A Peace Prize for a War Hawk
By
In a extraordinary surprise move, the Nobel Peace Prize this year has been given to none other than Barack Obama as of this morning, for “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” Thank goodness they didn’t wake him up in the middle of the night to give him the announcement. If you weren’t convinced that we are now living in bizarro world, check your planet again.
I think I may scream. Hold on a second…
…
Ok, I’m done now.
Fine, so Obama talked a little about peace and changing stuff during his campaign. He has upon occasion criticized the war in Iraq. Yet, since he took office, peace has grown ever more distant. There is no other verdict to draw from his actions other than we are under Bush Number 3. As I have noted in various ways here, here, and here, Obama has not come close to acting like a President interested in peace. I even predicted some of the things that he has done (or not done). In fact, his egregious actions against peace are so numerous at this point it hasn’t even been worth cataloguing in blog posts. Just watch the news for a while or read Antiwar.com. Seriously.
But really, REALLY, would you ever expect someone interested in peace to…
- Not even supporting the rescinding of the Patriot Act (much less actually getting rid of it)
- Not stopping illegal wire-tapping
- Say you’re going to close Guantanamo Bay, but then move the prisoners to other secret prison locations?
- Say you’re against torture, yet not stop the practice of it
- Appoint ultimate war hawk Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State
- Send 20,000 more troops to Afghanistan (with room for more), escalating a conflict that cannot end
- Supports intervention in Darfur
- Supporting bills that allow for the President to shut down the internet at his discretion for a “cyber-security emergency,” while at the same time criticizing Iran for censoring Twitter.
- Escalating Federal spending on defense
The only thing Obama has done right for peace – and only thus far has he done it right – is to keep the United States out of Iran. And who knows, even that might come to a close sooner or later.
Perhaps this should not come as a surprise, however. The Nobel committee did give the Peace Prize last year to someone who likes to scare people into thinking they’re all going to die from the sun. At least the hawkish conservatives who believe that “war is peace” can be pleased that finally someone is getting recognized right – support war, get a Peace Prize.
We live in a bizarro world, folks, when you can get an Economics Prize for supporting the destruction of an economy (Paul Krugman), a Peace Prize for frightening people (Al Gore), and now a Peace Prize for supporting war (Obama). Of course, Hans Hermann Hoppe once said that to win a Nobel Peace Prize, one should be a mass murderer — or at least that helps. You’re well on your way, Barry…
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Tags: Afghanistan, iran, iraq, Obama, war, war on terror
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[...] Horne of LibertarianChristian.com, also chimes in with his piece A Peace Prize for a War Hawk. He concludes with a good summation of the backwardness of recent Nobel Prize selections: “We [...]
Yes, the whole thing is laughable. And if you want to have even more laughs, just read the comments posted at CNN — Obama’s slavish followers falling all over themselves congratulating the Chosen One on his ‘much deserved’ award. And, of course, there were the now-obligatory praises sung of the achievement of the black man. Indeed — now white warmongers and black warmongers receive their due in equal measure. MLK would be so proud.