Peace Prize [merged]

[Nabio]

You Europeans are the strangest bunch. We know you all love Obama, but this much? What has he done to warrant the Peace Prize? Not trying to hate on the POTUS or anything like that, he may be committed to peace in the Middle East, etc. but seriously I don't get what he's done that makes him a good candidate. Maybe in a few years? I just find this a very strange decision. Thoughts?

[Envisage0]

The lunatics are definitely in charge of the asylum.

See below uncontroversial facts.

Some of these people are mass-killers, some are just weird.

Bear in mind also that some nominations give an idea of how crap this award is and what kind of nutcase it attracts.

Adolf Hitler

Josef Stalin

Benito Mussolini

Even worse, see who got it.

Henry Kissinger (1973 laureate), Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat (1978 laureates).

Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat (1994 laureates).

Al Gore???

And who didn't.

Mahatma Gandhi,

Corazon Aquino,

Pope John XXIII,

Pope John Paul II,

Dorothy Day,

César Chávez,

Oscar Romero,

Jose Figueres Ferrer,

Steve Biko,

Raphael Lemkin,

Abdul Sattar Edhi,

Irena Sendler.

The list

• 2009 - Barack Obama
• 2008 - Martti Ahtisaari
• 2007 - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Al Gore
• 2006 - Muhammad Yunus, Grameen Bank
• 2005 - International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei
• 2004 - Wangari Maathai
• 2003 - Shirin Ebadi
• 2002 - Jimmy Carter
• 2001 - United Nations, Kofi Annan
• 2000 - Kim Dae-jung
• 1999 - Médecins Sans Frontières
• 1998 - John Hume, David Trimble
• 1997 - International Campaign to Ban Landmines, Jody Williams
• 1996 - Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, José Ramos-Horta
• 1995 - Joseph Rotblat, Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs
• 1994 - Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Rabin
• 1993 - Nelson Mandela, F.W. de Klerk
• 1992 - Rigoberta Menchú Tum
• 1991 - Aung San Suu Kyi
• 1990 - Mikhail Gorbachev
• 1989 - The 14th Dalai Lama
• 1988 - United Nations Peacekeeping Forces
• 1987 - Oscar Arias Sánchez
• 1986 - Elie Wiesel
• 1985 - International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War
• 1984 - Desmond Tutu
• 1983 - Lech Walesa
• 1982 - Alva Myrdal, Alfonso García Robles
• 1981 - Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
• 1980 - Adolfo Pérez Esquivel
• 1979 - Mother Teresa
• 1978 - Anwar al-Sadat, Menachem Begin
• 1977 - Amnesty International
• 1976 - Betty Williams, Mairead Corrigan
• 1975 - Andrei Sakharov
• 1974 - Seán MacBride, Eisaku Sato
• 1973 - Henry Kissinger, Le Duc Tho
• 1972 - The prize money for 1972 was allocated to the Main Fund
• 1971 - Willy Brandt
• 1970 - Norman Borlaug
• 1969 - International Labour Organization
• 1968 - René Cassin
• 1967 - The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize
• 1966 - The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section
• 1965 - United Nations Children's Fund
• 1964 - Martin Luther King Jr.
• 1963 - International Committee of the Red Cross, League of Red Cross Societies
• 1962 - Linus Pauling
• 1961 - Dag Hammarskjöld
• 1960 - Albert Lutuli
• 1959 - Philip Noel-Baker
• 1958 - Georges Pire
• 1957 - Lester Bowles Pearson
• 1956 - The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize
• 1955 - The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section
• 1954 - Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
• 1953 - George C. Marshall
• 1952 - Albert Schweitzer
• 1951 - Léon Jouhaux
• 1950 - Ralph Bunche
• 1949 - Lord Boyd Orr
• 1948 - The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize
• 1947 - Friends Service Council, American Friends Service Committee
• 1946 - Emily Greene Balch, John R. Mott
• 1945 - Cordell Hull
• 1944 - International Committee of the Red Cross
• 1943 - The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize
• 1942 - The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize
• 1941 - The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize
• 1940 - The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize
• 1939 - The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize
• 1938 - Nansen International Office for Refugees
• 1937 - Robert Cecil
• 1936 - Carlos Saavedra Lamas
• 1935 - Carl von Ossietzky
• 1934 - Arthur Henderson
• 1933 - Sir Norman Angell
• 1932 - The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section
• 1931 - Jane Addams, Nicholas Murray Butler
• 1930 - Nathan Söderblom
• 1929 - Frank B. Kellogg
• 1928 - The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section
• 1927 - Ferdinand Buisson, Ludwig Quidde
• 1926 - Aristide Briand, Gustav Stresemann
• 1925 - Sir Austen Chamberlain, Charles G. Dawes
• 1924 - The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section
• 1923 - The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section
• 1922 - Fridtjof Nansen
• 1921 - Hjalmar Branting, Christian Lange
• 1920 - Léon Bourgeois
• 1919 - Woodrow Wilson
• 1918 - The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section
• 1917 - International Committee of the Red Cross
• 1916 - The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section
• 1915 - The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section
• 1914 - The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section
• 1913 - Henri La Fontaine
• 1912 - Elihu Root
• 1911 - Tobias Asser, Alfred Fried
• 1910 - Permanent International Peace Bureau
• 1909 - Auguste Beernaert, Paul Henri d'Estournelles de Constant
• 1908 - Klas Pontus Arnoldson, Fredrik Bajer
• 1907 - Ernesto Teodoro Moneta, Louis Renault
• 1906 - Theodore Roosevelt
• 1905 - Bertha von Suttner
• 1904 - Institute of International Law
• 1903 - Randal Cremer
• 1902 - Élie Ducommun, Albert Gobat
• 1901 - Henry Dunant, Frédéric Passy

