The Nobel peace prize to EU - what do you think?

Number24

My take is: It's not the Nobel prize for Economics, it's the peace prize! While the economy of the EU is in tatters, the EU has been a success when it comes to promoting peace and stability in Europe. When the Union started up, France and Germany were mortal enemies - now Serbia and Croatia are making an effort to be better democracies so they can be EU members together. But I do think the timing could have been better, since the EU has never been this unpopular. So it's the right winner at the wrong time.

What is your take on it?

The Domino Effect

I think the Nobel Peace Prize has lost all credibility in recent years. Selecting Obama as winner before he'd done anything other than just being elected was a prime example. Decisions like that call the whole process into question. I'd like to see the young Pakistani girl who was just shot in the neck by the Taliban for promoting education for girls receive it next year...but they'll probably give it to Apple for promoting international relations by bringing iPhones to the world.

Napoleon Plural

Funny you should post this No24, as some are saying it's a sort of reaction to events last year with the mad gunman, as if to say, hey aren't we a wonderful, multi-ethnic society, let's tip our hat to it.

0073

The Domino Effect wrote:

I think the Nobel Peace Prize has lost all credibility in recent years. Selecting Obama as winner before he'd done anything other than just being elected was a prime example. Decisions like that call the whole process into question. I'd like to see the young Pakistani girl who was just shot in the neck by the Taliban for promoting education for girls receive it next year...but they'll probably give it to Apple for promoting international relations by bringing iPhones to the world.

Yes, I think your'e right. But I think the whole thing went to hell in a hand cart already in 1994....

Thunderpussy

I agree, It's lost all credibility, along time ago.

Number24

First of all: By the time Obama got the peace prize he had negotiated a deal with the Russians to cut US and Russian nuclear arsenals in half. I think that's a pretty good reason to give him the prize. I don't think this prize is a reaction to the terrorist attacks in Norway last year. Giving the prize to the EU has been talked about for years.
Let's be clear: I'm not in favour of Norway becoming an EU member. I think it's too bureaucratic, the decision-making process isn't democratic enough. They also let countries that were not ready into the Euro zone, simply because they wanted the Euro zone to be big. You can't give someone a stabile currency and at the same time let them do what they want economically. When the Mediteranian countries got into the Euro zone, they were able to loan a lot more money. And so they did......
But while the EU is pretty much a faliure when it comes to economy, it is a success when it comes to peace. The key people who created the EU after WWII came from the border regions between Germany and France and had seen two world wars. It wasn't by chance that the EU started up as a coal and steel union. In addition to being economically important products, coal and steel was essential to wage war. If you share those products, you cant't go to war with each other. War in central Europe is now unthinkable. In the seventies the right-wing dictatorships in southern Europe (Greece, Spain, Portugal) fell, and the EU was important in the work to turn those countries into democracies. The same thing happened in Eastern Europe in the 90's. Now the countries in the Balkans are strengthening their laws and democratic institutions to quallify for EU memberships. In the 90's those countries were at war with each other, now they want to trade with each other.

The Domino Effect

Number24 wrote:

First of all: By the time Obama got the peace prize he had negotiated a deal with the Russians to cut US and Russian nuclear arsenals in half. I think that's a pretty good reason to give him the prize.

Actually, the New START treaty was signed in April 2010 (and only agreed on in March 2010) whereas he was awarded the Peace Prize in October 2009. So it couldn't have been given for that, and if it had been surely it would have been shared between Obama and Medvedev. Obama took office in January 2009 and the Nobel Committee would have had to have made their decision well before its announcement in October...and while Obama made a good start in office with favourable speeches to Europe, Russia and the Arab World he hadn't actually done much more than many previous US leaders had done in their first few months in power - and certainly hadn't done anything concrete beyond those words. I should hasten to add that I am not anti-Obama by any stretch of the imagination, but I maintain that his receipt of the Peace Prize was a knee-jerk reaction to his election and nothing more.

toutbrun

The EU might deserve it. The EURO did bring peace to Europe.

