BArack Obama's Nobel Peace Prize - 6 Months Later

OK - it was exactly 6 months ago that Barack Obama received his Nobel Peace Prize for... um  ... for well for nothing, I mean for "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."   Wow, that is a lot better than "e for effort."   Then it was explained that is was for what he was going to accomplish.  Since this award was awarded in haste - basically for nothing other than a "we really, really like him." award by Norway. (In reality the award was announced in October, so we are like 8 months after).  The panel said that "We have not given the prize for what may happen in the future. We are awarding Obama for what he has done in the past year. (which was run for office and nothing done for peace) And we are hoping this may contribute a little bit for what he is trying to do," Silly Norwegians, for what he has done in the past year riiiiiight!

So let's see how he has "fostered diplomacy."  When people focus on peace they often look to the middle east.  I am not sure exactly where the middle east starts and stops, but most folks agree that Israel, Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey and Iran are in the middle east (some may include Afghanistan, I would not).  As far as I can tell things are worse, not better as far as peace goes.  Israel and Palestine are no closer to peaceful coexistence thanks to Hamas, Fattah, and Hezbola.Iraq situation has not changed for the better and is and has been controlled by Iraqi government long before Obama got elected.  I guess when Bush said "We will leave when Iraq wants us to leave."  was pretty accurate.  Iran - well, no one can say this current administration could not have handled the Iran situation any worse.  Basically nothing has been done about Iran except that we have told them that they have been really, really bad.  Anyhow - I see a no more peaceful middle east.

The Afghanistan situation so far is deteriorating.  However we are trying a surge kind of thing (I wonder who decided to do such a thing before).  Funny, since the Gulf Oil spill, no one in the media is even asking about how things are going or have gone with it.  After all the new offensive - that was to start in the spring should be well under way.

North Korea - the situation with them is worse than ever - we allowed them to sink a South Korean ship and all we can say is something about "the world", not us, not our allies - wait we don't have allies anymore, I forgot.  If you think we have allies - give me a list of them from 2008, but check it close - you will have to scratch most of them off.

My view is that Norway blew this last Peace Prize (again).

Whatever you do - stay safe!

Ronald Reagan and the Nobel Peace Prize

I don't know why I was thinking this - but it popped into my head. Why didn't Reagan win the Nobel Peace Prize?

He was President from 1981-1989. Here are the winners during that period with my comments in italics:

1989 THE 14TH DALAI LAMA (TENZIN GYATSO) , Tibet. Religious and political leader of the Tibetan people. O,k probably well deserved
1988 THE UNITED NATIONS PEACE-KEEPING FORCES New York, NY, U.S.A. This one is a cop-out when you do not want to choose.
1987 OSCAR ARIAS SANCHEZ , Costa Rica, President of Costa Rica, initiator of peace negotiations in Central America. Well deserving of such an award with his peace efforts in Central America.
1986 ELIE WIESEL , U.S.A., Chairman of 'The President's Commission on the Holocaust'. Author, humanitarian. Guess who was President while he was on the commission.
1985 INTERNATIONAL PHYSICIANS FOR THE PREVENTION OF NUCLEAR WAR Boston, MA, U.S.A. These guys possibly deserved it. – However, I believe Reagan actually did more to prevent nuclear war than these guys did.
1984 DESMOND MPILO TUTU , South Africa, Bishop of Johannesburg, former Secretary General South African Council of Churches (S.A.C.C.). for his work against apartheid. He was a deserved recipient.
1983 LECH WALESA , Poland. Founder of Solidarity, campaigner for human rights. He probably could not have even held the marches and protests without the support of the US externally and the build up of American military power under Reagan.
1982 The prize was awarded jointly to: ALVA MYRDAL , former Cabinet Minister, diplomat, delegate to United Nations General Assembly on Disarmament, writer.
ALFONSO GARCÍA ROBLES , diplomat, delegate to the United Nations General Assembly on Disarmament, former Secretary for Foreign Affairs . I believe once again a cop-out when Un gets any of the prizes
1981 OFFICE OF THE UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES Geneva, Switzerland see abaove – same stuff

Another interesting point is that Gorbechev gets the Nobel Peace prize in 1990 for “helping end the cold war.” Now that is a real hoot, since there is no way it would have happened without Reagan. Carter, his predecessor, won the prize mostly for his mid-east peace initiatives (he won it in 2002). As Reagan was giving his inaugural address, 52 U.S. hostages, held by Iran for 444 days were set free. There were no Major conflicts during Reagan’s term that the US was involved in. The most major conflict in the world was the Iran/Iraq war.

Ronald Reagan encouraged Gorbachev to pursue major arms agreements. Gorbachev and Reagan held four meetings between 1985 and 1988: Reagan believed that if he could persuade the Soviets to allow for more democracy and free speech, it would lead to reform and the end of Communism. Speaking at the Berlin Wall on June 12, 1987, Reagan challenged Gorbachev: saying, "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!" (Note: The Berlin Wall was torn down beginning in 1989 and then two years later the Soviet Union collapsed.)





Reagan and Gorbachev signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty at the White House in 1987 which eliminated an entire class of nuclear weapons. Gorbachev was offering major concessions to the U.S. on the levels of conventional forces, nuclear weapons, and policy in Eastern Europe.

Compare that with Barack Obama...

Stay Safe!

Barack Obama - Again

OK, so tell me what I am missing. We have a president who has done nothing to change any situation in any war, managed to push the economy to worsen and now he gets the Nobel Peace Prize for what he may do. Actually the prize should go to his teleprompter, after all it controls all he says :P

This proves that the world loves Barack Obama, no matter what he does or doesn't do. I work in a very international setting and many from other countries ask me "what did he win the prize for?" "What did he do?"

Sorry, all I can say is blame the Norwegians. :)

Be Safe