Nobel Hypocrisy Wins Again by Stephen Lendman
Nobel Hypocrisy Wins Again
by Stephen Lendman
Call it a rite of fall. Nobel hypocrisy shows up annually. It came again this year. The only surprise was which disreputable honoree would win.
A surprise of sorts indeed. War criminals often become Peace Prize winners. This year a political/economic union won. Perhaps honoring Wall Street and neoliberal/war mongering organizations awaits. Or maybe Republicans and Democrats for causing so much harm globally.
Expect anything from Nobel Committee members. They represent wealth, power, privilege, imperial lawlessness, and war, not peace. Perhaps they believe war is peace. They’ll have to explain why scoundrels regularly win their highest award.
Their announcement said in part:
“The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2012 is to be awarded to the European Union (EU). The union and its forerunners have for over six decades contributed to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe.”
“In the inter-war years, the Norwegian Nobel Committee made several awards to persons who were seeking reconciliation between Germany and France.”
“Since 1945, that reconciliation has become a reality. The dreadful suffering in World War II demonstrated the need for a new Europe. Over a seventy-year period, Germany and France had fought three wars.”
“Today war between Germany and France is unthinkable. This shows how, through well-aimed efforts and by building up mutual confidence, historical enemies can become close partners.”
“The Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to focus on what it sees as the EU’s most important result: the successful struggle for peace and reconciliation and for democracy and human rights.”
“The stabilizing part played by the EU has helped to transform most of Europe from a continent of war to a continent of peace.”
Apparently Nobel Committee members never heard of NATO. Its member states infest the continent. The North Atlantic Alliance functions as an imperial tool.
It was always for offense, not defense. Post-WW II, Western states had no enemies. East/West war never threatened. Hitler ravaged Soviet Russia. It didn’t regain normalcy until long after Stalin.
NATO was formed as an alliance for war, not peace. Cold War hyperbole incited fear. An arms race followed. So did permanent wars with or without NATO. From Truman to Obama they raged. They still do. NATO’s dirty hands operate in multiple theaters.
It’s a killing machine. America runs it. Leading EU member states include Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, and Belgium. In total, 21 EU nations are NATO members.
They’re allied for war, not peace. They’re a dagger pointed at humanity’s heart. NATO has global ambitions. It includes ravaging countries everywhere.
Maybe Nobel Committee members don’t pay attention to what’s ongoing. Perhaps turning a blind eye colors their thinking.
Their tradition is long and inglorious. Consider past war criminal winners. Henry Kissinger may qualify as the worst of the lot. His resume includes:
three to four million Southeast Asian Vietnam War deaths;
the bloody overthrow of Chile’s Salvador Allende; Augusto Pinochet’s reign of terror;
support for some of the worst global despots;
Indonesia’s Surharto was one; Kissinger backed his bloody West Papua takeover; he also encouraged his East Timor genocide;
support for Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge, its rise to power and reign of terror;
backing of Pakistan’s overthrow of Bangladesh’s democratically elected government; a half million deaths followed;
his 1974 National Security Study Memorandum 200 (NSSM 200) advocated genocide; he called it forced world population control; he wanted worthless eaters removed; he recommended eliminating 500 million people by 2000 and millions more annually; and
numerous other global crimes against humanity were committed during his tenure as Nixon and Ford’s National Security Advisor and Secretary of State. He served as administration Svengali.
In 2001, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the world body won. It was “for their work for a better organized and more peaceful world.”
Throughout his tenure, Annan violated the UN Charter’s mandate. It’s to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war….”
Instead, he supported imperial lawlessness. He spurned peace. He never condemned or tried to end devastating Iraq sanctions. They killed around 1.5 innocent men, women and children. He stood by, watched, and did nothing.
He never denounced America’s lawless 2003 war. He was silent while Washington-led NATO ravaged Afghanistan. He supported the worst of Israeli crimes.
He said nothing about America’s failed attempts to oust Hugo Chavez or success removing Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Like NATO, he’s an imperial tool. He resurfaced in Syria.
