Barack Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize

ei.sdraob

http://www.independent.ie/world-news/americas/barack-obama-wins-nobel-peace-prize-1909716.html

US President Barack Obama has won the Nobel Peace Prize for his "extraordinary" efforts to reduce the world's stockpile of nuclear weapons and working for world peace.

what about Israel's stockpile :rolleyes:


i like the guy but comeon now

kumate_champ07

must have been a slow year in peace

ei.sdraob

kumate_champ07 wrote: »

must have been a slow year in peace

well he did send more soldiers to Afghanistan in a "surge"

Nobel would be spinning in his grave if a war now starts with Iran

kumate_champ07

i dont get how he can earn a nobel prize so quickly, they are still over in iraq

kumate_champ07

do they have to give out an award every year?

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

PomBear

Can anyone actually name any piece of definate progress he has got in regards to peace, absolute disgrace to hard working volunteers if you ask me. Ian Paisley has probably done more for peace this year.

jank

A bit early alright, like at least give him a chance.

turgon

Looks like the Nobel committee were also drawn in by the savvy presidential campaign.

anonymous_joe

donegalfella wrote: »

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I don't at all agree with him getting this, but ffs. If he was to win the war quickly and cleanly he'd do far more for peace than withdrawing would.

Manic Moran

Bizarre.

NTM

A Primal Nut

It seem a bit odd - I always thought the nobel peace prize winner had to actually achieve something. I like Obama, he has tried to get the the Middle East peace process going but he hasn't achieved anything yet and is a long way from achieving anything.

Its not enough to come out and beg for peace. I mean I would love peace but it doesn't mean I deserve the Nobel Peace Prize.

Plus, who knows what he might do in the next three/seven years! They should at least wait until he is no longer president.

The good thing is he might try hard to live up to his reputation, now he has this award.

And I don't think there is anything odd about the US Commander in Chief winning this award in principle, although they could have waited until he was ex-US Commander in Chief.

Lu Tze

Thats affirmative action at its best!

wes

A bit odd, Obama seems like a nice sort, but the US is still involved in a couple of wars, and while he seems to have taken steps to change things, he still hasn't exactly achieved anything just yet.

I am more than willing to give the guy a chance, but see no reason to sing the man's praises, when he hasn't achieved a whole lot.

Don't be haters...

Mr. Incognito

I think it's a shrewd move- he has made all the right noises and giving him the award now will spurn him on to achieve something concrete in his presidency in Israel, Iraq, Afganistan etc.

The reduction of nuculear arms for example-

The full citation read: “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 United States 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.”

User45701

im glad its just me but all sorts like you boardsies - some brits - cusomters ive dealth with today and your 1 up the north ect.

Everyone seems to have a problem with him getting it - and i thought it was just me for an hour or so until i started asking people

aidan24326

A Primal Nut wrote: »

The good thing is he might try hard to live up to his reputation, now he has this award.

That's an interesting way to look at it. It kinda puts him under a bit of pressure now to actually achieve something concrete while in office, he won't want to go down in history as the Nobel Peace Prize winner who won the award for....hmmm...not much. He has his work cut out for him though. The problems in the Middle East will never be solved while the US continues to be so biased towards the Israelis, and speaking of Israel, their nuclear stockpile needs addressing also, that seems to be the great big elephant in the room where nuclear disarmament is concerned.

Sand

Even economists are taking the piss out of this (courtesy of irisheconomy.ie)

Most people I've talked to are a very amused at this. I think it doesnt do much for the credibility of the award. Its a political award of course, but does it have to be so blatant? Even Obama seems embarrassed by it. It wont do him many favours.

turgon

Sand wrote: »

Even economists are taking the piss out of this

Good analogy but for the fact there is no such thing as a Nobel Prize in Economics :pac:

Its actually the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics and it was founded by a Swiss bank.

starbelgrade

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

I think it's a shrewd move

Indeed. It makes it harder to be a war mongerer like many of his predecessors, with a Nobel Peace Prize under the belt.

Still can't believe Bono hasn't got one yet. Or two.

gar32

Lets make criminals Policemen now so.

dan719

turgon wrote: »

Good analogy but for the fact there is no such thing as a Nobel Prize in Economics :pac:

Its actually the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics and it was founded by a Swiss bank.

