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Topic: Praise and skepticism greet Obama Nobel award (Read 2681 times) |
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Blunderov
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Re:Praise and skepticism greet Obama Nobel award
« Reply #15 on: 2009-10-12 23:18:50 » |
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Quote from: Mermaid on 2009-10-10 12:22:50
...what did he do that was "noble peace prize worthy" during that time?
just asking... |
[Blunderov] My own conclusion is that Obama must have got it for not being Dubya. However slight the difference might be, it apparently came as a profound relief to to the prize committee nonetheless. One really should be grateful for small mercies I suppose.
http://www.truthout.org/101009A
Truthout Original
Nobel Prize for Promises?
Saturday 10 October 2009
by: Howard Zinn, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed
I was dismayed when I heard Obama was given the Nobel Peace Prize. A shock, really, to think that a president carrying on wars in two countries and launching military action in a third country (Pakistan), would be given a peace prize. But then I recalled that Woodrow Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt and Henry Kissinger had all received Nobel Peace Prizes. The Nobel Committee is famous for its superficial estimates and for its susceptibility to rhetoric and empty gestures, while ignoring blatant violations of world peace.
Yes, Wilson gets credit for the League of Nations - that ineffectual body which did nothing to prevent war. But he also bombarded the Mexican coast, sent troops to occupy Haiti and the Dominican Republic and brought the US into the slaughterhouse of Europe in the first World War - surely, among stupid and deadly wars, at the top of the list.
Sure, Theodore Roosevelt brokered a peace between Japan and Russia. But he was a lover of war, who participated in the US conquest of Cuba, pretending to liberate it from Spain while fastening US chains around that tiny island. And as president he presided over the bloody war to subjugate the Filipinos, even congratulating a US general who had just massacred 600 helpless villagers in the Phillipines. The Committee did not give the Nobel Prize to Mark Twain, who denounced Roosevelt and criticized the war, nor to William James, leader of the anti-imperialist league.
Oh yes, the Committee saw fit to give a peace prize to Henry Kissinger, because he signed the final agreement ending the war in Vietnam, of which he had been one of the architects. Kissinger, who obsequiously went along with Nixon's expansion of the war with the bombing of peasant villages in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Kissinger, who matches the definition of a war criminal very accurately, was given a peace prize!
People should not be given a peace prize on the basis of promises they have made (as with Obama, an eloquent maker of promises) but on the basis of actual accomplishments towards ending war. Obama has continued deadly, inhuman military action in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The Nobel Peace Committee should retire, and turn over its huge funds to some international peace organization which is not awed by stardom and rhetoric, and which has some understanding of history.
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Howard Zinn is a historian, playwright and social activist, and has received the Thomas Merton Award, the Eugene V. Debs Award, the Upton Sinclair Award and the Lannan Literary Award. He is perhaps best known for "A People's History of the United States."
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David Lucifer
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Enlighten me.
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Re:Praise and skepticism greet Obama Nobel award
« Reply #16 on: 2009-10-12 23:50:39 » |
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All is explained 
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Walter Watts
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Just when I thought I was out-they pull me back in
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Re:Praise and skepticism greet Obama Nobel award
« Reply #17 on: 2009-10-13 01:05:37 » |
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Walter Watts
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No one gets to see the Wizard! Not nobody! Not no how!
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MoEnzyme
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Re:Praise and skepticism greet Obama Nobel award
« Reply #18 on: 2009-10-13 21:51:52 » |
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Good call Walter! 
Well, I suppose I've pushed for the point that there ARE some things that Obama has done which could concievably recommend for some sort of prize, however I'm not seriously suggesting that he really is some great man of peace so far. Obviously he still thinks military action on the Taliban/Al Qeda connection is warranted. So perhaps he should simply shave this whole thing down to a police action - less military, more technology, something obviously less than a regieme-changing machine would probably be much better tolerated by all parties involved, not the 40K extra troops he's currently considering.
So anyhow, Obama has left all former US presidents in the dust with his foreign affairs, he has already gone to more countries than any other president has in their first year. So while that may not necessarily deserve an award for peace, it might make it at least understandable. I think Obama was as surprised as anyone else by it, but in retrospect and from some concievable points of view it makes some sense at least in a political way. I think that more or less reflects Obama's understanding of it as well. He doesn't view himself as a man of peace so much yet as a man of change which he's still working on. Perhaps he'll consider peace more in the final solution. It does tend to be easier on the wallet in any case.
