"I get this feeling I may know you
As a lover and a friend."
-- The Eagles, with apologies to Obama's Foreign Policy
So the Nobel Committee is two for two. First Al Gore and now Barack Obama. No wait, last year they awarded their honor to..uhm. you know, that guy, what's his name.. uh..Martti Ahtisaari.
I imagine they have good reasons over there in Oslo, but it can't be because they watch CNN or Fox. Or maybe it's because they actually do when it comes to forming their opinions about the American candidates. But for the likes of Ahtisaari, I don't know what TV station they watch. Is that a comment on American media or Nobel competence? I think both.
Anyway, if you look back at the illustrious parade of laureates through the Peace Prize's history, you will note a stunning disconnect between it and any American thread of history. How this peace delivery system is contiguous is anybody's guess, then again the Nobel Committee has their guess and that's the guess that matters. I figure they've guessed wrong, just like they guessed wrong in 2007. But you know, they're on a timetable and they have to make *some* guess. At least they're not giving awards to committees. A committee that gives an award to another committee is just wrong in all sorts of ways, not to mention the clear revelation that the IPCC was duped by twelve trees.
So.. where's all this peace, and how did Obama become responsible of it?
Darfur.
Any change in that?
GTMO
Any positive change in that situation? I hear Bagram is worse.
Iraq
Good news from there you've heard? Any?
N. Korea.
Yeah right.
Horn of Africa
We pacified them pirates alright. Didn't we?
Afghanistan
Uhmm. Uh..
Pakistan
That joint's coming apart at the seams. Since the assassinations, what have we done? Hmm?
Iran
You can't possibly be serious.
Georgia
I think Obama said what? Gee, I can't remember and neither can you.
Russia
Oh yeah we did dismantle some missiles in Europe and otherwise be lax. We don't stand up to them any longer. That's peaceful.
American Defense
We killed the F-22 Raptor program. OK I suppose that's something pacific. Not much chance of GM building half as many tanks now, I suppose.
Let us recall the global scale at which major conflicts operate. Since 1950, we've had over sixty seven conflicts which have resulted in the killing of 10,000 or more individuals. In the aggregate over 82 million killed, roughly 1.64 million per annum. But that average is really skewed by the top ten, so it's more fair to suggest 200,000. If somebody could point to 200,000 lives saved in a year, I'd be happy to give up the Peace Prize. But is anybody actually counting lives? Can we honestly say that there's a policy that we are aware of that Obama has authored and seen fruits from that come anywhere near that number of lives saved from war? Or is Peace no longer the opposite of war? Is Peace something generated by rhetoric? No wait. Maybe it's generated by folk music.
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