I reckon Mankiw probably knows that, don't you? Also it is actually the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics and Social Sciences. But I digress.

johnnyskeleton

kumate_champ07 wrote: »

must have been a slow year in peace

I think they gave it to him for managing to be US president for 11 months without starting a war, which is some achievement.

Reading the article earlier about 3 other US presidents winning it - Woodrow Wilson I can understand, but Teddy Roosevelt and Jimmy Carter? Its almost like in times of crisis they keep the US sweet by giving its president a prize.

King of Kings

totally racist....

Manic Moran

I believe Roosevelt got it for negotiating a Russo/Japanese peace treaty, and Carter (officially) got it for the Egypt/Isreal peace deal. (According to the Chief Judge, the decision was supposed to be 'A kick in the leg for Bush', which kindof I think kills it).

Why didn't Neville Chamberlain get it? He was kindof fond of World Peace. (So's Miss America, come to think of it). He even negotiated a treaty for Peace In Our Time, so he got further than Obama did.

Lech Walesa seems not to be too pleased, he was awarded it in 1983.

http://blogs.wsj.com/new-europe/2009/10/09/lech-walesa-on-obama-peace-prize-who-what-so-fast/

When Lech Walesa received the honor in 1983, he had been an anticommunist dissident for more than a decade, kept in custody by the communist regime in 1981 and 1982, fired from his job, with his name banned by communist censors.

It was given to him in the darkest period of Poland’s 20th century history, at the height of the Cold War that could at any time transform into a very hot and nuclear conflict.

In 1983, the prize went to someone who was a global symbol of anticommunism with an impressive record, a complicated present and an uncertain future in a country oppressed by the Soviet tyrant.

And now? Poland feels the prize goes to a big question mark.

Not -really- a comparison between the two, is there?

NTM

peasant

Not the first time that the nobel peace prize was given for motivational reasons:D

1994
The prize was awarded joinly to:

YASSER ARAFAT , Chairman of the Executive Committee of the PLO, President of the Palestinian National Authority.

SHIMON PERES , Foreign Minister of Israel.

YITZHAK RABIN , Prime Minister of Israel.

for their efforts to create peace in the Middle East.

Not the first time that it was a bit "off" either:

1973
The prize was awarded jointly to:

HENRY A. KISSINGER , Secretary of State, State Department, Washington.

LE DUC THO , Democratic Republic of Viet Nam. (Declined the prize.)

for jointly negotiating the Vietnam peace accord in 1973.

http://nobelprizes.com/nobel/peace/peace.html

Souljacker

starbelgrade wrote: »

Indeed. It makes it harder to be a war mongerer like many of his predecessors, with a Nobel Peace Prize under the belt.

Still can't believe Bono hasn't got one yet. Or two.

SuSurely that's reason enough for Obama winning the thing. Bono must be seething.

starbelgrade

gar32 wrote: »

Lets make criminals Policemen now so.

Like the Guards have never committed any crimes!?!

Overheal

Current Nobel Peace Prizes for Fmr. President Ronald Reagan (R): 0

President Ronald Reagan, June 12, 1987 wrote:

We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace. General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!

irish_bob

this choice says alot more about the givers than the recievers , this award will hurt obama in the usa , americans dont like to see their leaders being honoured by foreign orgs like the nobel

Nodin

Overheal wrote: »

Current Nobel Peace Prizes for Fmr. President Ronald Reagan (R): 0

When you get caught offside for conducting a covert war (Nicaragua), have backed some of the most notorious regimes in Latin American history, declare the ANC a 'terrorist' organisation, blocked sanctions against South Africa and a number of other 'minor gaffes', thats going to go against you, believe it or not....

(In all honesty, there must have been some one less dubious than Reagan you could have used for an example.....)

dresden8

Obama's arse hadn't even warmed the presidential seat when he started ordering airstrikes against an ally and murdering children.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article5575883.ece

loveissucide

I'd imagine quite a lot of it stems from what his election signifies for race relations in the Western world.

Het-Field

Since he entered the office, foreign relations, and opinion of America have thawed. His continued involvement with Guantanamo (which was not closed on the first day of his premiership, although it was clear that could never happen), and Iraq may suggest that he is not a suitable winner. However, American foreign diplomacy has been far better then it has been for the past 6 years.

Im still cynical, but I think I can see the rational behind the award.