Nominations
Nominations for the Prize may be made by a broad array of qualified individuals, including former recipients, members of national assemblies and congresses, university professors (in certain disciplines), international judges, and special advisors to the Prize Committee. In 2009, a record 205 nominations were received.[5] The Committee keeps the nominations secret and asks that nominators do the same. Over time many individuals have become known as "Nobel Peace Prize Nominees", but this designation has no official standing.[6] Nominations from 1901 to 1955, however, have been released in a database.[7] When the past nominations were released it was discovered that Adolf Hitler was nominated in 1939 by Erik Brandt, a member of the Swedish Parliament. Brandt retracted the nomination after a few days.[8] Other infamous nominees included Joseph Stalin and Benito Mussolini. However, since nomination requires only support from one qualified person (e.g., a history professor), these unusual nominations do not represent the opinions of the Nobel committee itself.
Unlike the other Nobel Prizes, which recognize completed scientific or literary accomplishment, the Nobel Peace Prize may be awarded to persons or organizations that are in the process of resolving a conflict or creating peace. As some such processes have failed to create lasting peace, some Peace Prizes appear questionable in hindsight. For example, the awards given to Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Rabin, Yasser Arafat, Lê Ðức Thọ, and Henry Kissinger were particularly controversial and criticized; the Kissinger-Thọ award prompted two dissenting Committee members to resign.[9]
In 2005, the Nobel Peace Center opened. It serves to present the Laureates, their work for peace, and the ongoing problems of war and conflict around the world.

Controversy
The Nobel Peace Prize has sparked controversy throughout its history. The Norwegian Parliament, which appoints the Peace Prize Committee, has no say in the award issue. Critics[who?]argue that the same Parliament has pursued partisan military aims. A member of the Committee cannot at the same time be a member of the Parliament, and the Committee includes former members from all major parties, including those parties that oppose NATO membership[citation needed].
Unlike the scientific and literary Nobel Prizes, usually issued in retrospect, often two or three decades after the awarded achievement, the Peace Prize has been awarded for more recent or immediate achievements taking the form of summary judgment being issued in the same year as or the year immediately following the political act. Some commentators[who?] have suggested that to award a peace prize on the basis of unquantifiable contemporary opinion is unjust or possibly erroneous, especially as many of the judges cannot themselves be said to be impartial observers. In pro-democracy struggles, it may be said[who?] that the 'real' peace-makers may not be recognized for their long-term or subtle approaches. However, others[who?]have pointed to the uniqueness of the Peace Prize in that its high profile can often focus world attention on particular problems and possibly aid in the peace-efforts themselves.

