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RSSObama wins the Nobel Peace Prize. Is this a joke?
I am still rubbing my eyes in disbelief - UPDATED
By Mehdi Hasan Published 09 October 2009 12:16
So what are the odds? The week I write a cover story for the New Statesman, arguing that President Obama has turned into "Barack W Bush" and is emulating his predecessor's policies on human rights, civil liberties, Afghanistan and a host of other issues, the bloody Norwegians go and give him a Nobel Peace Prize. You couldn't make it up.
Over the past couple of years, the cult of Obama has elevated him to a godlike, saint-like, superhuman position in the global political landscape. He is a celebrity, he is an icon, he is a political phenomenon. And just when you thought his international sheen was rubbing off, with his failure to win the 2016 Olympics for his adopted city of Chicago, he goes and wins the world's most prestigious civil liberties award. Obamaniacs, rejoice!
So why has he got the prize? Here is the flaw in the Norwegians' groupthink, as reported by the BBC:
Asked why the prize had been awarded to Mr Obama less than a year after he took office, Nobel committee head Thorbjørn Jagland said: "It was because we would like to support what he is trying to achieve".
"It is a clear signal that we want to advocate the same as he has done," he said.
So the Nobel guys are giving him an award for peace before he has actually achieved peace -- specifically, they say, in the field of global nuclear disarmament and the Obama resolution at the UN last month -- which, of course, they have a bad track record of doing. Remember when they awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to Yasser Arafat, Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres in 1994? Perhaps the news hasn't reached Oslo yet but, 15 years on, the Holy Land remains mired in bloodshed, hatred and conflict, with no Palestinian state in sight.
And then, of course, there's Henry Kissinger. His receipt of the prize in 1973, in the wake of his war crimes against Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, prompted Tom Lehrer to remark: "Political satire became obsolete when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Prize."
I'm not sure what the satirists will say this time round, but I eagerly await Jon Stewart's take on The Daily Show on More 4 next week . . .
UPDATE I (10 December): So Obama has accepted his prize this afternoon, in Oslo. Since I last blogged on Barack and the Nobel [above], the US president has decided to heed the advice of his generals and send 30,000 extra troops to fight and die in the valleys and mountains of the Hindu Kush. The Times headline says it all: "Barack Obama accepts Nobel Peace Prize with stern defence of war". How absurd. And depressing. The 2009 Nobel Peace Prize winner had to start his speech by acknowledging the controversy over the choice of a wartime president for the prize. When Henry Kissinger was awarded the prize in 1973, Tom Lehrer remarked: "It was at that moment that satire died...There was nothing more to say after that." Touché.
UPDATE II (10 December): Simon Reid-Henry has blogged from Oslo for the NS here.
Tags: Barack Obama
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Mehdi Hasan is a contributing writer for the New Statesman and the co-author of Ed: The Milibands and the Making of a Labour Leader. He was the New Statesman's senior editor (politics) from 2009-12.
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86 comments
it's a good job no one takes the p*** prize seriously as it hold no validity amongst the people of the world anymore. it's nothing more than the elites tool for self recognition of "nothing good at all"
How humorous this story is in hindsight.
Very funny. You jest, of course. Because nobody but a Sun reader would vomit such tripe unless they were kidding.
I voted for Obama and I have to admit, this is shameful.
The Nobel Peace Prize should have value and should be given to those who have made great strides in world peace.
Obama has done nothing to deserve this, this a mockery.
The Nobel Peace Prize is now just another useless ornament.
if anybody should have won that award it should have been bush. thats right i said it! bush freed millions of iraqis from a tyrannical leader and has given millions of dollars for aids research.
I hear that McDonals' is giving away Nobel Peace Prizes in every Obama Happy Meal. Get yours today! What a J O K E!
I understand the Norwegians point of veiw but I agree it's far too early to award him anything. He should have declined it!
Somebody says the Nobel prize Committee give the Prize only to Socialists. What? like Henry Kissinger?No it appears to be totally random, I suppose to please everybody. The result of course is that it pleases no one.
As to Obama, he is the nice human face of the same old ugly America.A PR triumph which has fooled so many!
"I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the time I am president, it is the first thing I will do. I will get our troops home. We will bring an end to this war. You can take that to the bank. "
- Barack Obama, October 27, 2007
President Barack Obama made the above declaration just over two years ago.
Perhaps someone should have brought it to the attention of the Nobel Prize Committee in Oslo before they awarded you the by now ridiculous, and denigrated Award.
What will their and his next "Act" be, in this deadly "Soap Opera"?
With Compliments from Hungary.
Atilla Levay
Member of the Hungarian Justitia Committee.
