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TechnoratiWar and Peace Prizes
I was dismayed when I heard Barack Obama was given the Nobel peace prize. A shock, really, to think that a president carrying on two wars would be given a peace prize. Until I recalled that Woodrow Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Henry Kissinger had all received Nobel peace prizes. The Nobel committee is famous for its superficial estimates, won over by rhetoric and by empty gestures, and ignoring blatant violations of world peace.
Yes, Wilson gets credit for the League of Nations – that ineffectual body which did nothing to prevent war. But he had bombarded the Mexican coast, sent troops to occupy Haiti and the Dominican Republic and brought the US into the slaughterhouse of Europe in the first World War, surely among stupid and deadly wars at the top of the list.
Sure, Theodore Roosevelt brokered a peace between Japan and Russia. But he was a lover of war, who participated in the US conquest of Cuba, pretending to liberate it from Spain while fastening US chains on that tiny island. And as president he presided over the bloody war to subjugate the Filipinos, even congratulating a US general who had just massacred 600 helpless villagers in the Phillipines. The Committee did not give the Nobel prize to Mark Twain, who denounced Roosevelt and criticised the war, nor to William James, leader of the anti-imperialist league.
Oh yes, the committee saw fit to give a peace prize to Henry Kissinger, because he signed the final peace agreement ending the war in Vietnam, of which he had been one of the architects. Kissinger, who obsequiously went along with Nixon's expansion of the war, with the bombing of peasant villages in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Kissinger, who matches the definition of a war criminal very accurately, is given a peace prize!
People should be given a peace prize not on the basis of promises they have made – as with Obama, an eloquent maker of promises – but on the basis of actual accomplishments towards ending war, and Obama has continued deadly, inhuman military action in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The Nobel peace committee should retire, and turn over its huge funds to some international peace organization which is not awed by stardom and rhetoric, and which has some understanding of history.
165 Comments so far
Show AllPete Seeger should have gotten it, for a lifetime spent working for peace and the betterment of the human condition.
As always, Howard is right on. i hope now that more in the world will begin pinning Obama's ears to the wall and call him on so many non-peaceful things that he is doing that makes a mockery of his Nobel Peace Prize.
For instance, he could insist that if Isreal does not immediatdely begin to remove all illegal settlements he will ask Congress to deny the billions of dollars in military aid that the U.S. awards Isreal, annually. In regard to nuclear disarmament he could show some backbone by doing what other previous presidents have been loathe to do which is to publically decry Isreal's nuclear stockpile of some 200 nuclear weapons as one of the major detriments to peace in the region and the cause of the nuclear arms race in the Middle East in countries like Iran. He could publically declare that if the IAEA is to inspect Iran's nuclear capablitites it is only right and just that Isreal allows the IAEA to inspect its own nuclear capabilities and production. Obama could demand, as a first step towards real peace in the Middle East that Isreal become a member of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty. Obama coulde then declare that if Isreal is prepared to reduce its nuclear stockpiles the U.S. will do the same.
But as things now stand, Obama's Nobel Peace Prize makes a cynical mockery of the award.
alwaysamazed
Please, please, please...somebody out there (even Mr.Zinn)
find a copy of "Guilt by Association" by Jeff Gates!
And watch or read "The Trials of Henry Kissinger"!
It is nice to see that Howard Zinn sees through the BO con. Well said, Howard!
1. When Olympic athletes, wealthy sports figures, Michael Jackson/Elvis Presley, movie stars, et al. are dubbed "heroes" by the MSM and American dolts accept that as truth; 2. when an inexperienced, unproven, rhetorically vague man such as Barack Obama is awarded a Nobel Peace Prize-- we have proof that we exist in a world either void of truly heroic individuals or that those individuals are purposely kept away from the eyes & ears of the public.
Wake up Zinn!
Oslo issued a Mandate!
