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Barack Obama gets Nobel's Peace Prize

nobelpeaceprize.org

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Re: Barack Obama gets Nobel's Peace Prize

#51

Post by gaius »

brazzy wrote: post #45
AndrewDucker wrote: post #24

So, basically he gets an award for not being George Bush?

Spot on. I wish we lived in a world where he could openly acknowledge this: "I want to thank first and foremost my predecessor, George W. Bush, without whose service as a stark contrast, I could not have won this prize (nor, perhaps, the presidency)"

Worth noting that ol' Dubya was the only POTUS willing to appear publicly with the Dalai Lama, at the risk of offending China. Clinton didn't, tho' he did meet him, and Obama has refused to even meet him (see link on my other comment).

Re: Barack Obama gets Nobel's Peace Prize

#55

Post by [deleted] »

jacquesm wrote: post #32
david927 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

2) He wants to close Guantanamo. I know he hasn't done it yet, but it can't be easy. It's not about being easy or hard, but about the gigantic class action civil suit awaiting the U.S. government the minute they release them.

And rightly so. You break it you get to buy it. It's amazing that so many people bought in to that stuff under Bush, I always thought that if there is one thing America will forever have to live with then it is Gitmo. Just like the Dutch have their colonial crimes and the Germans have world war II. Some things can not be excused. Keeping people imprisoned without due process is such a crime that history will definite…

[deleted]

Re: Barack Obama gets Nobel's Peace Prize

#56

Post by known »

tsally wrote: post #9

Gandhi died before he was awarded the Peace Prize, even though he was nominated five times. Obama gets it less than a year into his Presidency? I like Obama, but that's just wrong.

"Gandhi is the greatest enemy the untouchables have ever had in India." -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambedkar

Re: Barack Obama gets Nobel's Peace Prize

#57

Post by berntb »

jacquesm wrote: post #32
david927 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

2) He wants to close Guantanamo. I know he hasn't done it yet, but it can't be easy. It's not about being easy or hard, but about the gigantic class action civil suit awaiting the U.S. government the minute they release them.

And rightly so. You break it you get to buy it. It's amazing that so many people bought in to that stuff under Bush, I always thought that if there is one thing America will forever have to live with then it is Gitmo. Just like the Dutch have their colonial crimes and the Germans have world war II. Some things can not be excused. Keeping people imprisoned without due process is such a crime that history will definite…

To play the devil's advocate...

USA has a prison system that is 19th century, compared to the rest of the western world. How much worse is Guantanamo than that? Also, afaik prisoners of war can be held until the conflict is ended. The conflict in Afghanistan is arguable not ended.

What I find shocking is the water boarding and sending people for interrogation to places which are really barbaric.

Edit: A couple of grammar changes.

Re: Barack Obama gets Nobel's Peace Prize

#58

Post by patio11 »

AndrewDucker wrote: post #24

So, basically he gets an award for not being George Bush?

This makes him the second American president to get a Peace Prize for not being George Bush, which the head of the Nobel Committee actually admitted to reporters when Carter got the award. I stopped caring about their opinion on anything after that.

But the chairman of the secretive Norwegian Nobel Committee said bluntly that the award was meant to slam Bush's policy on Iraq.

"With the position Carter has taken...(the award) can and must also be seen as criticism of the line the current U.S. administration has taken on Iraq," Committee head Gunnar Berge, a former labor minister, told reporters.

(Reuters)

Re: Barack Obama gets Nobel's Peace Prize

#60

Post by mseebach »

plinkplonk wrote: post #52

My theory - Republicans bribed the Nobel Prize Committee to award this to Obama. Cheap for an instant PR disaster.

Or the democrats did it, so Obama can hold a long rejection-speech, highlighing all the people more worthy of it than him for an instant PR success.
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