Obama: the anti-christ - proof
Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize
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9 October 2009 :: J.E. Robertson
Pres. Barack Obama, in office just under 9 months, has been awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize. The award announcement has sent a ripple through
world opinion, as critics and supporters clash over whether the award is
premature, or whether Obama's collaborative diplomatic method has
achieved important gains for world peace. The prize could signal an
endorsement of Obama's work on comprehensive nuclear disarmament or on
achieving climate consensus this fall, which is not only a correction of
American intransigence on carbon limits, but also instrumental to
preventing mass migration and resource wars.
The award also affirms the gains made in international cooperation, the
key element of consideration for the prize. Nobel's own criteria for the
Peace prize state that it should go to the individual who has done the
most to promote "fraternity among nations". Woodrow Wilson was the last
sitting US president to win the prize.
The Nobel committee cited Pres. Obama's efforts to eliminate nuclear
weapons and achieve the complex cooperation needed to formulate a global
response to climate destabilization, adding that "now is the time for
all of us to take responsibility for global solutions to global
problems". The point is not minor: the international system must
consistently balance the principle of sovereignty with issues of human
rights and sustainable cooperation.
Yet there remains a general tendency to view all international politics
through a cynical lens of unsalvable difference and definitive
atomization. Predictably, there has been a stolid and unthinking
response from pundits of all stripes. The toxic reasoning that says you
must be mired in conflict for years, partly responsible for thousands of
deaths, and then blessed with an opportunity for specific peace before
you can be eligible for recognition as having promoted fraternity among
nations, has even affected the judgement of such talented reporters as
Nicholas Kristof, at the New York Times.
I deeply respect Mr. Kristof's long experience and consistently
excellent reporting, but he's wrong about Obama's achievements in
fostering a new climate in international relations. His opinion piece
responding to the Nobel award is a very facile analysis
<http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/09/obama-and-the-nobel-peace-prize/>
and smacks of the critic who's trying to be hard on the star of the
moment in order not to be taken as less of a worthy critic. Here's why:
There's a dangerous and irresponsible rumor that's emerging, spread very
deliberately by Republican leadership, that in fact "Obama hasn't done
anything", despite his being one of the busiest presidencies to date,
full of hard work, bold initiatives and major achievements.
Do we forget his first days in office? He had to overturn one after
another radically dangerous Bush-era policy. For instance:
On his second day in office, he banned torture and called for a
review of all cases of terror suspects, to craft the proper means of
bringing them to justice within the Constitutional system of
government that by law the United States adheres to. He ordered the
closure of the Guantánamo Bay prison camp in Cuba, where prisoners
were held without legal counsel, without the hearing of evidence and
without charge, indefinitely, and the closing of CIA 'black site'
prisons around the world.
On his fifth day in office Obama held a major energy innovation and
fuel efficiency meeting, at which he pledged to raise the CAFE
standards for fuel efficiency and devote record amounts of federal
funding to the development of renewable energy sources. He warned
that America's devotion to huge spending on oil "bankrolls
dictators, pays for nuclear proliferation and funds both sides in
our struggle against terrorism". He ordered a review of the EPA's
role in regulating carbon emissions, a move that would eventually
lead to the EPA officially adopting the policy ordered by a court
ruling, that it had authority to cap carbon emissions.
We also noted that:
Perhaps most important, Obama moved by executive order, during his
first days in office, to limit presidential powers by requiring that
all high-level classification of documents involving presidential
decisions be reviewed by a panel of legal experts, in order to
prevent his own administration or future administrations from using
the classification system to cover up potential wrongdoing.
But he didn't wait to make it known that his intention was to create a
multilateral framework for peace, wherever it might be useful. For instance:
On the morning of his first full day as chief executive of the
United States government, Pres. Obama phoned four heads of state
across the Middle East ---Israel, Palestinian Authority, Egypt and
Jordan--- to discuss his feeling that there is an urgent need to
start a practical and viable process of sustainable peace between
Israel and the Palestinians."
His work on nuclear disarmament is "important" not because it's about
non-proliferation, but because it's about disarmament. Total, 100%,
global nuclear disarmament. And he now has the unanimous support of the
world's major nuclear powers, the 5 permanent members of the Security
Council, to move toward that goal.
UN SC Res. 1887 is one of the most important documents ever produced by
the UN system, in that it lays the groundwork for a world free of
nuclear weapons, however long it may take to achieve that goal. In the
entire history of the nuclear arms race, no one has achieved that level
of consensus on disarmament. This was done by aggressive, forthright and
successful diplomacy, in the span of just 8 months' worth of work. That
is a major accomplishment.
On the question of peace and diplomacy, Barack Obama managed to deal
with two "hostage" situations, with enemy "rogue states", Roxana Saberi
in Iran and Euna Lee and Laura Ling in North Korea, without escalating
tensions in either region, without making threats or being weak; in each
case, the art of diplomacy was practiced in such a way that it would
lead to both success and non-escalation.
On Iran, the nuclear program is worrying, but for the first time in 30
years, the US has actually met with Iranian diplomats to discuss these
issues directly, and the result is that Iran is in theory, agreeing to
allow inspectors in, and even to ship uranium out of the country for
processing. If this happens, the bomb will not be obtained by Iran.
Again: ambitious, successful nuclear diplomacy, enhanced credibility,
peace before war, multilateralism, and just 8 months in office. I think
the prize is not premature, because there are in fact real effects to
all of this. The Nobel Peace Prize has gone to leaders from the Middle
East, but there has never really been peace. Was that premature, or was
the award given to laud the actions and the methods of the laureates
when they turned their attentions toward promoting peace?
We need to be a lot more serious about reporting in detail and with real
historical scope, the subtle but monumental accomplishments of this
young presidency. It is irresponsible to say he has "done nothing", just
because there's still war in Africa, tension between hardened ideologues
like Netanyahu and Abbas or authoritarianism in Iran.
What he has done in terms of fostering international cooperation and
peace, in just 8 months, far outweighs anything that was done in the
last 8 years, and we all know that. It's time to take a cue from the
Nobel committee and give credit where credit is due. We need more of
this persistent, aggressive, collaborative diplomacy. The security of
the United States depends on it, the stability of nations requires it,
and any consideration for the wellbeing of future generations demands it.
--
Linda
*http://freedetainees.org <http://freedetainees.org/>
"If we shadows have offended, Think but this,
and all is mended, That you have but slumber'd
here While these visions did appear..."
- William Shakespeare
*
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