On closer inspection, the peace-laureates often have a lifetime's history of working at and promoting humanitarian issues, as in the examples of German medic Albert Schweitzer (1952 laureate), Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., an African-American civil rights activist (1964 laureate) andAung San Suu Kyi, a Buddhist nonviolent pro-democracy activist (1991 laureate). Still others are selected for tireless efforts, as in the examples of Jimmy Carter and Mohamed ElBaradei. Others, even today, are quite controversial, due to the recipient's political activity, as in the case of Henry Kissinger (1973 laureate), Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat (1978 laureates), Mikhail Gorbachev (1990 laureate) orYitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat (1994 laureates).

A criticism of the peace-prize are the notable omissions, namely the failure to award individuals with widely recognized contributions to peace. The list includes Mahatma Gandhi, Corazon Aquino, Pope John XXIII, Pope John Paul II, Dorothy Day, César Chávez, Oscar Romero,Jose Figueres Ferrer, Steve Biko, Raphael Lemkin, Abdul Sattar Edhi, and Irena Sendler. In particular, the omission of the Indian leader Gandhi has been widely discussed, including public statements by the various members of Nobel Committee.[10][11] It has been acknowledged by the committee that Gandhi was nominated in 1937, 1938, 1939, 1947 and, finally, a few days before he was murdered in January 1948.[12] The omission has been publicly regretted by later members of the Nobel Committee.[10] In 1948, the year of Gandhi's *****, the Nobel Committee declined to award a prize on the ground that "there was no suitable living candidate" that year. Later, when the Dalai Lama was awarded the Peace Prize in 1989, the chairman of the committee said that this was "in part a tribute to the memory of Mahatma Gandhi".[13] Day has also been acknowledged as having been nominated for the Prize:[14] in fact some biographers have thought her pacifism too radical for the Nobel judges.[15]

In most cases, the omissions resulted in part from the provision in Alfred Nobel's will that only living people could receive the prize.
Research by anthropologist David Stoll into Rigoberta Menchú, the 1992 recipient, revealed some fabrications in her biography, "Me llamo Rigoberta Menchú y así me nació la conciencia" (My name is Rigoberta Menchú and this is how my conscience was born), translated into English as "I, Rigoberta Menchú". Menchú later admitted changing some details about her background. After the initial controversy, the Nobel Committee dismissed calls to revoke her Nobel prize because of the reported falsifications. Professor Geir Lundestad, the secretary of the Committee, said her prize "was not based exclusively or primarily on the autobiography".[16] According to the Nobel Committee, "Stoll approves of her Nobel prize and has no question about the picture of army atrocities which she presents. He says that her purpose in telling her story the way she did 'enabled her to focus international condemnation on an institution that deserved it, the Guatemalan army."

[Diny]

YES!!! THE MESSIAH WINS AGAIN! ALL HAIL OBAMA!!!

Dude....Al Gore won it. Precedent for shark jumping has been set.

[Envisage0]

Hey, we thought the same..

You ask what he has done. He has presided over more civilian lives lost in Pakistan than Dubbya did in the whole of 2008. Whether that was necessary is another thing. Peace Prize, I'm stunned.

[watchme]

Consolation prize for the IOC not giving the Olympics to Chicago!

[bernhtp]

The Nobel has become a complete joke, at least in its political prizes such as economics and peace. With recent awards going to Al Gore, Paul Krugman, and now Obama, it has become a self-congratulatory exercise among an insular club of politically-connected/correct elites.

[unfoundhorsepower]

We are frucked...............so much for the Prize meaning someting of GREATNESS.....................Not

[Envisage0]

A bit surprising that Tony 'Teflon' Blair hasn't had the Nobel Peace Prize already. Mind you, he still has time after he becomes President of Europe.

Margaret Thatcher should have done that job. Europe would have been a better place, she could have been succeeded by somebody we could believe in, and we could feel proud.

Instead of which, this bunch make me puke.

[glowrider]

The deadline for nominations is Feb. 1, meaning the president was nominated after being in office for just 11 days.

Unreal.

[ezmoney888]

This brand has definitely been diluted.