His so-called peace plan was cover for regime change. He’s complicit in war crimes. He’s a world class scoundrel. His record is testimony to failure, betrayal, and criminality.
His sole achievement was spurning peace for war.
Three former Israeli prime ministers also got Nobel Peace Prizes. In 1978, Menachem Begin won. In 1994, so did Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres.
All three are war criminals. They and other Israeli leaders reigned terror on Palestinian civilians for decades. Netanyahu continues their deplorable viciousness. He’s Israel’s worst ever leader. He’s a world class thug. Expect Nobel Committee members one day to honor him. It wouldn’t surprise.
In 2007, Al Gore won. He put politics over principle. He was pro-business, anti-union, pro-war, anti-peace, and no friend of the earth.
His “Earth in the Balance” book was more theater than advocacy. His so-called “green” credentials were used to further his pro-corporate/anti-populist/imperial agenda.
Numerous others like him comprise the Nobel Committee’s hall of shame. Four US presidents stand out. In 1906, Theodore Roosevelt won. He once said he’d “welcome almost any war, for I think this country needs one.”
He was honored for sponsoring the Spanish/American war and Philippines genocide. In May 1902, Senator George Hoar denounced him on the Senate floor, saying:
“You have sacrificed nearly ten thousand American lives – the flower of our youth. You have devastated provinces. You have slain uncounted thousands of the people you desire to benefit.”
“You have established re-concentration camps. Your generals are coming home from their harvest bringing sheaves with them, in the shape of other thousands of sick and wounded and insane to drag out miserable lives, wrecked in body and mind.”
“You make the American flag in the eyes of a numerous people the emblem of sacrilege in Christian churches, and of the burning of human dwellings, and of the horror of the water torture.”
Having done that and more, perhaps he deserved two Nobels. He wanted Pax Americana enforced through the barrel of a gun.
In 1919, Woodrow Wilson was honored. He broke his campaign pledge to keep “us out of war.” He wanted involvement in WW I. In April 1917, he established the Committee on Public Information (CPI or Creel Committee).
Its mission was enlisting public support for war and undermining opposition sentiment. It worked as planned. It turned pacifist Americans into raging German haters. The rest is history.
Wilson’s resume also includes the 1913 Federal Reserve Act. For nearly a century, it let bankers wage financial war on humanity.
In 2002, Jimmy Carter won. He got Argentine death squad leaders involved in training Nicaraguan contras. He supported Salvadoran fascists. He helped Khmer Rouge killers. He backed despots like South Korea’s Chun Doo Hwan.
He armed Suharto after his East Timor genocide. He began covert operations in Afghanistan. He enlisted mujahedeen fighters against Soviet Russia. He supported neoliberal harshness. In 2002, he won the award he wanted for years.
In 2009, Obama became the fourth US presidential recipient. He’s the worst of the lot by far. Nobel Committee members said it was for his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”
“Obama’s vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.”
He “created a new climate in international politics.”
He supports efforts to strengthen “democracy and human rights.”
“Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future.”
He was less than nine months in office. He was learning his trade. His crimes of war, against humanity, and genocide were just beginning. His war cabinet assured it. One observer called it a “kettle of hawks.”
Neocons said McCain couldn’t have chosen better. He’ll continue where Bush left off. He did that and more. He’s still at it. Maybe he’ll become a double honoree.
Nobel Committee members reward warriors. They deplore peace. Their awards show what they value most. It reflects Alfred Nobel’s legacy.
He got rich inventing dynamite and manufacturing weapons. He was a 19th century war profiteer. Late in life he reinvented himself. He established awards bearing his name.
One was for peace he deplored. His business depended on war. There was plenty around then. There’s more than ever now. Nobel’s legacy legitimizes wars and leaders who wage them.
