Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize; "What For?" asks green group
Pres. Obama has apparently been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize this morning “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples,” but there appears to be a few on the left who feel that the award is undeserved.
I copy below an interesting message that I just ran across in my Inbox from the group Green Change; the message – which looks like it could have been written by a libertarian group! (or Glenn Greenwald) – also appears on their webpage:
This morning, President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize “for
his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and
cooperation between peoples,” the Nobel Committee said.
Why?
Did Obama bring peace to Iraq?
No. He continues to station 124,000 U.S. troops there, with tens of thousands deployed perhaps indefinitely.
Did he bring peace to Afghanistan?
No. He has escalated the war there, and is part responsible for the scores of civilian deaths that have occurred there. He has done this despite that most Americans now believe the Afghan war is “not worth fighting.”
Thorbjoern Jagland, chairman of the Nobel committee said in an
interview that “Obama has as president created a new climate in
international politics.” Has Obama done anything singular to stop the
worldwide crisis of climate change?
No. He has spent little or no political capital on the climate crisis, and still refuses to publicly commit the U.S. to strong actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Jagland said that “The Nobel Committee has in particular looked at
Obama’s vision and work toward a world without atomic weapons.” But on
this issue, Obama is merely implementing the ideas of the more
conservative foreign policy minds of our nation, including Henry Kissinger.
Did he beat the swords of the giant U.S. defense budget into plowshares of peace?
No. In fact, he will soon approve the largest defense bill in our nation’s history.
Has he brought home the troops scattered across the world stationed to maintain our empire?
No.
Has he stopped our nation’s scandalous weapons trade?
No. The U.S. has expanded its weapons trade. We now supply 2/3rds of the world’s foreign armaments.
Did Obama sign the cluster munitions treaty to ban cluster bombs, because 98% of cluster bomb casualties are children?
No. The U.S. has not signed the cluster munitions treaty.
Has Obama brought home the army of mercenaries we have stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan?
No. He has expanded the ranks of these mercenaries to 250,000.
There are millions of people across our world who spend their blood
and sweat every day for peace — real peace. Each and every one of
them deserves the Nobel Peace Prize far more than Barack Obama.
Best,
Gary Ruskin
Co-founder
Green Change
P.S. If you like our work, please help us reach our $25,000 fundraising goal by 12/31. Donate $15 or whatever you can today.
So why WAS Obama awarded the Peace Prize? A cynic might wonder if it was given to put moral pressure on Obama not to become even more bellicose (towards Iran), and perhaps to encourage him to achieve more.
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