Mark, I have nothing to add to your post, really — except maybe this: It is stunning that Mann calls himself, or allows himself to be called, in his press releases and so on, a Nobel peace laureate. It almost makes me feel sorry for him. (Maybe I should emphasize “almost” again.) I am no shrink, but — holy Moses, what a claim.
Furthermore, I’m not sure that anyone will want association with the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize (which was awarded to the IPCC and Al Gore, in that order). I believe it will come to be viewed as one of the most foolish and ignominious Nobel prizes in history.
I believe that the worst prize of all may well be the peace prize for 2005: which went to the IAEA and Mohamed ElBaradei (again, in that order). If Iran goes nuclear, this selection will look downright cruel. It should live in infamy.
P.S. There was no award for 1939, because the Nazis invaded on September 1, the prize is announced in October, etc. (I could elaborate, as I do in my book, of course.) But if there had been one, it probably would have gone to Neville Chamberlain, who was heavily nominated.
P.P.S. People always bring up Arafat, when you mention the Nobel Peace Prize. It’s well to remember, however, that he won in concert with two Israeli statesmen: the prime minister and the foreign minister. One of them, the foreign minister, went out of his way to say, in his Nobel lecture, that Arafat’s share of the prize was “fitting.” This is a longish section of my book. Much to chew on.
P.P.P.S. The committee, in my opinion, had been on a bit of a roll lately: the excellent prize — historic prize — to Liu Xiaobo, the Chinese political prisoner, in 2010; the excellent prize to three brave and useful women — two in Liberia, one in Yemen — in 2011. And now: the EU. Well, win some, lose some.