Posted on 10/06/2004 8:02:32 PM PDT by FairOpinion
OSLO: The UN nuclear watchdog and its head, Mohamed ElBaradei, look favourites to win the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday from a record field of 194 candidates in a world fearful of nuclear proliferation.
Other contenders for what may be the world's biggest single dose of fame are US anti-nuclear campaigners Richard Lugar and Sam Nunn, a South African AIDS treatment lobby and Jiang Yangyong, a doctor who exposed China's SARS cover-up last year.
Nobel watchers say there seem to have been no leaks about the winner in the run-up to the announcement on Friday at 1430 hrs IST.
The award can be split up to three ways.
''Last year many of the so-called experts were dead wrong,'' said Geir Lundestad, director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute, noting that few had correctly tipped Iranian human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi as the 2003 laureate.
''We take pride in our ability to maintain secrecy,'' he told Reuters of the prize, worth 10 million Swedish crowns (1.36 million dollars) and founded by Swedish philanthropist Alfred Nobel.
This year, many experts reckon that ElBaradei and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) look the most likely winners in a world worried that rogue states or terrorists may obtain atomic weapons.
In a rare point of agreement in their debate last week, for instance, US President George Bush and Democratic presidential challenger John Kerry said that nuclear proliferation was the most serious threat to US national security.
''I think the committee would like to do something to focus on disarmament, weapons of mass destruction and terrorism,'' said Janne Haaland Matlary, a professor at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs.
She said the IAEA, ElBaradei and Hans Blix, the former UN arms inspector who led the vain hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq before the 2003 US-led invasion, seemed the most likely winners for 2004.
I guess they don't think President Bush, who eliminated thousands of terrorists and liberated two countries from dictators who were a threat to the world and to their own people is not deserving of this.
But some UN paperpusher, who did nothing about Iraq, Korea or Iran, and most likely was on Saddam's payroll, is deserving of a peace prize.
I suppose I should be glad they didn't decide to give it to Saddam, after all, he's been very peaceful lately, in his jail cell.
Here are the Nobel Peace Prize recipients for tha past several years. For 2001, after the WTC attacks, when Bush went after the terrorists, the Nobel Peace prize was awareded to Kofi Annan and the UN!!!!
Fellow FReepers, the Nobel Peace Prize has become nothing more than a Kewpie doll for the most well-connected anti-Western Leftist of the year. Decrying the downfall of this once-prestigous prize is like decrying the downfall of the New York Times - you can do it, but what's the point?
Let's move on.
The Nobel committee, like the UN, has proven their uselessness.
"2001
The prize was awarded to:
UNITED NATIONS, New York, NY, USA
KOFI ANNAN, United Nations Secretary General
"
for what? leading the UN?
2004
The prize was awarded to:
JOHN KERRY, Boston, MA, USA
Kofi Annan, as head of the entire U.N. peacekeeping group in 1994, refuses to send them into Rwanda. 900,000 people are killed in the ensuing civil war. Kofi wins!!!
Mohammed ElBaradei, as head of the UN Nuclear "watchdog" group, oversees the Clinton/Carter/Albright appeasement of North Korea, their violations and acquisition of nukes, and does absolutely nothing as Iran all but has nukes themselves. ElBaradei for Nobel!!!
Or, perhaps, the Nobel Prize for Bush-Bashing...
Jimmy Carter won for this skill.
Clearly the only reason Richard Lugar is even mentioned is due to his rampant back-stabbing Bush-slamming over Iraq.
I was really expecting them to nominate Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
LOL!!
Yeah, but I think that we can all sleep better at night with the fine job he has done with convincing Luxembourg to stand down their nuclear ambitions. Not to mention Iceland. You haven't heard of any nuke programs there lately, have you? So what if he blew it with a few peace loving countries like Lybia, N Korea and Iran. I think curtailing the Iceland menace more than makes up for it.
On the other hand, Kofi Annan's son did a great deal to deprive Saddam Hussein of some of his money that could of otherwise been spent on WMD. It's hard to say who has really done the most for world peace.
It should be called the Nobel Prize for appeasement.
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