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Edward Snowden nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

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Re: Edward Snowden nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

#22
post #14
post #3

the irony of a whistleblower trying to escape from the nobel-prize winning president of the United States being nominated for the nobel prize is, well pricelss.

I don't really understand the nobel peace prize, or specifically why Obama was awarded it. I understand being the first black president of the United States is a big deal, but did he personally do anything to promote peace? Or does being black in the white house somehow lower racism, hence promoting world peace?

Wasn't so much about him being the first black President as much as him not being Bush/Cheney et. al. Still pretty premature of them since Obama ended up adopting and ramping up many of the foreign policies that made Bush/Cheney so despised by the world in the first place.

Re: Edward Snowden nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

#23
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anyone who gets in the way of government abuses is promoting peace in my opinion . In Snowden's case, he's released information about programs that are specifically abusing the privacy of the world's population . One hopes that such a release serves as an impetus to curb or prevent it in the future. I think that at least fits my criteria.

I'm sorry, I still don't see the link between "[curbing] government abuses" and "promoting peace". What is the link?

Well, I think government abuses falls under the umbrella of things that aren't peace. Thus, action against government abuses would be implicitly promoting peace.

Re: Edward Snowden nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

#25
post #4

I fail to see how what Snowden has done has promoted world peace. The Nobel Peace prize is not (recent awardees notwithstanding) a we-like-you prize. It's supposed to be about world peace , and I just don't see how Snowden has advanced that particular goal. Or am I just dense?

Weakening the global hegemon is certainly a contribution to world peace.

Re: Edward Snowden nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

#29
post #14
post #3

the irony of a whistleblower trying to escape from the nobel-prize winning president of the United States being nominated for the nobel prize is, well pricelss.

I don't really understand the nobel peace prize, or specifically why Obama was awarded it. I understand being the first black president of the United States is a big deal, but did he personally do anything to promote peace? Or does being black in the white house somehow lower racism, hence promoting world peace?

I believe many people (including Obama himself) were surprised by his winning the prize. I don't think race was the primary reason (official or otherwise) behind his being awarded the prize. Among the main reasons for his nomination were "Obama's promotion of nuclear nonproliferation and a 'new climate' in international relations fostered by Obama" [1]. One pessimistic view of this statement is that Obama was essentially awarded this prize for not being Bush, who was perceived by many in the international community as damaging the state of dialog between nations. Arguably, this could promote peace. The view was not without criticisms :)

[1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Nobel_Peace_Prize

Re: Edward Snowden nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

#30
post #3

the irony of a whistleblower trying to escape from the nobel-prize winning president of the United States being nominated for the nobel prize is, well pricelss.

Obama was awarded the Peace Prize prematurely. I've yet to see something he's done to deserve it, despite voting for him the first time.

That may be so, but let's keep in mind that there is no reason to criticize the President for being undeserving of the prize. It's not like he awarded it to himself.
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