Jumping the gun?: Nobel jurors have done
what they often do
-
they have shocked the world. No doubt, quite intentionally so.
Rue89, France
Nobel 2009: Obama
a (Premature) Icon of Peace
"We
salute the intention, the bold words and perhaps mostly the man himself and his
journey … but much ink will be spilled over this Nobel Prize because it's so surprising
that it shocks … even with all the sympathy inspired by the winner, it begs
questions."
By Pierre Haski*
Translated By
Sandrine Ageorges
October 9, 2009
France - Rue 89 - Original Article (French)
To general surprise, President
Obama was rewarded. “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international
diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”
It's a Nobel Academy surprise:
On Friday, Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, barely eight months
after his arrival at the White House.
Up to now, political leaders that
have been honored by this prestigious award won after presiding over an agreement
on a long-standing conflict, or at least promising to do so.
So it was for Henry Kissinger,
no doubt the most controversial Nobel Prize recipient in history, who won
alongside Vietnamese leader Le
Duc Thô in 1973 for the peace agreement ending
decades of war in Vietnam - although these agreements weren't subsequently
respected.
Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US
Or for Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon
Péres and Yasser Arafat, who were also rewarded for the Oslo Accords (1993), which
held out hope for a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and served as
historical recognition between the two peoples. Here again, the agreement didn't
bring peace, but the gesture had been made.
Regarding Barack Obama, we
salute the intention, the bold words and perhaps mostly the man himself and his
journey. But as was mischievously pointed out on Twitter by blogger Maitre Eolas, this is the first time
that a Nobel Peace Prize is to be awarded to the leader of a state whose army
is occupying two other countries (Iraq and Afghanistan).
THE CAIRO SPEECH
On the positive side, it
should be noted that the new American president can be saluted for putting an
end to the cycle of death into which the Bush Administration had led America
and the world, that of a clash of civilizations.
Barack Obama’s Cairo speech last
June, in this respect, was a historic moment in which a head of state attempts
to reverse the global trends and extend a hand to one sixth of the human race
that had come to regard his country as the incarnation of evil (and vice versa).
Similarly, we can
acknowledge Obama’s efforts to break the deadlock in the Middle East while taking
a firm stand, for once, against the Israelis and the colonization of the West
Bank.
SEE ALSO ON THIS:
El Universal, Venezuela:
'Peace Prize' Winner Should Close All U.S. Military Bases
Kitabat, Iraq:
Barack Obama ... Bird of Peace!
Dagens Nyheter, Sweden:
The Norwegians 'Got Carried Away' with Obama
Dernieres Nouvelles d'Alsace, France:
Peace Prize Could Cripple Young President
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!
Estadao, Brazil:
Obama's Nobel Won't Help Him Fight Wars
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
Frankfurter Allgemeine, Germany:
Nobel Prize Winners May
Have to Settle for Less ...
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
But in the first case as in
the second, we're still at a "preliminary" stage, as one says about romantic
relationships. The passage to action will be difficult, and the first steps haven't
gone all that well - in particular for the Middle East.
More worryingly, this Nobel Prize
comes amid an intense debate in Washington over the insistence of American
military commanders in Afghanistan to significantly increase the number of soldiers
involved in the war against the Taliban. Will the first act of the new Nobel laureate
be to send reinforcements into a war in which the likely outcome is bleak?
HELPING HAND IN BATTLE FOR HEATH CARE?
No one would deny that the personality
of Barack Obama is, in itself, worthy of respect, admiration and every kind of
reward. But he has become the president of the most powerful nation in the
world, and it is his actions as president on which he should be judged. The
state of affairs after his first eight months in office is certainly anything
but dishonorable. But it seems there was no hesitation on the part of the Norwegian
Academy to go from there to making him a Noble laureate.
Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US
Did jurors want to give Obama
a boost in his difficult battle over to reform of the U.S. health care system, which
has seen him compared to Hitler or Satan? Or did they simply feel that having "broken"
with the Bush era was in itself historically significant?
In any case, much ink will be
spilled over this Nobel Prize because it is so surprising that it shocks. And
even with all the sympathy inspired by the winner, it begs questions.
*Pierre Haski is
co-founder of Rue 89
CLICK HERE FOR FRENCH VERSION
[Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US October 9, 2:40pm]
