Price in 1983, six years before the communist government in Poland was defeated by “Solidarity.” At that time, CNN was extremely supportive of this decision.
Nobel Peace Price awards are often given not for de facto accomplishments but for a desire to challenge the existing reality and for courage to take up the struggle.
Oh, really? And what "courage", exactly, has Obama shown to be on a parallel with Lech Walesa?
This should be good.
You also get bonus laugh points for applying the phrase "right-wing-zionist media" to CNN.
Reading the arguments back and forth, I have to concede: The Nobel Peace Prize Committee does have a thing about "works in progress," doesn't it?
Instead of being some Lifetime Achievement Award, the Nobel Peace Prize is often handed out to people who are in the middle of their respective struggles, whether it's in the Mideast, Poland, Vietnam, Myanmar, Korea, Northern Ireland, etc.
So I guess the Peace Prize is meant to be an "attaboy" for someone who's on the right path, not necessarily someone who has completed walking that path.
Now, as for whether President Obama is at the beginning, middle or end of his path - I think the answer is pretty obvious. And therein lies all the skepticism and disbelief over his being awarded the prize.
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