Barack Obama awarded the Nobel peace prize

Dr. Eddies Wingman

Dr. Eddies Wingman

Brighter than thousand_suns
Article in The Times

Thought I'd like to hear what the members on here think about this? I find it a bit odd, in fact I'm very surprised by this choice. Okay, Obama has changed the diplomatic climate for the better, at least temporarily, but how has he deserved this award after only nine months in the White House? I suspect the Nobel Committee  for making this choice in order to get more publicity around the price after some less profiled winners the last years. Or maybe just to get Obama to visit Norway? (Remember, the peace prize is presented in Norway whereas the other Nobel prizes are presented in Sweden - as decided by Alfred Nobel himself).

What do you think?


PS: Only now after reading GK's post do I realize this was my post number six hundred and sixty six. Funny that it was this thread, because I recall reading some nutcase speculations that Barack Obama should be the Anti-Christ :D You know, according to those who look for the Beast around every corner it is likely that the man whose number is six hundred and sixty six will be in a powerful position - like a president of one of the big powers, a EU leader or a UN leader. And since Obama seemed to get a lot of publicity of the "Can he save the world?" kind, and since he is a gifted speaker who receives a lot of enthusiasm, some people actually put the label on him.

Anyway, each generation seems to find some candidates for the A. C., and judging from the amounts of death and misery each of them has spread I think there have been far better candidates than the current US President.

Anyway - now playing: Iron Maiden - The Number Of The Beast \m/
 
He didn't get concrete results yet, but hardly ever before did a politician give so much hope, worldwide that is. What he tries to do (solving conflicts & having less nuclear weapons in the world) and the way he is doing that is good enough for me to win it.
 
My first reaction when I heard this was, "what for?"

Then I thought about it a bit... his speech in Cairo, his abolition of the NMD, the anti-nuclear arms approach and various other smaller gestures, like his Nowrooz speech this year are signs that this man genuinely wants world peace, and certainly he has kicked off a lot. But I think awarding him the Nobel Peace Prize is a bit too early, because we don't yet have any results. I don't doubt we will have them, but the awards should wait until them.

Nevertheless, I guess acknowledgment of his efforts at this early state can't harm.
 
Perun said:
What progress would you have expected?
Click to expand...

Honestly after one year of zero progress I would have expected a serious consideration to end this war that goes nowhere
 
I.e. pull out the arrow and let the victim bleed to death.
 
I don't believe that US started to this for help, thus they won't help either if they stay or not,
so why not to help themselves and save some money for the citizens, is how I see it.

If they believe that they gonna help somehow, that's another story, in that case they should stay.

But in the end -you'll see; they'll pass some more years there, spend some more billions
and they'll leave without any progress.
I dare to say 'as usual'

And if you allow me a small prediction: This war, is the last of the
'we-are-here-to-save-the-country /give-the-lights-of-democracy' series of wars
It's the end of a stellar and false US foreign politic since many years

Now Americans start to realise that they'd better save themselves
anyway -since some decades- they didn't really help anyone, apart from Kosovars
 
Quetzalcoatlus said:
I don't believe that US started to this for help, thus they won't help either if they stay or not,
so why not to help themselves and save some money for the citizens, is how I see it.

If they believe that they gonna help somehow, that's another story, in that case they should stay.

But in the end -you'll see; they'll pass some more years there, spend some more billions
and they'll leave without any progress.
I dare to say 'as usual'

And if you allow me a small prediction: This war, is the last of the
'we-are-here-to-save-the-country /give-the-lights-of-democracy' series of wars
It's the end of a stellar and false US foreign politic since many years

Now Americans start to realise that they'd better save themselves
anyway -since some decades- they didn't really help anyone, apart from Kosovars
Click to expand...

I really don't know where to start commenting on that post.

Maybe I should start with saying that next to the Americans, there are also British, Canadians, Germans, French, Italians, Poles, Australians, Dutch, Turks, Romanians, whatnot in Afghanistan. I'm sure they'd appreciate you calling this an "American" war.

Are you going to step up to the families of the 1435 ISAF dead and tell them they died for nothing? Are you going to tell the Afghans that western forces promised them to drive out the Taleban, but now they can't do it anymore? That the western forces destroyed the country and now aren't going to rebuild it?