Honoring EU nations shouldn’t surprise. They’re waging hot wars and financial ones on humanity. Committee members recognized their achievement. Perhaps they’ll be encouraged to do more.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
His new book is titled “How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion and Class War”
http://www.claritypress.com/Lendman.html
Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.
http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour
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Tyrants Now Eligible for Nobel Peace Prize
Tyrants Now Eligible for Nobel Peace Prize
The EU is not a “Person”: Granting the Nobel Prize to the Europ
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The EU is not a “Person”: Granting the Nobel Prize to the European Union is in Violation of Alfred Nobel’s Will
By Prof Michel Chossudovsky
Global Research, October 13, 2012
Url of this article:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-eu-is-not-a-person-granting-the-nobel-prize-to-the-european-union-is-in-violation-of-alfr...
This year’s Nobel Peace Prize was granted to the European Union (EU) for its relentless contribution to “the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe.”
While the EU’s contribution to peace is debatable, the key issue is whether a union of nation states, which constitutes a political, economic, monetary and fiscal entity is an “eligible candidate” for the Peace Prize, in accordance with the mandate of the Norwegian Committee.
The Olympic Games are “granted” to countries. But the Nobel Peace Prize cannot under any stretch of the imagination be granted to a nation-state, let alone a union of nation states.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has a responsibility to ascertain “the eligibility of candidates” in accordance with the Will of Alfred Bernhard Nobel (Paris, 27 November, 1895).
“The whole of my remaining realizable estate shall be dealt with in the following way: the capital, invested in safe securities by my executors, shall constitute a fund, the interest on which shall be annually distributed in the form of prizes to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit to mankind….
The said interest shall be divided into five equal parts, which shall be apportioned as follows: one part to the person who shall have made the most important discovery or invention within the field of physics; one part to the person who shall have made the most important chemical discovery or improvement; one part to the person who shall have made the most important discovery within the domain of physiology or medicine; one part to the person who shall have produced in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction; and one part to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses. …
[F]or champions of peace [the prize will be awarded] by a committee of five persons to be elected by the Norwegian Storting. It is my express wish that in awarding the prizes no consideration whatever shall be given to the nationality of the candidates, but that the most worthy shall receive the prize, whether he be a Scandinavian or not.
Will of Alfred Bernhard Nobel, November 27, 1895, emphasis added
The conditions set out in Alfred Nobel’s Will have been twisted upside down.
Nobel’s Will is crystal clear. The five prizes are to be granted to “persons”. (See complete list of laureates)
Since its inception, however, several of the prizes have been granted to both “persons” and organizations/institutions to which they are affiliated as in the case of Henry Dunand (Red Cross) or Mohamed ElBaradei, UN International Atomic Energy Organization (IAEA). In other cases, the prize was granted as to “organizations” consisting of a collective of persons (e.g. UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change).
The granting of the Nobel Prize to the European Union, which is a political entity, a union of nation states, is visibly in blatant violation of Alfred Nobel’s Will.
Theater of the Absurd
The European Union cannot under any stretch of the imagination be categorized as a “person”, “a group of persons” or even an “organization”. Moreover, implied in Nobel’s Will is that the candidates must be citizens without regard to nationality:
“It is my express wish that in awarding the prizes no consideration whatever shall be given to the nationality of the candidates, but that the most worthy shall receive the prize, whether he be a Scandinavian or not.(Alfred Nobel’s Will, Paris, 1895)
The European Union is a union of nation states composed of citizens.
The EU cannot be a citizen of itself, nor does the EU have a nationality.
Citizens of the EU are “eligible candidates” but the EU cannot be “an eligible candidate”.
Moreover, it stands to reason that “eligible candidates” for the Peace prize who are “persons” cannot reasonably be evaluated, compared or ranked by the Norwegian selection committee in relation to the European Union, which is a “non-person”, namely a union of countries.
This an important consideration: How does the candidacy of the EU “compare” to “other” distinguished 2012 nominees who are actual “persons”? “Oranges versus apples?
According to the procedure, a short list of nominees “is reviewed by permanent advisers and advisers specially recruited for their knowledge of specific candidates.” And based on this review, the Peace Laureate is chosen, through a majority vote of the five persons Norwegian Committee.
