In 2009, when Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, it was pointed out that his nomination for the award almost perfectly coincided with his inauguration as president–that is, he was given the award not for anything he had done, but rather for what the Nobel Committee wanted him to do. Hoping for American surrender in the Middle East and capitulation in the war on terror, the Nobel Committee assumed Obama shared their penchant for appeasement and decided to nudge him along.
Since there are often candidates for the prize that actually deserve it, this did not go over all too well. Yet the Nobel Committee has done exactly this again, awarding this year’s Peace Prize to the European Union for what it hopes the union will–or, more accurately, won’t–do. The commission ostensibly gave the EU the prize for completing European integration and reconciliation after the two world wars, stressing that today war between France and Germany is unthinkable. Of course, as Max noted, the Second World War may have revolved around the violence and depredations in Western Europe, but peace was delivered by Americans and Russians most of all. (Speaking of Russians, this has been a momentous year in the Russian people’s willingness to challenge the thugocracy of Vladimir Putin; was there no Russian thought worthy of the prize by the Nobel Committee?) As the New York Times reports, the committee was open about the real reason for the prize:
Thorbjorn Jagland, the former Norwegian prime minister who is chairman of the panel awarding the prize, said there had been deep concern about Europe’s destiny as it faces the debt-driven woes that have placed the future of the single currency in jeopardy.
“There is a great danger,” he said in an interview in Oslo. “We see already now an increase of extremism and nationalistic attitudes. There is a real danger that Europe will start disintegrating. Therefore, we should focus again on the fundamental aims of the organization.”
Asked if the euro currency would survive, he replied: “That I don’t know. What I know is that if the euro fails, then the danger is that many other things will disintegrate as well, like the internal market and free borders. Then you will get nationalistic policies again. So it may set in motion a process which most Europeans would dislike.”
When Jagland warns of the dangers of disintegration and the reemergence of borders and “nationalism,” he is concerned first and foremost with preventing the revival of democracy and sovereignty–two things he neither cares for nor truly understands. The lessons some Eurocrats have learned from the Continent’s battle with fascism and communism is to give a centralized government more power over its citizens.
Jagland also explains that the Continent may be dealing with an economic crisis, but that economic crisis was caused by the United States in his expert opinion, so no one need bother with Greek debt or French socialism. Speaking of Greece, how do they feel about this year’s award winner? Not great:
“I think it’s unfair,” said Stavros Polychronopoulos, 60, a retired lawyer, as he stood on Friday in central Syntagma Square in Athens, where residue from tear gas fired by the police during demonstrations on Tuesday to protest a visit by the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, still clung to the sidewalks.
“The leader of the E.U. is Germany, which is in an economic war with southern Europe,” Mr. Polychronopoulos said. “I consider this war equal to a real war. They don’t help peace.”
So some Greeks think they’re currently at war with Germany, in part due to the very lack of sovereignty and self-determination that Jagland credits for its contribution to European peace.
And then there’s another problem: who will accept the award on behalf of “Europe”? The Times notes that the European Commission, European Council, and European Parliament are fighting over the honor. This is, in a way, perfect, since it shows that not even the mostly unaccountable bureaucrats running the EU can keep the peace among themselves.
There’s also the minor point of America’s role both in propping up NATO and in keeping much of the world free from the anarchy that likely would prevail if the U.S. took the same attitude toward security and defense as does the EU. In other words, though Europe is at peace currently, we have yet to arrive at a time at which Europe is responsible for that peace.
Although the Times story reads like the Onion, it is neither satirical nor particularly funny. Europe’s turn away from democracy, sovereignty, and identity undermines the West’s dedication to freedom around the world. Additionally, the EU’s dismissive approach to self-defense means either the world becomes less secure or the United States shoulders even more of the burden. A collection of welfare states becomes a welfare continent, though since most Eurocrats couldn’t lose their jobs if they tried, the attendant skyrocketing unemployment will be a curious statistic to them, and nothing more.
This future is also unlikely to be particularly peaceful. But the EU knows full well that if needed, the U.S. will help set things right so that nameless, faceless bureaucrats can once again take credit for someone else’s success.
Will someone please put an end to these fools.