Of course not. You don't have to make the decisions. And that's why you don't seem to have a problem saying this shit about the Americans having to withdraw because "no progress" is made. What the hell do you expect? What kind of progress should be made in one year of tough fighting? You seem to have forgotten that the war has lasted for more than one year. You can't abort a war that has lasted for eight years because of one tough year.

It is war. War is tough. Sometimes progress stalls in war. There are hard years in war. But the winners in war are those who have the longer breath.
 
I don't know Perun, there are even more countries involved than the mentioned, but still it's an American war,
at least the way I see things.

Are you going to step up to the families of the 1435 ISAF dead and tell them they died for nothing? Are you going to tell the Afghans that western forces promised them to drive out the Taleban, but now they can't do it anymore? That the western forces destroyed the country and now aren't going to rebuild it?
Click to expand...

Again I don't know, nobody called for help those western forces, the western forces decided by themselves to put Taliban out...

I don't remember them to have re-built Vietnam by the way
 
Quetzalcoatlus said:
Again I don't know, nobody called for help those western forces, the western forces decided by themselves to put Taliban out...
Click to expand...

This sounds a lot like you would support a Taleban-controlled Afghanistan. You seem to have forgotten that there were Afghans fighting against them. Afghanistan was not at peace in 2001. And certainly, nobody under Taleban control would even have had the possibility to call for help, because they would have been killed had they done so.

I don't remember them to have re-built Vietnam by the way
Click to expand...

Apple: Vietnam
Orange: Afghanistan

Newsflash: The Americans lost the Vietnam War. They didn't have the chance to rebuild Vietnam. They haven't lost the Afghanistan War yet.
 
Perun said:
This sounds a lot like you would support a Taleban-controlled Afghanistan.
Click to expand...

Support? I?
No Perun, how you come to this, I would never support such a thing!

I would have tolerate such a thing though, as the world tolerated Taliban during years
Palestine, Africa, South America and so many injustices in the world

I'm a practical person, and I don't like hypocrisy; I don't see the world better after the wars in Iraq & Afganistan
All this money that US has spent, all the human losses could have gone to something better
 
Quetzalcoatlus said:
I don't know Perun, there are even more countries involved than the mentioned, but still it's an American war,
at least the way I see things.
Click to expand...

You son of a bitch.  That's one of the coldest things I've ever seen written.  Goddamnit.

I'm so angry I'm having trouble typing.
 
I wasn't even offensive, and I've expressed my personal opinion.
When I'm thinking about WWII, I'm thinking about Germans, not Italians or Japanese.
And it's an example, I don't compare Americans with Nazis.
 
Quetzalcoatlus said:
Support? I?
No Perun, how you come to this, I would never support such a thing!
Click to expand...

Then how come you don't support the effort to get rid of it?

I would have tolerate such a thing though, as the world tolerated Taliban during years
Palestine, Africa, South America and so many injustices in the world
Click to expand...

In terms of human right abuse, tolerance equals support.

I'm a practical person, and I don't like hypocrisy; I don't see the world better after the wars in Iraq & Afganistan
All this money that US has spent, all the human losses could have gone to something better
Click to expand...

Like what? Having the Afghans suffer another six years of Taleban oppression?


[/quote]
Quetzalcoatlus said:
When I'm thinking about WWII, I'm thinking about Germans, not Italians or Japanese.
Click to expand...

Righto. Because neither the Italians nor the Japanese were protagonists of the war. The Albanians, Chinese, Yugoslavs, Indonesians, Malayans,  Vietnamese, Laotese and Koreans will thank you very much for that view. Because by diminishing the Japanese and Italian role in the war, you are also diminishing their roles as victims of the war.

This is just sick.
 
My father gave up 9 months of his life for that "American war".  I've gone to the funerals of 2 young men from Truro who gave their lives for that "American war".  I've seen my dad escort Silver Cross mothers to the cenotaph who are younger than he is.

So I find that very, very, VERY offensive.  You might consider it an American war of aggression, but the war in Afghanistan is a NATO action under Article 5, which requires all NATO members to participate.  America might be the largest arm in NATO, but by no means is it the only arm.  And it sure as fuck isn't the only country that's done the dying.
 
Ok guys, I see your point now. Both post were very touching...
I'm sorry if I offended some people, it was not my intention.
 
Remember why NATO is in Afghanistan: because the United States was attacked by a paramilitary terrorist force supplied and financed by the Taliban government of Afghanistan.
 
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