Controversy over Norwegian Peace Prize for Obama - Was it for his role in the Sri Lankan Conflict?
Dr.P.A.Samaraweera, Australia
President Obama created history by becoming the first black-American President of the USA. He was also the first black-American to edit the Harvard Law Journal. Now according to critics, he has made history by winning the Norwegian Nobel Peace Prize for having not done anything. This stunning choice has shocked Nobel observers.
President Obama himself had been surprised and his comment was, " To be honest, I do not feel that I derserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who have been honoured by this prize".
According to some as this most prestigious award has not been given on any of his accomplishments there is a debate on this controversial issue.
For example, with regard to his efforts on reducing nuclear war-heads there had been only negotiations on this. Secondly, he wanted to end the Iraq war but so far there are no signs of this. Instead, he had increased the number of soldiers sent to Iraq. Then the war in Afghanistan had escalated. Thirdly, not much can be said about his push for peace between Israel and Palestine. Fourthly, he has been trying to mend fences with US foes like Iran, North Korea and Cuba but there had been not much progress. Finally, he had pledged to take the lead against climate change but so far he had not got much support from China and India.
So there is a shock and awe over the award of this Norwegian Nobel Prize.
Neutral observers are wondering if this Nobel Peace Prize for President Obama was awarded for the US efforts to stall the Sri Lankan war against the LTTE terrorists? Towards the end of the war the US brought pressure on Sri Lanka and urged for a cease fire. The US marines offered to rescue the LTTE leaders. The LTTE leadership offered to surrender to the US or to one of its allies. Thus the US made desperate attempts to give cover to the LTTE terrorists.
On the other hand Norway which prides itself on the Nobel Peace Prize had been supporting the LTTE through out in the guise of peace-brokers. During the last stages of the war LTTE supporters attacked the Sri Lankan Embassy in Oslo but the Norwegian government kept silent and did nothing to apprehend the perpetrators of this criminal act.
Subsequently, it had been reported that Norway had been constantly communicating with Kumaran Pathmanathan who was the Overseas LTTE leader. The Sri Lankan government expressed its concern over this communication. Thus because of this dubious approach by Norway the Sri Lakan government terminated Norway's role as facilitator.
Thus Norway and the US had been working hand in glove to inject oxygen to the LTTE leadership. Therefore, the question asked is whether Norway awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to President Obama for his role in the Sri Lankan conflict, which would have been a disaster for Sri Lanka after 30 years of terrorism!
- Asian Tribune -
Comments
- President Barack Obama
- President Barack Obama proclaimed himself "humbled" when he won the Nobel Peace Prize for his "extraordinary" efforts to reduce the global stockpile of nuclear weapons and bring world peace. - Telegraph, Oct 9, 2009
Contrary to Samaraweera's assertion, "... award has not been given on any of his accomplishments ...", the above reasons seems sufficiently good enough to grant the award to Mr. Obama. The award has already inspired the world peace movement and will no doubt encourage the Obama administration to pursue this endeavor with more vigilance. Who other better contemporary leader than Obama to lead such a monumental effort? He fully deserves it and I am glad he was awarded the prestigious award. Congratulations to Mr. Obama.
Samaraweera’s dilemma, “Neutral observers are wondering if this Nobel Peace Prize for President Obama was awarded for the US efforts to stall the Sri Lankan war against the LTTE terrorists?...” seems like nothing more than an effort at giving birth to yet another Sri Lanka related conspiracy theory. Nice try – but I don’t think so, especially considering the critique of the Obama administration for what many European governments perceived as lack of pressure by it on the Sri Lankan government during the concluding phases of the war as chronicled in an extensive TIME magazine article during the time.
Mr. Obama has taken a number
Mr. Obama has taken a number of steps to defuse tension in the world and he deserves the prize more than anyone else in the world.
He has defused tension between US and Russia, made several attempts to re-start negotiations between Istreal and Palestinians, made it clear to the Israel that continuing to buld on Arab land is not in the interest of peace, made several ovatures to Cuba, made positive contributions to re-start negotiations on nuclear issues with North Korea and seem to have headed in the right directions by applying pressure in Iran to comply with UN resolutions. This is just a few examples of his achievements in a short period. Even Venezuelan President treates Mr. Obama as a friend, in spite of all the diffrences that exist between the positions of US and Venezuela.
Yes, Mr. Obama has not solved any of them, but he has taken the right steps. Instead of declaring war, he is conducting himself as a person for peace. We should appreciate his efforts so far.
The Nobel committee has
The Nobel committee has abundantly made clear that the Peace Prize was awarded to Obama because of the new and EXTREMELY PROMISING APPROACH he is taking in dealing with international issues. ANYONE WHO THINKS THAT WE CAN EXPECT RESULTS OVERNIGHT in the complex world in which we live IS WORSE THAN A DREAMER. And the hope is that this fresh new approach, which approach was so foreign to many former presidents, will eventually yield concrete results. Only time will reveal. But the fresh and hopeful new approach is something to celebrate. And the prize, in my opinion, is well deserved. And it should be pointed out that Obama is donating the more than $ 1 million in prize money (more than 100 million rupees), to charity.
The headline for this article suggests the nonsensical nature of this article. Asian Tribune, in my opinion, should should screen articles more carefully in order to maintain the credibility of this site.
Awarding Nobel peace prize to
Awarding Nobel peace prize to Obama is not second to awarding doctorate to Mervyn Silva. Simply Obama has not delivered anything yet to this world towards establishing long lasting peace. On the contrary he is continuing usual US policy on Palastine-Israel conflict, running away from Iraq since US troops are beaten left right and center. He is poring more fire power to Afghanistan. If the criteria of Peace award is based on future potential ane retoric of peace then there are millions of people who deserves it. In my openion Chief Minister Karunanidhi is better deserves than Obama. How can peron with 8 months in power gets it? What are the tangibal evidence of his peace dividends? This move was much to do with future plans of Norway than peace dividents to world at large. Unfortunately NOBEL PRIZe has lost its glory, status and trust. Oh Alfred Nobel, thou shall not open eyes again to see this!
President Obama has to gently
President Obama has to gently undo all the damage the previous regimes in USA did. Even the attitude which is shown to the world toward Lanka will be shown in a slow change, as President Obama cannot show up openly the mistakes of past governments of America. He has a duty to perform by USA first, and then to the rest of the world, including Lanka. Yes, President Obama deserves the Noble prize for Peace as he has turned the world leaders to think in another direction. If the Tamil people of Lanka sought their dignity all along in a more peaceful manner, they would not have dragged Lanka into negative focus by the world. ALL the people of Lanka should put to practice whatever the Great Teacher of their religion taught, and not so much in terms of material wealth and political power. It is true to say that the poorest of the poor can be very happy, spiritually speaking. Be patient, better times are coming for all !
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