Why didn't they give the Nobel Prize to the sun, which comes up every morning, provides heat and light so mankind can grow vegetables to eat and so avert war over food, and whose light additionally keeps all of mankind from bumping into walls and tripping over toys the children of the world leave lying around? n n n n
Thanks for the rationale. n nOslo is too scared to award the Peace Prize to an Egyptian Coptic Christian? n nI had a fantasy that the surprise winner is Malala Yousefzai, because she may just change the arc of history (more than the EU) about the idea that girls deserve access to education instead of 'honor killings' and forced marriages that are no different from sex slavery. n nIt was the USA and our military that changed the arc of Europe's bloody history that led to the possibility of the EU, which, by all accounts, is a case study in the failure of supra-national governance. n nSo far in 2012, every Nobel prize has had at least one Jewish recipient. I assume that NO Jew will be involved in the Peace Prize, which means Norway is again safe from a Jew setting foot in Oslo.
'peace was delivered by Americans and Russians most of all'. n nSloppy innacurate and not worthy of an article such as this. n n nWithout the victory of The Battle of Britain where would the Allied invasion forces have jumped off from? Would the US have even entered into a European shooting war knowing that Britain was lost? n nWithout Montgomery's route of Rommel's forces at el-Alamein the Suez canal would have been captured and an opening through Iran to the Caucasus enabled. That was Russia's oil field and in Nazi hands what then? n nThen there was Yalta where an ailing Franklin D Roosevelt gave Stalin more or less what he wanted. That included Poland, half of Germany, all of Eastern Europe and the Balkans. Churchill was appalled. n nWe may be a small semi insignificant nation now but then, a mere seventy years ago, we had an Empire and more, we had spine. n nBe careful America. Much as I hate to say it your time is coming fast. n nThe very fact that a Muslim reared man going by the name of Hussein, ten years after his familial co-religionists killed 3000 Americans is now President speaks of a lethargic hubris amongst at least half of the population. n nAnd they are growing thanks to an education system which twists facts to a leftist and culturaly relativist agenda. What happens when they reach voting age? n nAnd as for China? n nI'm sorry to burst the bubble but Westen hegonomy is being eroded day after day. n nKarl Marx will have a Highgate gravebound smirk which puts Bidens inanity to shame. n nMuch as I try to make sense of all this, most Westerners are living as HG Wells' Eloi's in a land of topsey turvey denial. n nThe Morlochs who just killed a US ambassador are not only in Libya but as a Fifth Column in the US and in Europe. Unlike us they care not who dies just as long as Allah's cause is furthered. n nThats how it is. The rest is pure denial.
Perhaps they should have given the award to al Qaeda. Why not? In the post modern ethos everything is everything there's no good bad right wrong or anything else. It's just competing narratives. Peace is war is peace. Terrorism is free speech, free speech is censorship and nobody besmirch the prophet. The post above this one with its insipid threats and platitudes about Marx, because, as we know, when the Berlin Wall fell, everyone rushed INTO East Germany, not the other way, is ample proof of my thesis.
Maybe a tad wide ranging my bit above doesn't reflect any animosity to the USA, merely a kind of nihilistic despair at the way things are shaping up. n nAs a boy my family and I lived in Vancouver which is as near as it gets to American culture. n nThe cars were American: Pontiacs, Chevrolets, Oldsmobiles and Cadillacs. n nThe clothes were American: loafers, jeans, lightweight suits, leather jackets, t-shirts. n nThe food was American: steak, salmon, burgers, fresh fruit in abundance. n nFilms and TV: American. n nApart from the odd aboot (about) the accent: American. (OK, pretty damn near). n nThat's just the start and there's a lot of culture there. n nDisclosure, it was the Fifties and a Golden Age in US past.
Fighting over a peace prize? Priceless.
Who gives a f**k who those Norwegian a$$holes give the 'effin Peace Prize to? n nIt may as well be a bronzed feces, to better reflect the essence of most recent recipients.
The Nobel Peace Prize. Yawn. Who cares?
Someone put it well sometime ago when he said [essentially]: We may have defeated Naziism in Europe, but [soft] fascism prevailed. n nI think it is sad, indeed very sad; but I also think Europe, after two thoroughly disastrous world wars, is essentially finished. The European psychologically is deathly afraid of nationalism and national sovereignty and the spirit and individuality that goes with it, so this is what you get. On the other hand, the Muslim community mushrooming within Europe is not psychologically constrained in any way comparable to the European. They know it, and the European, unable summon the will to do anything about it, listlessly watches what was the glory of Old Europe gradually glide down the drain. Tragic. n n
Pussy Riot, as flawed as they may be, was more deserving of the Prize than the EU.
It is time the US just made this "award" a taxable political contribution at a rate of 75% just like the French have institutued.