Further to my earlier post, a gentle reminder of what it all supposed to be about... I put this up on another forum in answer to a posters total agreement with this years award...
Excerpt from the Will of Alfred Nobel…
“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 on 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 physiology or medical works by the Karolinska 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 be given to the nationality of the candidates, but that the most worthy shall receive the prize, whether he be Scandinavian or not.”
Now so far as I can see the only way in which the EU meets any of these stipulations is that part regarding the ‘abolition or reduction of standing armies’ Most EU countries seem to meet this requirement; most have been forced into reductions in manpower and hardware. The UK and Spain particularly… to the point where in a couple of years time the UK might not be able to meet its NATO commitments and will become little more than a Self Defence Force. The same holds true for Spain. Leaders of both countries stated in their election manifestos that they would pull out of Afghanistan… the troops are still there and sadly say their numbers are being reduced but not in the way that Alfred Nobel had in mind..
The EUs politicians spend so much time on self congratulatory business they have no time for ‘the holding and promotion of peace congresses.’ For instance what has Tony Blair achieved as the EU peace envoy to the Middle East?
‘Fraternity between nations?’ Even within the EU there is more back-stabbing than fraternity.
As for the previous winners… How does an individual like Al Gore and / or an organisation like the IPCC meet any of the Peace prize stipulations?
Likewise Barack Obama?
Personally I think the last deserving winners of the Peace Prize have to be the 1964 award to Martin Luther King… 1976 Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan and in 1991 to Aung San Suu Kyi.
Time I think for a reality check!
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