Zsambek, 2072, Hungary Tel.-3623342198
If, as an American, you were happy to see Pres. Obama's brief advocacy for the 2016 Olympics in USA fail, then your judgment is clouded. If you see your commander-in-chief as a black man first, your judgment is tainted. The legacy of our last commander-in-chief is well known. If we step outside our fish bowl called America, we may quickly understand that the rest of the world know us well and share a deeply vehement distrust of our government. We remain obtuse and arrogant. Now comes a man who speaks of peace, arms reduction, respect for the sovereignty of nations, agrees to the Kyoto Protocol, and engages in dialogue. He has changed world respect for US though many are still skeptical. The landscape of global diplomacy has radically changed for the better ... by words mostly ... from the US President. Christ, a man of Peace, was crucified by those with clouded, tainted judgment. Pres. Obama is merely a man but he has demonstrated courage and leadership deserving of the Nobel. Aren't ya proud to be American?? The results are in. The US, the world aggressor with a big stick now speaks of mutual respect and cooperation on global solutions. A new thing!! Crucify him said the Pharisees.
That was very nicely put, Brian. Thanks.
Well, this is what I emailed to the Nobel Committee the instant I heard this outrageous news:
You lying bastards! President Obama has achieved no such things and you have disgraced the great traditions of the Nobel Peace Prize in one ugly propaganda stunt. In case you Nobel people have been living under a mushroom, the USA under its new president is still running its two multi-trillion-dollar wars, both of which are entirely unjustifiable. Just as George W. Bush would like it. The USA has not pulled out of Iraq or Afghanistan, is seriously agitating for increased military commitment there, and has not closed Guantanamo Bay - nor will it. Obama so far is merely a clone of G.W. Bush, a nodding puppet and serf to the real controllers of America: the Pentagon and the US arms industry.
Obama has achieved nothing but more fiery and baseless rhetoric about Iran being the world's greatest threat, especially nuclear, whilst constantly omitting to mention America's massive nuclear arsenal of over 60,000 weapons. Or of nearby Israel's hundreds more.
Obama has recently moved some nuclear weapons from Russia's doorstep. But not away from them, onto ships which can float just as dangerously close. I have not seen where America has disposed of one single nuclear weapon yet, nor do I ever expect to see this.
President Obama is basically a good man with great oratory skills, but is probably the last person on earth today who should be awarded the Nobel Prize for peace. Millions are dead from the dreadful Bush legacy and President Obama is retaining and prolonging this juggernaut of death.
How dare you disgrace this wonderful prize so flippantly. Who endowed you with the rights to trash and debase the integrity of the Nobel Peace Prize? This award makes a mockery of all previous Peace Prize awards and denudes future winners from any chance of authenticy. No wonder the Nobel Peace Prize founder was the man who invented dynamite. Very apt in this case.
I just did the Obama Peace Prize poll and asked if there was a purse involved? I realised lazy so went on Nobel Prize site: 10 million dollars. He gets 10 million dollars. Hope he gives it to the families in Iraq who have lost loved ones.
Poor old Nobel must be spinning in his grave, the spirit and the letter of the original awards has been completely lost.
We should be seeing awards for tackling climate change, biodiversity loss etc, something worthwhile perhaps.
Well, we now all see what this ass-clown is truly made of... ACORN, Geithner, Fort Hood, self professed Muslim and the list goes on.
Mark my words... this man will single-handedly tear down one of the greatest nations in the world. I loathe the very thought of him being our President.
There are two questions: (1) Is Nobel Peace Prize is really worth anything? (2) Are the seleciton committee members intelligent enough?
Wait, what? Hmm, didn't they nominate Obama a few weeks after he became president? Gee, the committee must have psychic powers because they could foresee Obama's presidency before it even started! /sarcastic
Wish I was not from Norway :-(
...The shame...
It's not a joke. It's another bone tossed by whites with their monogram on it...and will have it's own price to pay. I hear someone said 'he should declined it'...true. But my dear friend, one need courage and smartness to decline it skillfully. the guy would have been more respected by even who do not agree with him. Unfortunate...what else!
Fools rushes where angels fears!
Mehdi, I'm as suprised as you are that Obama got it this year and I bet even he is as well. The Nobel commitee guys could have given him a few years to achieve something as you said.
But I actually think there is some merit to this award and I doubt if you will disagree. As they said in their citation, he has "created a new climate in international politics".
He has to some good extent played up the relevance of diplomacy and lowered the temperature of the Bush era's hardline gung-ho worldview a bit.
Maybe not a strong enough reason, but a good enough reason all the same.
Congratulations Barack!