In his congratulatory message to President Obama upon being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, Israeli President Shimon Peres stated:
"Very few leaders if at all were able to change the mood of the entire world in such a short while with such profound impact. You provided all of humanity with fresh hope, with intellectual determination, and a feeling that there is a Lord in heaven and believers on earth. Under your leadership, peace became a real and original agenda. And from Jerusalem, I am sure all the bells of engagement and understanding will ring again. You gave us a license to dream and act in a noble direction." [1]
Within days of the announcement for 2009’s Nobel Peace Prize, twenty-two time nominee, Mordechai Vanunu declined the honor in a letter to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee in Oslo:
"I am asking the committee to remove my name from the nominations…I cannot be part of a list of laureates that includes Simon Peres…Peres established and developed the atomic weapon program in Dimona in Israel…Peres was the man who ordered [my] kidnapping…he continues to oppose my freedom and release…WHAT I WANT IS FREEDOM AND ONLY FREEDOM….FREEDOM AND ONLY FREEDOM I NEED NOW." [2]
In 1994, Yitzhak Rabin, Yasser Arafat and Peres were all awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for playing a part in achieving the Oslo Declaration of Principles. According to the preamble of the DOP, peace was to be based on mutual respect and reconciliation.
Alfred Nobel’s intention was to reward people with a moral backbone and he hoped to create icons and examples to humankind. Here's hoping President Obama seizes his Nobel Prize as a mandate from Oslo and also hold Israel accountable for past sins of omission and obfuscations.
In 1963, when Vanunu was nine years old the Zionists came to his home town of Marrakech, Morocco and convinced his Orthodox father to abandon his general store and pack up the first seven of his eleven children for the land of milk and honey. Instead, the Vanunu's were banished to the desert of Beesheva. A few months later, Shimon Peres, then Israel's Deputy Minister of Defense met with President John Kennedy, at the White House.
Kennedy told Peres, "You know that we follow very closely the discovery of any nuclear development in the region. This could create a very dangerous situation. For this reason we monitor your nuclear effort. What could you tell me about this?"
Peres replied, "I can tell you most clearly that we will not introduce nuclear weapons to the region, and certainly we will not be the first."
The rest:
http://www.wearewideawake.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1451&Itemid=225
Obamass murders just like Bush and Henry Fuck Your
Mother Kissinger. They are murders and deserve no
respect from decent human beings.
The absolution of the banking and mortgage industry
of any just punishment, opportunistic insurance com-
panies allowed to kill people by denying treatment for
life threatening conditions are called good people and
We, the People must respect these slimy, thieving, mur-
dering Motherfuckers? That's going to occur in my
lifetime again.
I have simply had with cowering before the so-called
elite betters. Fuck Them, and Fuck Whomever Respects
Them. I live in a Capitalist America, I don't have to
love everything I'm told by these dickwads.
I hope I outlive some of theses fucks, So I can cele-
brate their demise.
50 reasons why Obama should NOT have won the Nobel:
http://joshfulton.blogspot.com/2009/10/obama-wins-nobel-peace-prize-hell_10.html
Patriot Howard Zinn,
Perfectly said.
Howard Zinn:
Right on! Couldn't have said it better, so will not try.
Thank you Howard...I don't feel so crazy now!!! I can't believe all the Obama apologists who just can't take off their freakin rose-colored glasses and see this man for what he is... a tool for the rich neo-liberals who run this country!!! Americans are just insane!!
President Obama is not a Liberal, but is a Centrist.
Once people realize this, it makes their perception of the Executive Branch behavior clearer.
(And it makes me sad that we have so many mentally screwed up people in America, that we therefore cannot elect a President such as a Michael Moore, Howard Zinn, Ralph Nader, Dennis Kucinich, Thom Hartmann or Katrina vanden Heuvel.)
DON'T LEAVE OUT CYNTHIA MCKINNEY!
Howard Zinn - the ongoing and constant voice of compassion and sanity.
The Nobel Peace Prize should go to the gay communities here for not starting a revolution and for continuing to give of their talent and grace to a mostly insensitive population. For those who might imagine a country where hatred and homophobia ceased to exist, where women could walk free, day or night without assault, where children and elderly don't fear their handlers, the dream is still in need of dreamers and believers. Peace here or abroad is going to be a long time coming, but, as long as peace is possible, as long as even a glimpse of what life might be like in a land of peace is possible, we must speak the truth.
Yes.... beautifully said.
The U.S. is a mentally screwed up country.
Here's a "for example"....
I am a (straight) man, and I am often made fun of because my favorite genre of books and movies is syrupy, sentimental love stories. Even in romance books, I have trouble finding ones in which the woman is attracted to a mellow, cerebral man, such as a scientist. Usually the female author makes the leading man a tall "alpha male" type, one who is often a policeman, soldier, etc. (among my least positive types of men).
Though I believe that women are less mentally screwed up than men, I get so frustrated with women idolizing "macho" men who are taller than average. What's wrong with an average heighth scientist type, who is simply a really nice guy, for example?
