Let me start off by saying that I’ve never really bought into the whole concept of the Nobel Peace Prize. Naming Yassar Arafat alongside Shimon Perez and Yitzhak Rabin for the 1994 peace award pretty much did it for me. The only thing Arafat did was bankrupt the Palestinian people by spending as much money as he could from the Palestinian authority on things like a million dollar apartment in Paris for his wife and daughter and accompanying spending accounts for their lavish lifestyles.
And let’s look at all the peace that the three men brought to the Middle East since 1994. I’m looking hard and still haven’t seen one ounce of peace in that part of the world ever, let alone since 1994.
While I believe Alfred Noble left an honorable ideal for world leaders to live up to, it’s a completely unrealistic one, nonetheless. To think a handful of Norwegian elitists know what’s best for this world is laughable to say the least. It’s simply a small, insignificant country’s way of trying shape the world the way they want it. Finding any information on these five people who seem to know so much about what this world needs is near impossible. A Google search revealed that the five serving since 2006 – and I’m assuming are the ones that choose the 2009 winner – were Thorbjorn Jagland, Aagot Valle, Kaci Five, Sissel Ronbeck and Inger-Marie Ytterhorn. Not exactly household names.
Yet the five had the last word on this year’s Nobel Peace Prize selection. Not only did the group entertain Barak Obama’s nomination after only two weeks into his presidency, they unanimously gave him the award for what appears to be his noble, if somewhat naive, goals on world affairs.
Just like the awards going to Jimmy Carter – for I’m not sure what – and Al Gore – for climate control, now that’s a peaceful endeavor – it appears this Norwegian group of five were simply anxious to give a prize based on the fact that it wasn’t George W. Bush. The fact that they recently held a rare press conference to defend their decision proves that they may have some doubts themselves.
It’s not just the president’s critics questioning the decision. It’s everyday men and women wondering what the relevance of the antiquated award really is.
How sad is the peace prize committee going to be when enough time passes that the Bush years are a distant memory and they’ll be faced with the fact that President Obama is not going to bring the U.S. troops home like a good winner of the Noble Peace Prize should do, and most likely will continue engagement abroad against terrorism.
But next year at this time I’m sure they’ll find some other deserving leader to give the award.
Ahmadinejad, anyone?
Melissa Steele is the editor of the Milford Beacon. She can be reached at 346-5464 or melissa@milfordbeacon.com.
Milford, Del. —
