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Alfred Nobel’s will assigned the selection for his Nobel Peace Prize to a committee of five selected by Storting,  the Norwegian Parliament. This prize has impacted the world and greatly influenced the citizens of Norway. Having just spent a full day with two Norwegian scientists last week, I came away impressed as I learned about the many Norwegians who are active globally in peace efforts, as they have a strong national commitment for pursuing international efforts for peace.  They take special pride in the fact that their small country not only selects the Nobel Peace Prize awardee every year, but there are many Norwegians who are involved as peacemakers in the United Nations and throughout the world. In his will, Alfred Nobel was especially interested in awarding his Peace Prize to those whose efforts led to reduced levels of arms and armaments and in more modern times, the Peace Prize committee has been equally concerned about the reduction of nuclear arsenals.

From the first paragraph of the Nobel Peace Prize announcement “The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The Committee has attached special importance to Obama’s vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.” You can appreciate from the first paragraph of the prize announcement that Obama’s speeches about reductions and eliminations of nuclear stockpiles has inspired a new vision for a future date when an international community of nations can live without the threat of a nuclear disaster. I have personally never felt more threatened by nuclear arms than I do today, simply because of the possibility that a terrorist organization sophisticated enough to detonate such a bomb would put an American city’s name on it as their first choice.

The second paragraph of the prize announcement goes:  “Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations. Thanks to Obama’s initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened.” For the first time in eight long, draining years, we have a President who, instead of threatening to bomb Iran, is now sitting down and talking to them at the table. If Obama steers clear of his own silly trap about a new nuclear facility near Qom Iran (no nuclear material is in that plant and won’t be for a year or two;  Iran is in complete compliance with the IAEA (except for backing out of an agreement about notifications, which Iran abandoned after claiming that all other countries didn’t live up to their agreements–this should really be a non-issue).

The third paragraph of the announcement states:  “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. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world’s population.” This is clearly a slam against the Bush/Cheney years of unilateral threats to world peace and an expression of the welcome relief to have a contrasting figure such as Obama, whose policies come much closer to a world view about cooperation and peace.

But, the real motivation behind Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize probably has more to do with his speech in Prague, where he emphasized the reduction of nuclear arms, followed by his meeting last month with the United Nations Security Council:

From Gordon Prather’s article of October 10, 2009:

“Last month, for the very first time, an American president chaired a meeting of the United Nations Security Council. In that meeting, Obama challenged other Council members – including the heads of state of Russia, China, Great Britain and France – to “overcome cynicism” about the possibility of a world without nuclear weapons. And, a few days later, the Security Council adopted Obama’s Resolution 1887, which begins by”;

“Resolving to seek a safer world for all and to create the conditions for a world without nuclear weapons, in accordance with the goals of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), in a way that promotes international stability, and based on the principle of undiminished security for all (there is more)”

Also from Prather:

“As should be obvious to everyone, including members of The Best Congress Money Can Buy, the Nobel Committee intends to do what it can to help Obama convert his “commitment” in Prague and his UNSCR 1887 into an action agenda, rather than a mere recital of platitudes.”

I look at Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize with some degree of hope that with an honor such as that, coupled to the enhanced visibility for Peace that he will unavoidably receive, Obama will see the stark conflict in being a Nobel Peace Prize recipient, while at the same time expanding the war in Afghanistan–the grave yard of empires.  Our entire presence in the Middle East has been a military and financial disaster for us, but especially for those whose countries we have invaded or against whom we have supported military incursions (Iraq against Iran). Modern warfare appeals to those indoctrinated with warfare as a game that can be played with very expensive toys and human lives. Ever since the Cold War began, America has been dragged into wars and hostile relationships with other nations  by members of our military, congressional “leaders” and warrior presidents, who always leave behind an imprint on our permanent, shadow government. True peace can only come when the drive for military solutions becomes too expensive and the military option is permanently taken off the table. We have a little problem called global climate change which should help all military personnel recalibrate their compasses. Obama’s greatest struggle for peace will be the internal battle he fights with our permanent government for supremacy of action. He will find stiff resistance on nuclear arms reduction and getting out of Afghanistan.

An internal obstacle for forming a more peaceful world happens to be our own right-wing Republican Party. They have laughed and discounted the Nobel Peace Prize award to Obama because, in the first place, they don’t like peace. Juan Cole has commented on the right-wing peace haters and responds to their derision of Obama’s award by pointing out that Obama got the Peace Prize because he’s a “game-changer,” That he is, but can he change the game?
RFM