Lastly, shame on anyone who thinks that there is anything wrong with those who are gay.
I agree with that, and especically because of this absurdity--Obama winning the "Nobel Peace Prize."
The Nobel Peace Prize is supposedly awarded to 'champions of peace'. Great intentions and rhetoric do not a champion make.... Actions do. That Kathy Kelly or a host of other authentic champions of peace could be passed over to recognize Obama's "achievement" is a sad commentary on the consciousness-numbing acceptance of global militarism as the very thing that Nobel's prize was instituted to prevent/transform/correct in human culture.... that "necessary evil" that the Shock Doctrinaire purveyors of violence insist upon as an immutable law of the universe that preempts any serious use of the human capacity for diplomacy, compassion and NONviolence to achieve that terrifically abused, hollowed-out and trivialized word, "peace".
The big question is can the Nobel Peace Price be rehabilitated? Can WE?
Matangicita, you really, along with Zinn, hit the nail on the head. thanks
Peace prize or war prize to Obama?
According to the normal practice the Nobel Peace Prize is to be awarded to someone who has contributed to the cause of peace. In President Obama’s case, we see no such evidence. On the contrary,since taking office he has escalated and extended the war of aggression in Afghanistan which his predecessor Bush had started.
American pilotless drones target Pakistani territory and kill people there with impunity. The ever-increasing death-toll of Afghans and Pakistanis) at the hands of US-led occupation forces shows the reality of this president’s policies. Obama is following the criminal war policies of his immediate predecessor. From Gitmo to Iraq and to the Occupied Territories of the Palestinians his promises have been futile; he has backed down on each of his policy statements he had tossed around.
Except for his empty rhetoric, Obama has produced no concrete results or has he shown any consistent and steadfast line of action to pursue the goals for which people around the world had hoped for. His nuclear arms initiative is praiseworthy, but his warmongering does not entitle him to the peace prize. I suggest that this award should be called War Prize to President Obama. Those in the Nobel Committee who have chosen him for the award have made a joke of the term ‘peace’.
Sudhan OBOMBA has expanded the USSA NUKE program.The Emperor not only does he have no clothes on,is a GREAT war criminal and SUPER FRAUD.Before he slithers out of office,he may even make BUSH/CLINTONS look gun shy. GET A CLUE!
SAME CAMEL DIFFERENT SADDLE!
Well, as far as this simple man can see, Nobel does not in any way equate with Noble. Just one more grand crock of sh*t.
There isn't any way to peace...Peace IS the WAY!
You should give credit to A.J. Muste for this statement.
Excellent "little" addition it was for Howard Zinn to make about the Nobel Peace Prize NOT having been awarded to Mark Twain!
Re. Pres. Woodrow Wilson and the League of Nations, which Howard Zinn says he gets credit for, we might say that he does, but it's not the kind of credit that's associated with 'good', for the LN was just a name, title, for an entity or organisation really established and run or ruled by imperialist, colonialist, ... "elites", and with only their interests of greed in mind. LN was a deceptive name for the general public, while the founders and rulers, and real users, of the LN weren't deceived at all about their real intentions.
Howard Zinn states important negative, say, things that Pres. Wilson did, however he also is the president that is responsible for having put the US Federal Reserve fully in the hands of private sector bank(s)ters, gangsters, acting concretely against the U.S. Constitution, which requires that only the U.S. Congress be in charge of U.S. monetary policy-making, that it's not for bank(s)ters to decide about creating money, etc., but only for the U.S. Congress to make these policy decisions. Pres. Wilson later stated that he regreted having done this, however the damage was done and the treason is maintained today.
Anyway, the rulers and establishers of the LN are probably as guilty as Pres. Wilson was about his wars on Haiti, the Dominican Republic, etcetera. He and they were this "tight", that is, associated, it seems, and it's surely unlikely that a U.S. President, alone, would make these types of decisions. From what I've gathered about U.S. history, presidents did command extreme and horrifying criminality against American Indians, but there were always "big money" interests, people behind or keyly involved behind this part of U.S. history, too. When it comes to the U.S. "leadership" commanding supreme international crimes, it surely never is solely the President making these decisions; and like the Constitution says, only the U.S. Congress is authorized to declare when and if the U.S. is at or goes to war.
