[The
Toronto Star, Canada]
Estadao, Brazil
Obama's Nobel Won't Help Him Fight Wars
"What
has been called 'Obama's war' has attracted reluctant support - even among governments
of the European Union, where large numbers of people have taken to the streets.
The Nobel will not change this reality."
EDITORIAL
Translated By Brandi Miller
October 10, 2009
Brazil - Estadao - Original Article (Portuguese)
Barack Obama was awakened to
receive news of which even he dared not dream - at least not yet. Before completing
nine months in the White House he had just been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize,
"for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and
cooperation between peoples." The decision baffled the world and added
another singular milestone to the fascinating saga of the first Black U.S. president,
in the midst of ferocious and often racially tinged attacks upon him in his own
country, and, principally, when it's still too early to know if his courageous efforts
in the global arena have any chance of getting off the ground. One could argue,
therefore, that the Nobel committee decided to reward his good intentions in
the perhaps naive hope of contributing to the success of policies that Obama
has enunciated.
Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US
The judges endorsed Obama's
foreign policy agenda, starting with: "his vision and work for a world
without nuclear weapons," implicitly welcoming the end of the American
supremacy that marked the Bush era - "multilateral diplomacy has regained
a central position, with emphasis on the role of the United Nations and other
international institutions" - and the "more constructive role"
now taken on by the U.S. in confronting the challenges of climate change. But
they also highlighted the personal attributes and convictions of the president.
"Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the
world's attention and given its people hope for a better future," affirms
the official press release. "His diplomacy is founded in the concept that
those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes
that are shared by the majority of the world's population."
Despite the
beautiful words, the astonishment with which the decision was received
obligated committee chairman and former Norwegian prime minister, Thorbjorn
Jagland, to defend the choice - an uncommon event in the history of the award.
In 1994, for example, when the Nobel went to Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak
Rabin and the Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, the reasons were
obvious and undeniable. This time, Jagland needed to clarify that the Prize wasn't
granted, "for what could happen in the future." To him, "the
question that we need to ask is who did the most during the year to promote
peace in the world." In effect, they had to adopt this criteria at the
risk of the decision being made prematurely - or wait until it's possible to
say what Obama has done to make the planet more peaceful. In the first case,
the prize is a political incentive - with the advantage, in this case, of
associating the Nobel with the image of the world's most charismatic politician.
In the second, it is the recognition of consummate facts.
Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US
Up to now Barack Obama has
been a sower, which is necessary but insufficient for a head of state to become
a statesman. This is, of course, is not to minimize the wide range of the
president's initiatives - or the intensity with which he has spoken out and
defended them to create the "new climate" in the international arena so
applauded by the Nobel Committee. He put the issue of nuclear disarmament on
the agenda - for many, this was utopian; for others, it was a movement to
legitimize the fight against the proliferation of nuclear weapons. On this
front, if the other side has opened its fist, he has offered an outreached
hand; at other times, he has threatened tougher U.N. sanctions, such as when Obama,
along with a sextet of countries that includes the United States, was able to bring
Iran to discuss its nuclear program. It was "a constructive start,"
he said. None of this has helped revive the peace process between Israelis and
Palestinians - and as far as the eye can see, one can't know when or if the successors
of Rabin and Arafat will honor the Nobel they received.
With his speech at the
University of Cairo, Obama made history - oral history - by proposing to the
Islamic world a relationship based on mutual respect. But Islam hasn't allied
itself with the U.S. in its increasingly difficult (and in the U.S., increasingly
unpopular) war against Taliban fundamentalists in Afghanistan. What has been
called "Obama's war" has attracted reluctant support - even among governments
of the European Union, where large numbers of people have taken to the streets.
The Nobel will not change this reality.
SEE ALSO ON THIS:
Dagens Nyheter, Sweden:
The Norwegians 'Got Carried Away' with Obama
Le Monde, France:
One Must Not
Misinterpret Obama's Nobel!
Le Temps, Switzerland:
Has Nobel Committee
'Fallen on its Head?'
Corriere della Sera, Italy:
Is Obama's Nobel Just to Repudiate George W. Bush?
Sato, Portugal:
President Obama's Nobel - Can He Fulfill World's Expectations?
Rue 89, France:
Nobel 2009: Obama a (Premature) Icon of Peace
Kayan, Iran:
'Traitorous African Murderer' Wins 2009 Nobel Peace Prize!
Zaman, Turkey:
Turks Agree: Obama's Nobel Reflects Hope, Not Action
Der Spiegel, Germany:
For Barack Obama, Nobel Prize
More of a Burden than an Honor
The Times, U.K.:
'Absurd Decision'
on Obama Makes Mockery
of Nobel Peace Prize
The Times, U.K.:
'Pointless' Nobel Reveals How Obama is Lost in His own Mystique
The Hindustan Times, India:
EDITORIAL: Nobel Committee
Wins an Obama
Times of India, India:
EDITORIAL: Decoding Obama's Nobel Prize
The Hindu, India:
The Nobel and
the Audacity of Hope-Giving
India Today, India:
[Indian] People's Verdict:
Obama Not 'Nobel' Enough
NTV Kenya Video:
'Yes He Can and Yes
He Did' Win the Nobel Prize
Russia Today Video:
Nobel Peace Prize
for Obama a 'Big Mistake'
CBC Canada Video:
Canada's Nightly
News Covers Obama's
Nobel Prize Win
France 24 Video:
Does Barack Obama
Deserve Nobel Peace Prize?
BBC News Audio:
IAEA Chief
ElBaradei Says 'No One
More Worthy' than Obama
BBC News Video:
After Mandela and
Tutu, South Africans Applaud
Obama Nobel Victory
BBC News Video:
Israeli President
Peres Praises Nobel Prize for Obama
CLICK HERE FOR PORTUGUESE VERSION
[Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US October 12, 4:27pm]