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Hermit
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Re:Praise and skepticism greet Obama Nobel award
« Reply #19 on: 2009-10-15 21:08:29 » |
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Obama at a Crossroads
[ Hermit : A nicely balanced strategic analysis of what Obama's Nobel Peace prize might mean by a professional analyst whose opinions frequently parallel mine. ]
Source: Antiwar.com
Authors: Philip Giraldi
Dated: 2009-10-15
Philip Giraldi, a former CIA officer, is a contributing editor to The American Conservative and a fellow at the American Conservative Defense Alliance.
It has been fashionable to denounce the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to American President Barack Obama as a travesty. On a certain level, that judgment is undeniably correct as Obama has proven himself to be a master of empty rhetoric coupled with only minimal substance in the international arena. On Obama’s watch the United States has only marginally reduced its presence in Iraq, has increased the number of soldiers in Afghanistan, has stepped up drone attacks in Pakistan, and has indicated its willingness to "go after terrorists" wherever they are through commando-style attacks like the one carried out in Somalia last month. This affirmation of the president’s hawkish inclinations comes in spite of the fact that it can be reasonably argued that Obama won the presidency in the first place due to the antiwar vote.
The Nobel committee indicated that the choice of Obama was due to his having changed the tone of American interaction with the rest of the world, a clear and well-deserved slap at George W. Bush and his cronies. But it remains to be seen whether tone can be turned into substance and the signs are not good. Last week, Obama was silent when Israel’s Foreign Ministry announced that there can be no peace agreement with the Palestinians in the foreseeable future. On Tuesday reports that the increase in soldiers in Afghanistan has actually been almost twice the numbers the White House approved early in the year because large numbers of support troops have been included and not counted. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, is reportedly globetrotting building up support for harsh sanctions on Iran.
A second issue that apparently propelled Obama to the prize was his effort to curb proliferation of nuclear weapons, an area in which there has also been some sound and fury but little actual action. To be sure, Obama has supported an international nuclear test ban treaty which would include sanctions directed against those countries that actually test nuclear weapons. The treaty would make it more difficult to develop weapons that are actually usable, but the US Senate has yet to approve the agreement and significant players like India, China, and Pakistan appear reluctant to participate.
On the issue of proliferation the Nobel committee might also have credited Obama’s apparent willingness to engage in negotiations regarding a possible Iranian nuclear program and the weapons already believed to be in the hands of North Korea. But they should also have considered how he did grave damage to the Non-Proliferation regime through his green light to across-the-board technology sharing with the Indian nuclear program, which excludes regulation of New Delhi’s military inventory. And there is also the troubling report of his secret agreement with Israel that ignores the estimated 200 nuclear warheads in the hands of Tel Aviv, allowing it to have a monopoly on such weapons in the Middle East. Clearly we are seeing the typical Washington double standard. Bad guys will not be allowed to have a nuclear deterrent or even the right to enrich uranium while regimes the White House regards favorably will be judged by a completely different standard, undermining any suggestion that the Obama Administration might be behaving altruistically. As the NPT regime was originally established to create a non-political standard whereby all nations would be able to have the right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes within a regulated framework, the Obama de facto acceptance that all are not equally entitled threatens the overall integrity of the system and will lead to more countries opting out to protect their own parochial interests.
Some have suggested that the Nobel Peace Prize will serve as a political anvil tied around Obama’s ankle domestically, where the president is already being criticized by the right as an appeaser and by the left as celebrity politician who is being rewarded "prematurely" for all the wrong reasons. Others see the award as an enabler, possibly permitting Obama to seize the high ground and carry out policies that would otherwise be unimaginable. But the many interpretations of what the prize might mean are little more than speculation at this point. To those who see the possibility for radical change it should be pointed out that all foreign policy is really a reflection of domestic policy. Changing course in the Middle East and Central Asia would require support from various domestic constituencies, unlikely to be forthcoming.
But it might be possible to envision a positive outcome in terms of what the award might do to the president’s own self regard. Obama inherited the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The level of violence in Iraq is increasing but, as US troops are now disengaged from the cities, it does not normally involve Americans. An understanding has been reached to have nearly all of the current 130,000 US troops leave the country by 2011, though there is some wiggle room in the agreement and it is possible that the deadline will not be met if violence and instability continue to increase. Be that as it may, there is no road back towards greater engagement in Iraq. There is no possibility, politically speaking, that Obama will increase troop levels even if the country implodes, so it is reasonable to assume that United States forces will actually leave Iraq within the next two years, a timetable that Obama cannot radically alter.
In Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan, Obama’s view of the conflict is reported to be very much in play even though he has backed himself into a corner rhetorically speaking by referring to the fighting as a "war of necessity." As the president has already ruled out withdrawal or a reduction in forces, the options he is looking at range from the status quo to a huge increase of 60,000 soldiers, virtually doubling the US commitment at a time when Washington’s European allies are looking for a way out. [ Hermit : This is only an installment. The number will be raised again, first by "support troops" and later in a further futile attempt to prevent "defeat". Without 450,000 or more well equipped, air supported, competent troops, it is impossible to stabilize Afghanistan. And that doesn't begin to address the investment in money and support personnel that will be required and have to be non-military in order to be effective. ] What is particularly disturbing about Obama’s deliberative process is that he does not consult with anyone who was opposed to the Iraq and Afghan conflicts from the beginning, narrowing his options to those advocated by the liberal interventionist and nation building wing of his own party, a perspective that differs little from that of the Republicans. Divergent views are unwelcome. The Israeli lobby’s torpedoing of Charles Freeman as head of the National Intelligence Council in February 2009 eliminated a possibly independent voice over fear that he might chart a reality-based course in the Middle East and elsewhere. As all the choices The White House is likely to consider are bad, those of us in the antiwar community should perhaps ponder whether the status quo is a better outcome than a new surge, which would undoubtedly kill even more Americans, Afghans, and Pakistanis. Will the Nobel Prize nudge Obama towards deciding against more soldiers? If it influences his thinking in that way it would be a positive step, even though it remains a bad option that hardly puts an end to the imperial venture in central Asia. [ Hermit : From the news today that he will be adding a further 45,000 troops to the 39,000 already approved, we know that the answer to this wishful speculation is no. ]
By the same process, Peace Nobel Laureate Obama might likewise be less inclined to pull the trigger on Iran and more willing to let negotiations play out against the wishes of a bloodthirsty congress and media, not to mention his own State Department. If the Nobel Prize is even marginally instrumental in slowing the rush towards a new war, it would have to be regarded in positive terms.
Finally, I would note the old "my enemy’s enemy" axiom. The familiar voices from among the neocons and the Israeli lobby have been most vocal in decrying Obama as an "appeaser" peacemaker, possibly because they fear that the award might impel him to try that much harder to bring the Israelis and Palestinians together. There is increasing buzz in Washington about the viability of imposing a settlement on Israel-Palestine which would create a Palestinian state and a security-guaranteed Israel along the lines of the pre-1967 borders. Such a solution, with compensation for the Palestinians who were dispossessed rather than a right of return, would likely have the support of the European Union, Russia, and leading Arab states. Israel has indicated clearly that it would resist such an outcome because it would force it to give up its settlements and provide Palestinian access to Jerusalem, which makes the United States the key player as it is the only government that can seriously pressure Tel Aviv. Is it a fantasy to even consider such a solution given that Congress and the media would be aligned against the president? Perhaps, but Nobel Laureate Obama just might think it is worth one more try. [ Hermit : If this is on the cards at all, it will more probably be during Obama's second term than his first - if he gets one - because trying to implement it before the second term will almost certainly guarantee that he doesn't get a second term. ]
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MoEnzyme
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Re:Praise and skepticism greet Obama Nobel award
« Reply #20 on: 2009-10-16 03:24:13 » |
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I think Rachel Maddow does the best job of Americans putting this into perspective. She's even more generous to Obama than I am, but she makes the case well. My initial reaction was like that WHOAH lolcat too, and indeed Obama himself seemed to share that initial sentiment. But taken with some hindsight I'm not really all THAT surprised that Obama got it. By any objective measure, he did really get out and travel for the US. And as Maddow pointed out numerous Nobel Peace prize winners were named long before they had succeeded in their struggles. I'm still in the camp with those who are pointing out the warmaking he's doing in Afghanistan and Pakistan. I'm not really surprised as Obama has always been up front about this, he's always been for the Afghan adventure. And of course I don't think this exempts Obama from criticism on this. I'm personally very glad that Biden is in there criticizing it.
http://www.dailykostv.com/w/002235/
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Blunderov
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Re:Praise and skepticism greet Obama Nobel award
« Reply #21 on: 2009-10-27 05:00:03 » |
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[Blunderov] Strength to to strength. That's what he's going from. (Personally I thought Magnus Carlsen* would be the next but one world chess champion given his +5 score at Nanjing and his new rating of 2800, but hey when you're good you're good. Go Obama!)
hernandotoda
Obama wins world chess championship
By A. BARTON HINKLE
Guest columnist
Published: October 24, 2009
The World Chess Federation today announced that Barack Obama had become the world chess champion, nudging aside former undisputed champion Viswanathan Anand of India.