I'm not a historian, but the above is from what I've read from people who evidently are far from historically ignorant. And I believe that the only good in the LN was solely in the name, which means not only extremely superficial good, for it's also to deceive the general public. We unfortunately have the same thing with the UN and it supposedly being in defence of democracy, when the reality is that the UNSC illustrates that the UN defence for democracy is tragically superficial, at best. The main parties that established the UN made sure to become permanent members and the US made sure that the UNSC would guarantee veto privilege, which we have seen the U.S. criminally get away with applying over 25 times already and just for protecting its Middle East military power called the state of Israel. The top members of the SC are the or among the most militarily powerful on Earth, don't want to war against each other, wanting to avoid this as much as possible, wanting to profit from doing "business" and very dirty business with each other, so we find no real resistance in the SC against the criminal vetoes the U.S. presidencies have been placing against justified and important SC resolutions for ... over 25 of them, now.
They play "Russian roulette" with us all.
League of Nations? Well, "elites", political and especially private sector, banking, "big finance" elites from different countries were involved; however, The Peoples of these countries? NO! They were only deceived into misbelieving that the intentions behind the formation of the LN were good; when they weren't. The UN is the successor, to the LN; established by the same kind of people, if not including some of the same people.
NATO has been proving to be much the same sort of story.
With the above said, there's a little more to add, this time with respect to what Howard Zinn correctly states in regards to the Nobel committee awarding Obama the Peace Prize. In addition to the reason stated in the article, Obama is also doing worse. He, et al, are escalating US militarism, globally. He, et al, are making this worse than the neocons did or achieved.
I realised this from other articles over recent months, however the following is a current one and gives some of the details.
"Obama and the Nobel Prize: When War becomes Peace, When the Lie becomes the Truth",
by professor Michel Chossudovsky, Oct. 11, 2009
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=15622
As I posted for an Oct. 9th-posted article at CD on this award to Obama, it's been obvious to the lay person that I am that the Nobel committee is mostly fraud, an instrument of the imperialist, ... "elites", who have included awarding the Peace Prize to people with real credit for this, such as Ed Said, and other real humanitarians, but while that's rather necessary, strategically, to try to fool the general public into misbelieving that the prize has real value for humanity and representing its or our real needs; just like us being deceived into believing we have real democracies, etc.
Professor Chossudovsky says that the award offered to or for Obama "constitutes an unmitigated tool of propaganda and distortion", which should be obvious to us all, but it unfortunately isn't. Too many people want to believe that such "prizes" have significant value, when like Howard Zinn says, it's "superficial", and that's the very best that it is, if it is this much.
Again, this reminds me of the NPP having been awarded to several people who publicly shouted their support for the war on Kosovo in 1999; a totally criminal, rogue, ... war of aggression by the Clinton administration, or it and the real ruling "elites" of the government of the USA. Even if those NPP "winners" had received the prize prior to 1999, true NPP recipients, truly meriting our recognition or respect, could have never supported this war, [at all], not even for one second.
Other recipients, those who merit respect and for us to learn about their work, at least to inspire us, instead of us hiding our heads in the sand, cowardly hiding behind the doors of our homes, or living in denial; their activism is not enhanced with the NPP being awarded to them. They could honourably reject the prize whenever it's offered to them or in their name, to honourably stand against the fraud that the Norwegian Nobel committee is. And it's not too late to reject the prize even if a person has already received and accepted it. After all, we all have the inalienable right to learn from past lessons; as time advances, history changes, new realizations come to us or to our awareness.
Real activists for human rights, peace, and so on, have absolutely no need for their names to appear on gold plaques or plaques of gold, in the "limelights" of corrupt institutions, etcetera. We can grassroots communicate about good works done by others. Heh, this is the Internet age!
t_g
Greetings from Down Under! Looking at these award shows: Oscars, Grammys, Emmys, and the rest of the names escape me, but switch on satellite pay TV and there is one every other day, honouring some kind of US American who is singing, dancing, acting, or participating in some sports, etc. etc. And the "reality" shows. All you Americans are good at, is congratulating someone who has become famous for something. Doesn't matter why - if he/she is famous, must have an award to go with the fame.
Barack Obama has become a president, himself and his wife are being treated as celebrities: what do they wear? what are they eating? how are they excercising? Every silly little trivial detail is important to you people.
You are blurring the line between reality and "fame". He is famous! That's it.
And with fame there has to be the award, but he isn't quite eligible for any US entertainment award. The world is still in shock and awe towards you, so he got the Nobel prize. As he is not a scientist or an artist, what category is there to give him...? Aha: the peace prize.