The prize consists of “a medal, a personal diploma, and a cash award.” Theater of the absurd: A “personal diploma” to the European Union and “a cash award”, for what, to whom? To finance the EU’s budget deficit, its bank bailout schemes?
The decision of the Norwegian Nobel Committee is diabolical and illegal, in blatant violation of its mandate.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Full text of Alfred Nobel’s Will
I, the undersigned, Alfred Bernhard Nobel, do hereby, after mature deliberation, declare the following to be my last Will and Testament with respect to such property as may be left by me at the time of my death:
To my nephews, Hjalmar and Ludvig Nobel, the sons of my brother Robert Nobel, I bequeath the sum of Two Hundred Thousand Crowns each;
To my nephew Emanuel Nobel, the sum of Three Hundred Thousand, and to my niece Mina Nobel, One Hundred Thousand Crowns;
To my brother Robert Nobel’s daughters, Ingeborg and Tyra, the sum of One Hundred Thousand Crowns each;
Miss Olga Boettger, at present staying with Mrs Brand, 10 Rue St Florentin, Paris, will receive One Hundred Thousand Francs;
Mrs Sofie Kapy von Kapivar, whose address is known to the Anglo-Oesterreichische Bank in Vienna, is hereby entitled to an annuity of 6000 Florins Ö.W. which is paid to her by the said Bank, and to this end I have deposited in this Bank the amount of 150,000 Fl. in Hungarian State Bonds;
Mr Alarik Liedbeck, presently living at 26 Sturegatan, Stockholm, will receive One Hundred Thousand Crowns;
Miss Elise Antun, presently living at 32 Rue de Lubeck, Paris, is entitled to an annuity of Two Thousand Five Hundred Francs. In addition, Forty Eight Thousand Francs owned by her are at present in my custody, and shall be refunded;
Mr Alfred Hammond, Waterford, Texas, U.S.A. will receive Ten Thousand Dollars;
The Misses Emy and Marie Winkelmann, Potsdamerstrasse, 51, Berlin, will receive Fifty Thousand Marks each;
Mrs Gaucher, 2 bis Boulevard du Viaduc, Nimes, France will receive One Hundred Thousand Francs;
My servants, Auguste Oswald and his wife Alphonse Tournand, employed in my laboratory at San Remo, will each receive an annuity of One Thousand Francs;
My former servant, Joseph Girardot, 5, Place St. Laurent, Châlons sur Saône, is entitled to an annuity of Five Hundred Francs, and my former gardener, Jean Lecof, at present with Mrs Desoutter, receveur Curaliste, Mesnil, Aubry pour Ecouen, S.& O., France, will receive an annuity of Three Hundred Francs;
Mr Georges Fehrenbach, 2, Rue Compiègne, Paris, is entitled to an annual pension of Five Thousand Francs from January 1, 1896 to January 1, 1899, when the said pension shall discontinue;
A sum of Twenty Thousand Crowns each, which has been placed in my custody, is the property of my brother’s children, Hjalmar, Ludvig, Ingeborg and Tyra, and shall be repaid to them.
The whole of my remaining realizable estate shall be dealt with in the following way: the capital, invested in safe securities by my executors, shall constitute a fund, the interest on which shall be annually distributed in the form of prizes to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit to mankind. The said interest shall be divided into five equal parts, which shall be apportioned as follows: one part to the person who shall have made the most important discovery or invention within the field of physics; one part to the person who shall have made the most important chemical discovery or improvement; one part to the person who shall have made the most important discovery within the domain of physiology or medicine; one part to the person who shall have produced in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction; and one part to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses. The prizes for physics and chemistry shall be awarded by the Swedish Academy of Sciences; that for physiological or medical work by the Caroline Institute in Stockholm; that for literature by the Academy in Stockholm, and that for champions of peace by a committee of five persons to be elected by the Norwegian Storting. It is my express wish that in awarding the prizes no consideration whatever shall be given to the nationality of the candidates, but that the most worthy shall receive the prize, whether he be a Scandinavian or not.