The news surprised some in the chess world, because Obama has never participated in tournament play. But FIDE officials said they felt certain Obama could become world champion if he ever decided to try.
Others were less surprised. Hungarian grandmaster Judit Polgar noted the world championship is just the latest in a string of triumphs for the American president. She cited his receipt two years ago of the Nobel Peace Prize. That award — for which Obama was nominated just a few weeks into his presidency, and a mere five years after he held the title of state senator in Illinois — was only the first in a series of accolades to come his way.
It was followed several months later when the International Mathematical Union bestowed on Obama the Fields Medal, often referred to as the Nobel Prize of Mathematics. The Fields is supposed to be given to individuals not over 40 years of age. The prize committee decided to waive the requirement, said the IMU's László Lovász, because some members had seen a "60 Minutes" interview in which Obama had done a rough percentage calculation in his head, and were impressed.
"Besides," Lovász added, "the Fields is intended in part to encourage further achievement. Having accomplished so little in the area of advanced mathematics, [Obama] surely has nowhere to go but up. We feel very optimistic."
In December, Obama was named the Ultimate Fighter by the Ultimate Fighting Championship. According to remarks by UFC president Dana White, there was no need for Obama to step into the Octagon. "He looks like he can scuffle," White said. "He's quick and agile and he's in shape. I'd love to see him go toe-to-toe with [former UFC heavyweight champion Brock] Lesnar, and we're trying to arrange that. But until then, we feel confident Obama would prevail, so we've taken the belt back from Brock and sent it to the White House."
Last April, despite the fact that Obama had never written an actual script, the Pulitzer committee awarded Obama the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, "in recognition of the extraordinary dramatic arc his life has taken."
"So much for calling him "No-Drama Obama'!" joked senior White House adviser David Axelrod — a reference to the president's unflappable leadership style.
Obama himself has made light of the many plaudits he has received, particularly his designation as People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive. "I knew Michelle felt that way, but frankly I'm a little surprised so many other people do. I'm very flattered. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to the gym," the president quipped.
The White House does not keep a tally of the awards the president has received, says press secretary Robert Gibbs. But a running list is maintained at Obamafanzine.com, a Web site run by Kevin Dingle, who calls himself Obama's "unofficial bi-blog-grapher."
In addition to the Nobel, Fields, UFC, Pulitzer, and People honors, the president has taken first place in Season Eight of FOX's "So You Think You Can Dance"; the blue ribbon in the Springfield, Ill., state fair woodcarving contest; and first place in the Saddle Bronc division of the annual New Holland-Saskatoon Stampede. He also has been named next year's contestant in the Miss Universe pageant from Croatia, although many doubt whether he will actually compete.
Obama also has won four college wrestling championships, three Olympic gold medals (in 10-meter platform diving, luge, and dressage), the Fastest Trowel on the Block Competition from the Mason Contractors Association of America, and the Pillsbury Bake-Off.
The president — who holds the long-distance shooting record at the sniper school at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va. — also has a chest full of military decorations. They include two Purple Hearts for service in Vietnam and the 1983 U.S. invasion of Grenada; a Silver Star for nighttime air combat missions over the Solomon Islands in World War II; and a Congressional Medal of Honor for conspicuous valor at Montbrehain, France, in 1918. According to the citation: "Despite having his right arm and both legs blown off by a concussion grenade, Cpl. Obama secured his men in a dugout safe from withering machine-gun fire from a German emplacement, crept up to the German position from its flank, and dispatched the seven enemy soldiers there with his remaining bare hand." The Medal of Honor was awarded posthumously even though Obama is still alive because, said an adjutant general in the Pentagon, "we all thought it was a lot more romantic that way."
Sources in the Vatican say the conclave of electors is poised to name Obama the next pope.
"They've already made up their minds," said a monsignor who requested anonymity. "They're just waiting for the current one to die."
A. Barton Hinkle is a columnist for The Richmond Times-Dispatch. He can be reached at bhinkle@timesdispatch.com.
*
http://www.columbusdispatch.com/live/content/life/stories/2009/10/24/2_CHESS1024_ART_10-24-09_D2_KCFEGEP.html?sid=101
ON CHESS
Dominance in China lifts Carlsen to No. 2
Saturday, October 24, 2009 3:17 AM
By SHELBY LYMAN
Eighteen-year-old prodigy Magnus Carlsen has again assumed the mantle of Magnus the Magnificent.