I stopped taking the whole price seriously when Kissinger got one and then came Arafat...
For god's sake people: this award is just a door-stopper, has no meaning at all.
hello there down under toad goddess.... well i have to agree as an american refugee (which i consider myself even tho not black like langston hughes.... we are a nation with a helluva lot more idps than you folks outside our borders might imagine....a most orwellian state of affiars) that the nobel has sadly come to be pretty counter to its original intent... kissinger and all that... and the american neurosis for self-congratulation is truly pathetic as only those of us capable of embarrassment over it all can attest. i blame the hypercommercialized media myself and am trying to figure out how to start a 12-step recovery group for mind-liberation from electronic rectangle oppression. seriously.
Of all the Nobel-defending talking points, the lamest and silliest has to be the bumptious "Tut-tut! it's a Norwegian thing; it's not our place to criticize!" admonishment: your opinion, especially if you're a ungrateful Amerikan, is not only irrelevant; it's just plain disrespectful, and RUDE!
If they'd awarded the Peace Prize to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, or even Hugo Chavez, I guarantee that this contrived, made-up principle of "etiquette" would have been pulled from exactly zero commenters' asses.
· Yr Obd't Servant
You know, last year or before, Time magazine named US as person of the year. How about an American prize from the Nobel Committee for all US citizens who don't want war?
They can call it the Nobel Royally Pissed Off Prize.
Haven't read all the comments but my obvious first reaction was to check the historic list of NPP recipients. Of course there where many blatant errors with Kissinger (Dr. Strangelove himself) being one of the most obvious.
What was really interesting is there where many years when no Peace Prize was not given. Most notably during the first and second war wars among others.
If the nobel judges had any deep concern for peace they would withhold the prize until there is a worth while recipient and thus partially shame humanity (us) into more serious efforts to dealing with the dark forces in us personally and on a societal level.
Here in Hawaii we hold the "Eddy Aikau" big wave surf event but only if the surf is a consistent height of at least some 20-30 feet over many days. Many years it is never held because the demanding conditions aren't met. We don't lower the standards to fit the situation.
Certainly the same strict standards should be a prerequisite for such a prestigious award as the Nobel Peace Prize. Let the the prize money double and even triple up just like in power ball and some young souls might even get a feeling that "peace" is profitable and through away their violent video games for a serene buddha moment.
Oh, one more thing. I think the Nobel committee got Obama and the DaliLama confused from last weeks headlines. Maybe Obama was prescient about himself undeservedly winning the peace prize and couldn't bare to gaze into the peaceful eyes of the real deal and thus cancelled their meeting.
Well, I hear Marge Simppon is going to get the noble piece prize so things aren't that crazy....
Are they?
After "holding it" for 10 hours due lack of bathroom availability, are we eligible for the noble piss prize?
Just asking.
By the way, I'll bet you the comedians won't touch the peace prize irony with a ten foot pole. Hey Letterman. Colbert, Stewart, what do you say? Are you feeling lucky today?
Zinn's right. The fact that there have been such dubious winners of the Nobel Peace Prize tells you enough.
Bringing about peace is its own award, and Obama has simply not done that.
I suggest an Ignoble War Prize, then maybe we'd have peace.
Receiving the Nobel Peace [sic] Prize is like getting a medal from the devil. Mr. Obama should NOT be humbled. He should be aghast!
And the irony of this does not escape me either. Mr. Obama is President of THE UNITED $TATES OF PERPETUAL WAR PROFITEERING!
I am happier than I've ever been in this country because I can wake up everyday knowing that Obama has a better chance talking to world leaders than those of the past.
We should all be celebrating the fact that the rest of the world is giving our country some props for at least allowing this man to live each new day.
Instead of being armchair quarterbacks, pass this along and help the guy: http://www.basicint.org/Anthro101-order.htm
Y'all are a sad lot of Americans who can't appreciate when a good thing has happened...
MS MUTT. Is YOUR NAME MICHELLE.
Too bad we can't ask J.P. Morgan Jr how "STUPID" WWI was! Let's stick to the real warmongers, not their bought and sold, elected, bought and sold again, Nobel Peace Prize winning, little figureheads!
Obama's bogus peace prize is far less important than figuring out why so many US progressive commentators keep supporting the election of bogus progressive reformers.
Zinn revealed that he would vote for Obama, in the Oct2008 issues of The Progressive, reasoning that he [Zinn] had "...no other choice in a totally corrupt political system."
