Posted on 10/11/2002 2:03:14 AM PDT by HAL9000
"for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development"
THE NORWEGIAN NOBEL COMMITTEEThe Nobel Peace Prize 2002
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2002 to Jimmy Carter, for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.
During his presidency (1977-1981), Carter's mediation was a vital contribution to the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt, in itself a great enough achievement to qualify for the Nobel Peace Prize. At a time when the cold war between East and West was still predominant, he placed renewed emphasis on the place of human rights in international politics.
Through his Carter Center, which celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2002, Carter has since his presidency undertaken very extensive and persevering conflict resolution on several continents. He has shown outstanding commitment to human rights, and has served as an observer at countless elections all over the world. He has worked hard on many fronts to fight tropical diseases and to bring about growth and progress in developing countries. Carter has thus been active in several of the problem areas that have figured prominently in the over one hundred years of Peace Prize history.
In a situation currently marked by threats of the use of power, Carter has stood by the principles that conflicts must as far as possible be resolved through mediation and international co-operation based on international law, respect for human rights, and economic development.
Oslo, 11 October 2002
Yes, he so wants social justice through socialism.
For decades????? You see, peaceful solutions don't work!!!!!!
The Nobel " peace prize " is now a joke. Maybe they'lll award it to Hitler , posthumously. That'd make about as much sense.
But most people have forgotten it was actually Walter Cronkite who got Begin and Sadat together in the first place. He's probably disgruntled about that.
Since Camp David, it's been mostly downhill for Carter - especially in last decade.
Any quesses as to how mnny years it will be until they accord clintbilly the same "honor"?
Bush is focused on Cuban freedom***Reasonable people can differ on the efficacy of the embargo, but surely all Americans ought to be able to agree that Castro's reign is an affront to human decency and a blot on the Western Hemisphere. So why is it that so many critics of the administration's position expend far more energy denouncing the US embargo than calling for an end to Castro's repression? The abuse of Cuban dissenters doesn't seem to anger them nearly as much as the loss of business opportunities caused by the US ban. What really motivates the antiembargo lobby? A yen for liberty - or for profits?
A few days before Bush's speech, 14 members of the congressional Cuba Working Group held a press conference to discuss their views of US policy toward Cuba. My transcript of the event runs to 12 pages of single-spaced type. It is a revealing document. All 14 congressmen spoke, yet not one expressed outrage over the way Castro suffocates the Cuban people. Not one denounced the lack of free speech or the elaborate network of government informers or the misery that drives countless Cubans each year to risk death in an effort to escape Fidelismo. Oh, there was a passing reference now and then to democracy or human rights, but on the whole the Cuba Working Group seemed to get passionate only when the topic turned to the quantities of dried beans and chicken legs that Cuba is supposedly keen to import. Would 14 members of a South Africa Working Group in the 1980s have called a press conference and neglected to express their revulsion for apartheid?
At one point Representative James McGovern of Massachusetts saluted former president Jimmy Carter for ''having the guts to go to Cuba, for standing before the Cuban government and speaking the truth about human rights.'' But when I asked McGovern the other day whether he was equally proud of Bush for speaking the truth about human rights, he pronounced himself ''very disappointed with the president's speech. It was precisely the opposite of what the dissidents have asked for.'' It is true that some Cuban dissidents call for an immediate end to the US embargo. But others call for it to remain in force until Castro leaves. And still others want what Bush wants - an end to economic sanctions but only in exchange for irrevocable democratic reform.
McGovern says the promotion of democracy and human rights is the very raison d'etre of the Cuba Working Group. Perhaps so. But while he and his colleagues persist in talking about the embargo, Bush is reminding the world that the real issue is freedom. The polestar of his Cuba policy is liberty, not chicken legs. When the Cuban people are free at last, they will not forget his steadfastness.***
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