Nobel Peace Prize 2013

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Kissinger's Peace Prize is understandable given the circumstances and period of time in which it was given, and even holds up today when taking a broad view of his actions, despite the revelations of some of his less than peaceful endeavors in South America, etc. Obama's? Not so much.

The Obama award was made to encourage efforts at peace-making. Hortore published their award criteria a few threads back (at the Obama award I believe), and using the award to encourage efforts at peace-making is one of the specific criterion used.

I tend to have a typical Yank's view about awards -- that they are given in recognition of something you have ACHIEVED ALREADY. From such a perspective, the Obama award was patently silly since it was more of a "you make us feel better so do some more peacenik stuff" award than anything else.

In fairness to the committee in Oslo (only Norwegian Nobel), they ARE abiding by the criteria outlined for the award at its inception and "encouraging efforts" is one of the guidelines.

The fact that I find it silly does not mean that they are not making the award as it was intended.