Peace prize after completing a year full of drone attacks on Pakistan and Afganistan, which apart from killing terrorist also killed many civilians. I guess the nobel is given as candy expecting him to do something for peace. a bribe for peace!!!
The sudden change in image of president which Mr. Bush has created disguised The Nobel selection committee.
I'm reminded of an article Tariq Ali wrote a long while ago about Jimmy Carter getting the prize. Obama has killed less, so far, I suppose:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2002/dec/07/usa.comment
What a joke. What has he done to deserve this, nothing. Nobel peace prize is nothing now.
How wonderfully self-important of you. You are rubbing your eyes in disbelief that those plebs at the Nobel Peace Prize Committee dared ignore the great Mehdi Hasan? You might get a little more of the global impact you clearly crave if you got your basic facts right and didn't get Sweden and Denmark confused.
Perhaps engaging rather than demonising Muslims and making unprecedented strides in nuclear disarmament and universal healthcare provision may explain why he won. Premature maybe; worthy definitely. Get over yourself.
It's a joke that someone put his name in the hat only 2 weeks after being in office. College Grants For Single Mothers
The Nobel used to mean something a few decades ago. Now its cheap Halloween candy.
Obama will be recognised as the worst, most hated president/administration ever. Similar to how the Egyptians loved Akhenaten after he was done.
if Obama gets the peace prize then i am going to ask for a review of the prize for the litrature award. The shopping list i agonised over last evening has contributed more to the world of litrature than Obama has to world peace
(and given how little money i have to mange on i think i should alos be eligible for the economics prize too)
In the words of Bugs Bunny, "WHAT A SHAM! WHAT A FRAUD! WHAT A MAROOOOON!
Gabriel, you are wrong on who awarded the peace prize, Mehdi said Norwegian not Danish, and he is correct.
"Unlike the other Nobel Prizes, which are awarded by Swedish institutions, (Nobel) said the peace prize should be given out by a five-member committee elected by the Norwegian Parliament. Sweden and Norway were united under the same crown at the time of Nobel's death
Nice article Mehdi. Keep talking sense to these people.
I'd love to know where people who believe Obama deserves the award get their information from - it must be the Great Propaganda Machines (mainstream television and newspapers).
If anyone did even a small amount of research (or used their heads a little) they'd see Obama stands for anything but Peace. Expanding the fictional war on terror (chasing an enemy they are constantly creating by killing innocents - nice little scam) and taking peoples rights away and socializing America sounds more like an unofficial declaration of War.
People are so stupid that they'll not even acknowledge the massive disparity between words and actions. It's simple: Judge on what they do, not on what they say.
Like Peter Schiff said: "Obama is Bush's 3rd term."
In the spirit of that, I hope Bushama enjoy "their" award.
If any politician in America deserved the award it's Ron Paul, a man who has stayed consistent and against undeclared wars and stood up for peoples' rights for 30+ years in Congress, now.
But, of course, he's old, white, of substance, genuine, and the media didn't create him - all things the supercial West now despises. Plastic people.
Awarding Obama the Nobel Peace Prize is another joke coming in the wake of Chicago debacle, I think the award team were bribing Obama for failing to land the Chicago for Olympics 2016. You dont award intentions but actions, maybe someone is confusing rhetorics with achievement.
New Nobel awards announced
Economics - Lehman brothers
Litrature - Dan Brown
What, you thought they'd run it by the New Statesman before they decided?
The biggest problem with this award is that everything Obama now does will appear to be under the approval of the Norwegian committee. What if he continues to delay decisions regarding suspects detained in Guantanamo? That's OK, he's on the right track -- he's got a Peace Prize, don't you know. What if he pours more troops into Afghanistan while still refusing to declare what a successful mission would entail? That's OK, it's all in the name of peace!
The saddest thing is that we liberals still hold out hope for Obama acheiving something good while in office. This award will only fuel the Obama propaganda machine which is alienating his original supporters and which is preventing any constructive debate about his policies.
P.S. I admit I haven't read your article yet, Mr Hasan. Vagaries of the postal service to blame...
Good choice. Robert Mugabe was in second place and there are no CIA drones flying over Sweden.
LOL!.....can't.....stop.....laughing....the....absurdity.....LOL!!!!!!!!!!
It's a joke, or at least it should be. Apparently the requirements for a Nobel Peace Prize have now been revised to:
1) Be a nice guy (he's nicer than Bush to be sure, not that that is much of an achievement).
2) Be black (let's be realistic he wouldn't have the prize if he wasn't).
I've got nothing particular against Obama but what has he achieved in terms of world peace so far? Nothing. Very close to nothing. They should have waited 5 or 10 years to see if he actually succeeds in any peace initiatives first, then maybe considered him.
