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Re ‘Laureates’

A reader writes, “Has anyone touched on the fact that the 2009 peace laureate is entertaining the jailer of the 2010 peace laureate?” Oh, yes. Hu Jintao is also the jailer of many, many others who deserve the Nobel Peace Prize, not to mention simple freedom.

Here’s another fact for you: One of the reasons Obama won the 2009 award was his “cooperation with Beijing.” I am quoting the words of the Nobel chairman, in his presentation speech. The next year, the Norwegian Nobel Committee — which is definitely a cooperate-with-Beijing type of body — did not cooperate with Beijing. They did the very opposite.

And that is to the committee’s eternal credit — like the award for 1935 to Ossietzky (a political prisoner of the Nazis) and the award for 1975 to Sakharov (the Soviet Union’s hero physicist-dissident).

New on The Corner. . .


COMMENTS   8

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   01/20/11 10:10

I'm all in favor of sending that dirty, little communist to China on a slow boat.

Then, we can send, Hu, next.

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1776
   01/20/11 11:00

Amen, Sean. Well said! Amen! (Is Mark Steyn reading this?)

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   01/20/11 12:28

Chains we can believe in.

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   01/20/11 12:41
   01/20/11 13:29

Conferring it on Arafat rendered the Prize an obscenity.
Just curious: did Obama win because the other choice was Kim Jong Il?

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   01/20/11 15:02

I must be reading The Corner in an alternate universe - maybe the one where Spock has a goatee. Because the Nordlinger posts I'm reading seem to treat the Nobel Peace Prize as something worthy of respect, rather than the white elephant it's been turned into by its awarding to Arafat, Carter, Gore, and - in his first year of office - Obama.

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   01/20/11 19:41

If we disengage, don't make an effort, then we can never bring the prize back to it's ideals. I think Jay's right to agitate for a better prize than it's been.

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   01/21/11 00:42

weimerrj,

Ah, perhaps. Or perhaps the legitimate awards provide legitimacy to the bogus, politically-oriented awards.

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