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Edward Snowden nominated for Nobel peace prize

theguardian.com

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Re: Edward Snowden nominated for Nobel peace prize

#41

Post by reuven »

First of all, a huge number of people are nominated each year for the Nobel Peace Prize. So the fact that Snowden was nominated doesn't really surprise me; I'm guessing that many activists from around the world are nominated.

The list of who can nominate is somewhat restricted -- but given that any member of any parliament, or any social-science professor at any university, can nominate someone, that doesn't strike me as a very high barrier to entry.

The bigger question, in my mind, is whether Snowden contributed to world peace. Yes, he clearly unveiled all sorts of schemes that the NSA had. It's a good thing for democracy that he did such things; it's clear that the US government was doing things that it claimed not to be doing, and that US and foreign citizens alike were rather upset to hear.

So yes, I'm personally glad to hear that these things were unveiled.

However, did this really contribute to world peace? Is the world a less violent place as a result? You could make the argument that it actually is more dangerous in the world, because the US is less able to spy on people. I'm not sure if that's the case, but it's not a totally crazy argument.

Re: Edward Snowden nominated for Nobel peace prize

#43

Post by corin_ »

hawkharris wrote: post #23

Snowden hasn't officially been nominated. From the article: "The five-member [Nobel] panel will not confirm who has been nominated but those who submit nominations sometimes make them public."

That doesn't mean he hasn't officially been nominated, just that there's no official confirmation of his nomination.

Re: Edward Snowden nominated for Nobel peace prize

#44

Post by sergiotapia »

praptak wrote: post #13

While I'm fond of any form of flipping the NSA-backing US administration the bird, the Nobel Peace prize has not enough reputation to matter in this context. Al Gore got it for raising awareness of climate change. Obama got that for not being Bush. Even if Snowden gets it, it doesn't really matter.

In all honesty, Obama got it for being the first black president - it was a HUGE deal, remember that.

Re: Edward Snowden nominated for Nobel peace prize

#45

Post by icebraining »

ekianjo wrote: post #34
znowi wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Obama's prize was more of a credit for good deeds in the future. Jagland himself (Nobel committee chairman) partly confirmed that. Sadly, it didn't work out. Rather backfired.

except that obama kept the million dollar prize. since he didnt return it id call that stealing.

"Kept" is a rather strange way of saying "donated to charity".

Re: Edward Snowden nominated for Nobel peace prize

#47

Post by duaneb »

ck2 wrote: post #25

Everyone has already forgotten Pfc. Manning rotting away for 35 years. I saw a "free Snowden" sign the other day which I thought was asinine.

I'm not sure if either of them deserve the Nobel Peace Prize, but I believe Manning's sentence is reasonable. I'd like to shake his hand, buy him a beer, thank him personally, but it's a decision he made that has severe consequences for a reason. And while I don't like Snowden at all, I think his actions are much more justifiable from an ethical point of view. It's not like terrorists were unaware the NSA was spying before they had proof—the only people being blindfolded were citizens. Manning's actions were more complex and the ramifications were less straightforwardly positive.

Re: Edward Snowden nominated for Nobel peace prize

#48

Post by tete »

reuven wrote: post #41

First of all, a huge number of people are nominated each year for the Nobel Peace Prize. So the fact that Snowden was nominated doesn't really surprise me; I'm guessing that many activists from around the world are nominated. The list of who can nominate is somewhat restricted -- but given that any member of any parliament, or any social-science professor at any university, can nominate someone, that doesn't strike m…

Well, I guess since even Barack Obama, a president who spreads hatred by not abolishing torture, not ending wars, supporting assassinations, etc. won the Nobel Peace Prize a lot of things are counted.

Since the US obviously fights many secret wars and considers everyone but UK; Canada and Australia their enemy unveiling the fact that there are secret wars fought way more intensely than we knew before it is the only possible first step to end it.

It at least makes more sense to me than destroying a part of (mostly broken or expired) nuclear weapons. I don't think that the presence or absence of nuclear weapon will ever be a reason for war, maybe a pretense, but that's all.

Re: Edward Snowden nominated for Nobel peace prize

#50

Post by reuven »

netcan wrote: post #21
praptak wrote: post #13

While I'm fond of any form of flipping the NSA-backing US administration the bird, the Nobel Peace prize has not enough reputation to matter in this context. Al Gore got it for raising awareness of climate change. Obama got that for not being Bush. Even if Snowden gets it, it doesn't really matter.

Yasser Arafat & Yitzhak Rabin were awarded it, its not clear if they intended to create a peace, but they did not. Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho were awarded it. Henry Kissinger meanwhile embarked on a major bombing campaign and Le Duc Tho declined the honour. They've made premature or outright bad calls before.

I don't think that the Peace Prize is only meant for people who have made tangible changes in the amount of violence in the world. It's also a carrot that you can dangle in front of people to reward them for taking risks in the interest of reducing violence.

Rabin and Arafat (and Peres) tried, with the Oslo accords, to move toward a settlement of a long-standing, violent dispute. They didn't completely succeed. And indeed, you could argue (as many do) that the Oslo accords were a mistake. But they were willing to take risks in order to perhaps make things more peaceful for their people, and that's the sort of thing that the Nobel Committee wanted to reward.

Of course, now that I've described things in this way, maybe Snowden is an appropriate recipient...

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