As Executors of my testamentary dispositions, I hereby appoint Mr Ragnar Sohlman, resident at Bofors, Värmland, and Mr Rudolf Lilljequist, 31 Malmskillnadsgatan, Stockholm, and at Bengtsfors near Uddevalla. To compensate for their pains and attention, I grant to Mr Ragnar Sohlman, who will presumably have to devote most time to this matter, One Hundred Thousand Crowns, and to Mr Rudolf Lilljequist, Fifty Thousand Crowns;
At the present time, my property consists in part of real estate in Paris and San Remo, and in part of securities deposited as follows: with The Union Bank of Scotland Ltd in Glasgow and London, Le Crédit Lyonnais, Comptoir National d’Escompte, and with Alphen Messin & Co. in Paris; with the stockbroker M.V. Peter of Banque Transatlantique, also in Paris; with Direction der Disconto Gesellschaft and Joseph Goldschmidt & Cie, Berlin; with the Russian Central Bank, and with Mr Emanuel Nobel in Petersburg; with Skandinaviska Kredit Aktiebolaget in Gothenburg and Stockholm, and in my strong-box at 59, Avenue Malakoff, Paris; further to this are accounts receivable, patents, patent fees or so-called royalties etc. in connection with which my Executors will find full information in my papers and books.
This Will and Testament is up to now the only one valid, and revokes all my previous testamentary dispositions, should any such exist after my death.
Finally, it is my express wish that following my death my veins shall be opened, and when this has been done and competent Doctors have confirmed clear signs of death, my remains shall be cremated in a so-called crematorium.
Paris, 27 November, 1895
Alfred Bernhard Nobel
Why Europe Did Not Deserve a Nobel Peace Prize By David Swanson
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article32751.htm
Why Europe Did Not Deserve a Nobel Peace Prize
By David Swanson
October 15, 2012 "Information Clearing House" - Yes, indeed, it is a little-acknowledged feat of miraculous life-saving power that Europe has not gone to war with itself -- other than that whole Yugoslavia thing -- since World War II.
It's as clear a demonstration as anything that people can choose to stop fighting. It's a testament to the pre-war peace efforts that criminalized war, the post-war prosecutions of the brand new crime of making war, the reconstruction of the Marshall Plan, and ... and something else a little less noble, and much less Nobel-worthy.
Alfred Nobel's will, written in 1895, left funding for a prize to be awarded to "the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses." Fredrik Heffermehl has been leading a valuable effort to compel the Nobel committee to abide by the will. Now they've outdone themselves in their movement in the other direction.
Europe is not a person. It has not during the past year -- which is the requirement -- or even during the past several decades done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations. Ask Libya. Ask Syria. Check with Afghanistan. See what Iraq thinks. Far from doing the best work to abolish or reduce standing armies, Europe has joined with the United States in developing an armed global force aggressively imposing its will on the world.
There were good nominees and potential nominees available, even great ones.
Now the Nobelites have almost guaranteed themselves a second-ever pro-war peace-prize acceptance speech. If you don't recall who gave the first one, I'll tell you after the US election when you might be better able to hear me.
What a disgrace that the Nobel peace prize needs alternative awards that don't go to warmongers. What a further shame that even those don't always go to people who measure up to Nobel's will.
Was Nobel asking so much really when he asked that a prize go to whoever did the best work toward abolishing war?
The West is so in love with itself that many will imagine this award a success. Surely Europe not going to war with itself is more important that Europe going to war with the rest of the world!
Imagine how many white people might have died if Europe had kept its war making to itself. By directing the threat of war outward and engaging in humanitarian wars and philanthropic wars, Europe has taken us beyond naive war abolition and into an era of powerful possibilities. Oh, and some dark people died. But we're looking at the Big Picture.
Does this not frighten anyone?
This article was originally posted at WarIsACrime.org