Making the Nobel Peace Prize a joke

I don't know whether to laugh, cry, or scream from the top of my lungs, "WHAT'S GOING ON???"

Mohammed El-Baradei and the IAEA have been awarded the Noble Peace Prize for their tireless work in trying to stop the spread of nuclear weapons.

Seriously.

According to the AP's Doug Mellgren:

Mohamed ElBaradei and the International Atomic Energy Agency that he heads won the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for their efforts to stop the spread of nuclear weapons.

See, I told you I was being serious!

ElBaradei, a 63-year-old lawyer from Egypt, has led the U.N. nuclear agency as it grappled with the crisis in Iraq and the ongoing efforts to prevent North Korea and Iran from acquiring nuclear arms.

Let's see how they've 'grappled' with these problems:

Iraq - An inspection program that featured, among other things, Saddam's men wiretapping the inspectors, taking material out the back door of sites while the inspectors were held up at the front door, declaring some sites as 'presidential palaces' that were off-limits to the inspectors, and finally seeing the inspectors kicked out of the country when Saddam got tired of playing games;

North Korea - Getting kicked out of the country when Kim Jong-Il got tired of playing games, leaving him free to (apparently) build several nuclear weapons;

Iran - Watching helplessly while the Iranians broke the seals on their nuke equipment right in front of the inspectors, then having endless meetings to decide whether or not they should complain to the Security Council.

Have I missed anything?

The Nobel committee said ElBaradei and the IAEA should be recognized for addressing one of the greatest dangers facing the world.

Oh, I see.  You don't actually have to DO anything to win the Nobel Peace Prize; you just have to act very, very concerned.

"At a time when the threat of nuclear arms is again increasing, the Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to underline that this threat must be met through the broadest possible international cooperation. This principle finds its clearest expression today in the work of the IAEA and its director general."

I think we can all safely assume that the Nobel Committee doesn't include military force in its definition of 'the broadest possible international cooperation'.  Endless meetings, speeches before the Security Council, attempts to appease dictators, and MAYBE empty threats, but no military action.

ElBaradei said in Vienna, Austria, that the prize "sends a strong message" about the agency's disarmament efforts and will strengthen his resolve to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.

"The award basically sends a very strong message, which is: Keep doing what you are doing," ElBaradei said. "It's a responsibility but it's also a shot in the arm."

Yeah, I think the Iranians and North Koreans would second this idea: keep doing what you're doing... because it ain't stopping us from doing what WE'RE doing.  HAW HAW!

This is really absurd.  No, more than that, it shows how dangerously deluded a sizable and powerful fraction of the world is.  The IAEA has been singularly inept and ineffective for years.  They've made themselves a laughing stock in Baghdad, Pyongyang, and Tehran.  They've done NOTHING to stop the spread of nuclear weapons.  THIS is what the Nobel Committee thinks is worthy of the Peace Prize??? 

I'm going to guess that the nomination of George Bush and Tony Blair to receive the prize would be met with horror, but let's face it: they've actually done something to limit the spread of nuclear weapons.  Iraq will certainly no longer be working on a clandestine program.  Libya voluntarily gave up its secret program.  We put pressure on Pakistan to shut down A.Q. Khan's nuclear black market.  We're engaged in talks with Pyongyang to get them to abandon their program.  Blair was working with the French and Germans to try to get Tehran to give up its nuke program.  In short, Bush and Blair have DONE far more than El-Baradei and his collection of bunglers.(1)

But he gets the prize, and they get the scorn of the elites around the world.

What a world we live in.

(1)  I absolutely don't mean to imply that I approve of our handling of Pyongyang, or the Euros' pathetic attempts to cajole the Iranians to give up their program.  I think that negotiations with people like Kim Jong-Il and the ayatollahs are pointless unless they are backed up with overwhelming force.  But at least Bush and Blair were doing SOMETHING to try to get North Korea and Iran to stop their programs.

Comments

[Dan Trabue]

Doc said:
"I think we can all safely assume that the Nobel Committee doesn't include military force in its definition"

And it won't surprise you to hear me say this but, No. The Peace Prize does not usually go to military solutions. Something in the notion of "peace" seems contrary to violent solutions, for many of us anyway.

On the other hand, war solutions might make a great recipient for the Orwellian Peace Prize, though.

And yes, Bush's nomination for a Peace prize would be met with unimaginable horror worldwide.

Just dropping in to buzz in your ear like an annoying gnat again, brother Doc.

Peace: n. The absence of war or other hostilities; harmonious relations,

Dan

[docjim505]

Dan,

We are in agreement: I wouldn't support granting the Peace Prize to Bush or Blair, either. My point was that the Nobel Committee gave it to the IAEA because of its "work" on nuclear proliferation when the IAEA seems to have been completely ineffective in this task. Bush and Blair, at least, have done something.

I recall that the Pentagon used to define peace as the period between wars. How's that for Newspeak!