In a stunning performance at the Pearl Spring Tournament in Nanjing, China, the Norwegian went 8-2 against a field that included Veselin Topalov, the highest-rated player in the world, as well as Peter Leko and Timour Radjabov, ranked sixth and seventh.
According to chess statistician Jeff Sonas, Carlsen's performance is the
20th-best in chess history. Even more significant, it's the best ever among teenagers, whose ranks have included examples of precocity such as Bobby Fischer, Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov.
A measure of his achievement is that while Carlsen scored six wins in 10 games, his five opponents collectively accumulated a scant three victories in the entire event.
As a result of the tournament, Carlsen has moved up from fourth to second on the World Chess Federation's rating list.
Few will doubt that Nanjing reflects Garry Kasparov's recently assumed role as Carlsen's trainer. Kasparov's savvy adds an intimidating dimension to his protege's already formidable competitiveness.
Shelby Lyman is a Basic Chess Features columnist.
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Hermit
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Re:Praise and skepticism greet Obama Nobel award
« Reply #22 on: 2009-10-27 09:34:54 » |
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I wish I hadn't been drinking coffee when I read this.
Sploosh
Hermit&Co
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With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion. - Steven Weinberg, 1999
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Blunderov
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Re:Praise and skepticism greet Obama Nobel award
« Reply #23 on: 2009-10-28 05:00:07 » |
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[Blunderov] Glad you enjoyed it Hermit. Very Onionesque piece. Well done Mr Hinkle!
Fond regards.
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Blunderov
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Re:Praise and skepticism greet Obama Nobel award
« Reply #24 on: 2009-10-28 09:46:35 » |
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[Blunderov] Of course one of the reasons that Obama is the new World Chess Champion is because he solved chess. Although he is not actually named in the following account, who else could it have been?
http://chess.eusa.ed.ac.uk/Chess/Trivia/chesssolved1.html
Chess Solved ! :1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Once during an international tournament, in which the most illustrious players in the world were participating, a strange looking fellow introduced himself to the great Cuban, who was no doubt expecting another plea for an autograph, and told him that he had solved chess. You can imagine the look on Capablanca's face who immediately began to turn away just in case the man wasn't just crazy, but violent as well. Still, the strange insistent man then pulled a thousand dollars from his pocket and told Capablanca it would be his if he could avoid being mated in twelve moves. Well, crazy or not, a thousand dollars is a thousand dollars, so he accepted and obligingly followed the man to his room.
The game started simply enough, but after a couple of strange moves, as soon as move eight, the position began to look menacing, and to his absolute shock, Capablanca saw his King being mated on the twelfth move. His eyes were bulging, he couldn't believe it, and he insisted that they start over. This time he tried a completely different opening, one that could never lead to that same position, but just as before, after a few strange moves, with no possible counter, he found himself checkmated again. Something was wrong, he must have made some very obvious mistake, but he couldn't see where, so he told the fellow to wait, and 20 minutes later he came back with both Lasker, and Alekhine. Lasker seemed dubious about the whole idea before the game began, and played a slow and very defensive opening, yet twelve moves later, in front of an equally incredulous Alekhine, he too saw his King surrounded.
"It was terrible, and embarrassing", Capablanca told his friend, but no matter what opening they tried, no matter what they did, they were always checkmated after twelve moves. What were they going to do? They were the best in the world and yet now it was all over: chess had been solved.
"But I never heard that chess was solved. What did you do? What happened?" his friend asked.
"Why we killed him, of course."
[Bl.] Of course, being a master of space time as he is, Obama has now returned to save us all. A good thing I think you will all agree.
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Blunderov
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Re:Praise and skepticism greet Obama Nobel award
« Reply #25 on: 2009-11-04 08:49:12 » |
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[Blunderov] From my favourite comedian.
Badass quote of the day
Posted on: November 1, 2009 9:02 AM, by Ed Brayton
From Steven Wright:
I'd kill for a Nobel Peace Prize.
http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2009/11/badass_quote_of_the_day_7.php
[Bl.] Some others of my favourites:
"When I die I'm going to donate by body to science fiction."
"What would happen if I hired two private detectives to follow each other?"
"I bought a cordless cable."
"I hear they're going to come out with digital numbers soon."
Everywhere is within walking distance if you have the time.
Hermits have no peer pressure.
I bought some batteries, but they weren't included.
How young can you die of old age?
I have an existential map. It has 'You are here' written all over it 
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