Has the Nobel Committee 'Fallen on its Head?': Le Temps, Switzerland

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[Le Temps, Switzerland]

Le Temps, Switzerland

Has the Nobel Committee 'Fallen on its Head?'

By Luis Lema

Translated By Lisa Cabral

September 10, 2009

Switzerland - Le Temps - Original Article (French)

Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Thorbjoen Jagland, shocks the world and apparently the U.S. president himself, by announcing that Barack Obama is the winner of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.

BBC NEWS VIDEO: Nobel Peace Prize awarded to President Obama for 'his extraordinary efforts to strengthen global diplomacy and co-operation between peoples,' Oct. 9, 00:01:30

Too early to celebrate the accomplishments of Obama? Too late to pay tribute to a global enthusiasm that has partly subsided?

Has the Nobel Committee fallen on its collective head? To award the most prestigious global prize on an American president who has barely begun? To a Barak Obama who not only hasn't had time to implement his noble principles, but moreover, has begun to disappoint even his most determined supporters? The war in Afghanistan, the response to make to Iran's nuclear ambitions, a resistant Middle East, a domestic battle over reforming the health care system, the long battle to restart and stabilize the economic machine …

Posted by WORLDMEETS.US

Between the February date of filing nominations in Oslo (Obama had entered the White House less than two weeks earlier!) and that of this surprise announcement, the young winner had merely begun his normal duties as president - with all of his doubts, hesitations and ill-kept promises, and his taking into account the interests of state and political calculation ...

SEE ALSO ON THIS:

Dagens Nyheter, Sweden: The Norwegians 'Got Carried Away' with Obama

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

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

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'