He was nominated for this prize on Feb. 1st '09 after a whopping 9 days in office during which he apparently delivered significant progress towards world peace?
The Nobel committee has just spat on previous recipients like Nelson Mandela & Mikhail Gorbatchev who labored their whole lives for a more peaceful world and achieved real results.
This decision devalues the Nobel Peace Prize itself. I will not be able to think of the Peace Prize the same ever again.
HE DOESN'T DESERVE IT!!!!
Obama was only in office for TWO WEEKS before the nominations were FINISHED!
What is in the WORLD did he do in TWO WEEKS? This is absolutely a TOTAL FARCE!
OBAMA IS A WANNBE! ALL TALK AND NO SUBSTANCE! HE IS A USED CAR SALESMAN IN A POLITICIANS CLOTHING!
This has got to be the MOST RIDICULOUS thing I have ever seen.
The man is a joke and people will say all kinds of things about you if you just call this guy what he is and that is a FAKE, PHONY, and BLOWHARD.
This is so political it is not even funny, it is actually very frightening!
He is giving off Billions of dollars to Pakistan to develop nukes and buy weapons to use against India and gets rewarded with Nobel Peace Prize……Joke Of the year…
The only thing Obama has done is fly around the world and apoligized for the last eight years. He has not done anything at all as president. This just cheapens the nobel prize. The only reason he got this award is because he is the first black president. The deadline for concideration of the prize was 12 days into his presidency. Now i know he did not create peace in 12 days. Heck it took God 7 days to create the world.
Let's see. Jimmy Carter gets the award for brokering a deal with the North Koreans to eliminate their nuclear weapons. (we later find out that he was the biggest dupe in history and was just used). Al Gore gets the award for writing a book about which he has no scientific background or training, and which has so many "Inconvienient Lies" in it as to make it irrelevant. (About all you can say about Al's crusade is that it has made him filthy rich), And, now Obama gets the prize for giving speeches. There was once a man in Germany that could give hair raising speeches and keep his followers riveted to their seats. They cheered and cried when their chosen one entered a sports arena and began his uplifting and inspiring oratory. (sound familiar?). We all know how that ended. What has Obama done except speeches? Has he devoted his life to feeding the children or building homes for the poor? (at least Carter has him there). Has he traveled the world to try to end disease or to build schools? No, he devoted his life to community organizing and building his power base. And now, we have speeches. In his own words, "Just Words". Take a look of the accomplishments of the other nominees and you will be hard pressed to find many that deserved this award less than Obama.
Obama himself isn't what matters. Politics are about policies, and his administrations policy record doesn't diverge nearly as much as you would hope from George W.
This prize just reinforces the dominance of personalities in politics, which keeps the people ignorant of the issues. It's not a democracy, its an advertising contest.
@Brian try to tell that at Afghans how he changed the world.The rest are you serious? The world respect changed because they are justifying the history.Yet Obama is another politician following same agendas of the rest, bailing out the owner of this country, and keep up with Afgan war.Basically what changed was the color the faces remain the same.
The Nobel Committee is a bunch of lunatics. They are using the great award to play politics and their ludicris deliverance ot this monumental honor denigrates the award.
OBAMA IS NOT GOD.
OBAMA IS NOT THE MESSIAH.
OBAMA HAS DONE NOTHING FOR PEACE, IF ANYTHING HE HAS DRIVEN US CLOSER TO WWIII.
NOBEL, THY NAME IS WORTHLESS.
ROWDY BOOTS
I think perhaps we are seeing the first application of 'affirmative action' to the Nobel Peace Prize selection process.
No, it's not a joke. A joke is something that's funny. This isn't. This is just plain pathetic. The Nobel Peace Prize has become a meaningless award, by presenting it to someone with zero accomplishments. Of course, he did get elected president with the same blank resume.
Obama's accomplishments: Closed Gitmo? NO. Pulled troops out of Iraq? No. Changed strategy in Afghanistan? No. Solved the Middle East problem? No. Stopped Iran's nuclear ambitions? No. Well, at least he has increased the deficits for us and the national debt four fold for our children! PATHETIC POLITICS BY THE COMMITTEE!!!!
Who else is more deserving for the world peace prize this year. Give this oyung man a break. He has changed the world, and will continue to do so. Who would have thought America would talk to iran? Who would have thought America would do away with Guantanamo? Who would have thought that America would have socialist based health system to deliver benefits to those ignored and sidelined by histroy since time immemorial.
This is the biggest joke of the year...what is peace and how has he achieved this honor?..unable to keep the peace in his own city of Chicago much less around he world...and giving him this award shames the prize itself