Number24

I wrote that Obama had negotiated the treated when he was awarded the Nobel prize, not signed. I seem to recall that the Republicans stalled the signing for some time. You have a point about sharing the prize with Medvedjev. But there are also the speaches he made. Bush jr. made himself and the US extremely unpopular pretty much everywhere during his presidency, and Obams's promise of more cooperation and less confrontation were probably noted by the Nobel peace commitee. His promises to pull out of Afghanistan and Iraq were also factors.

Toutbrun: Giving the prize to teh Euro would truely have been crazy! While the Nobel peace prize has been awarded to organisations several times in the past, it has never before been given to a currency. You are joking, right?

toutbrun

Yes, but it's not crazy. The euro will not fall apart, because it would cause complete chaos. The euro brought enormous peace to Europe. There are a bunch of articles about this on Foreign Affairs.

Youknowthename

toutbrun wrote:

Yes, but it's not crazy. The euro will not fall apart, because it would cause complete chaos. The euro brought enormous peace to Europe. There are a bunch of articles about this on Foreign Affairs.

Are you kidding me??? I live in Holland, and the Euro is disliked by approx. half the people here. Prices were upped widely across the country when converting to the Euro, people feel they were taken advantage of. Besides that, despite a massive recession in our own country, we bring truckloads of money to Greece because of the big Euro dream.

Saying the Euro brought enormous peace because Foreign Affairs says so - how American can you be?

The Domino Effect

Youknowthename wrote:

Are you kidding me??? I live in Holland, and the Euro is disliked by approx. half the people here. Prices were upped widely across the country when converting to the Euro, people feel they were taken advantage of. Besides that, despite a massive recession in our own country, we bring truckloads of money to Greece because of the big Euro dream.

Saying the Euro brought enormous peace because Foreign Affairs says so - how American can you be?

Oh, I don't know. Things looked very peaceful and full of love in Athens last week when Angela Merkel visited! There was wonderful Greco-German Harmony in the streets!

Youknowthename

Yeah, haven't seen that many swastika's since the 1940's

Thunderpussy

Mabey they were expecting Mel Gibson. :v

Number24

Now for some honesty
Not that I've been dishonest in earlier posts, but .....

Do you remember Torbjørn Jagland, the Leader of the Nobel pease prize commitee who announced the winner in terribly accented English? Most Norwegians speak English better than that ....
He is also a BIG fan of the EU and the leader of The Council of Europe. He hasn't been able to award the Nobel prize to the EU before, since one of the other board members is from the Socialist Left Party and very much against the EU. But this year she's been ill ....
So that's the reason the prize was awarded to EU this year, and not a year with less controvercy surronding the Union.

The Domino Effect

Very interesting, I didn't know that. That does make sense though. It really didn't seem like an 'honest' award to me. It sounded as though there was an agenda behind it. So I guess if good old Torbjørn wants a new iPhone next year, we might well indeed see Apple win the prize!

Sir Hillary Bray

I don't care what your politics are, for the Nobel Committee to give the Peace Prize to someone for the primary reason that he wasn't George W. Bush was a total joke. And no one has ever made a credible argument that President Obama got it for any other reason.

toutbrun

Sir Hillary Bray wrote:

I don't care what your politics are, for the Nobel Committee to give the Peace Prize to someone for the primary reason that he wasn't George W. Bush was a total joke. And no one has ever made a credible argument that President Obama got it for any other reason.

I don't think anyone ever said that it was «because he wasn't George Bush...»

I definitely don't think that Obama, being the head of the US Army, should receive the Nobel for peace... If only for Israel and Iran.

Mr Beech

On Google, the top search as you type "why did obama" brings up "why did obama win the nobel prize".

Number24

Actually, Fox news said Obama won the Nobel prize for not being George Bush jr. And they are "Fair and balanced", you know )

Number24

The Domino Effect wrote:

Very interesting, I didn't know that. That does make sense though. It really didn't seem like an 'honest' award to me. It sounded as though there was an agenda behind it. So I guess if good old Torbjørn wants a new iPhone next year, we might well indeed see Apple win the prize!

Torbjørn Jagland (and the rest of the board, including the ex-leader of the anti-EU agrarian Centre party) really belive this was a deserved prize, in my opinion. It was just the timing and the reason for the timing that was questionable.