While I've always admired and respected Zinn's life work as a progressive scholar/activist, many progressives could not and still don't now agree with the reasoning Zinn gave for his decision.
The fact that Zinn felt it necessary to sound so many warnings about, and attach so many provisos to, his Obama voting choice, was unrealistic and contradictory from the outset.
If the Beltway oligarchy is as bad as Zinn and the rest of us know it to be, then what did Zinn think was to be gained by supporting for US president a compromise-inclined, faux-consensus-blathering, insider-funded, neophyte machine politician from Illinois?
If the System needs the kind of democratically-empowered, radical reform which up-until-now honest heads such as Nader and Zinn have proved it needs, then why should either of them, or any of us, support any politician who refuses to honestly name and work against the blatant structural rot?
Is a US government of, by, and for the people really that down and out-irrescuable, as a renewed ideal?
It would seem so, if leaders like Zinn fail to see the hopelessness of supporting duopoly candidates; and more so, if even savvier political heads, like Nader, collapse into writing historical fictions entitled Only The Super Rich Can Save Us.
There comes a point when people need to save themselves from their saviors.
Excellent point terry
Yes, thanks, Terry, I agree. The lesser of two evils rational is hokum -- merely prolonging the inevitable.
A "criminal" is defined by his or her actions, not words.
Congress, by continuing to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (all but 37 members) is as complicit in the crimes occurring there as Presidents Bush/Obama.
Charlie Jackson
Texans for Peace
http://www.texansforpeace.org
“There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people.” -- Howard Zinn
to which me might now add. "There is no prize Nobel enough..."
Charlie Jackson
Texans for Peace
http://www.texansforpeace.org
I admire Howard Zinn, and his perspective on American history is essential knowledge for any self-professed patriot. However, the Nobel Prize is not ours to criticize. It belongs to some Scandanavian foundation founded by weapons manufacturers. It's not some god-given acolade awarded to saints. It is a real world acknowlegement by the establishment for those whose work advances mankind's understanding of itself in relationship to the gods of war and peace. Obama is a politician, and he got the award for good politics. The way in which he ran and won the presidency has been a beacon for the world. Somebody needed to award him for that, It might as well be the Nobel committee. The fact that in the ten months since taking office he has been unable to turn the great slogging ship of state 180° yet, doesn't mean he isn't trying.
artboyz
"doesn't mean he isn't trying'??? Within days in office OBOMBA was responsible for killing more than 700 innocent civilians,mostly children,with the drone attacks.Many THOUSANDS FLED to join the several million other refugees in misery globally, a consequence of the BUSHLIM/CLINTONISTA CLIQUE CLUB OF THE INSANE AND THE GREEDY.BUT HEY IT'S THEIR KARMA! Like Duck Cheney if it walks talks and looks like a duck? Is it really a duck? IS OBOMBA REALLY A WAR CRIMINAL OR JUST PRETENDING.THE DRONE THING IS THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG! Where have you been for the last ten months?
Barack Obama is a FAILURE in facilitating the peace effort between Israel and the Palestinians.
Barack Obama = Total Failure at Peace, Justice and Diplomacy!!!!!
Take the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Obama like Bush before him is a total failure at this Mideast Peace Process. Israel continues to build settlements and totally ignores Obama's personal envoy, George Mitchell.
Yes indeed, Barack "Fraud" Obama is another do-nothing president. Netanyahu laughs at Obama as he continues to build more and more settlements. Obama's peace proposals in the Middle East are not only superficial and continuing the do-nothing, but let's threaten Iran policies, but his so-called "advocacy of peace" between Israel and the Palestinians has no teeth.
Obama is a FAILURE!!!!!
What policy has Obama succeeded at yet? Oh, I know one. Allowoing his corporate buddies from the nuclear plant known as Exelon to pollute more and more......
Obama is an environmentalist my ass....Obama is also a FAILURE at curbing emissions worldwide as well. Obama is a man of war and a man of the corporate entity.
His accomplishments are almost all negative ( see every other post on CD) .
One does not go in the correct direction by steering in the wrong direction.
He already received an advertisement industry award for his campaign ( this is true).
As well he should because it was a very succesful snowjob.
"Yes, Wilson gets credit for the League of Nations – that ineffectual body which did nothing to prevent war."
This is classic right wing rhetoric. This is how your Rush Limbaughs describe the UN today. I'm looking for something of value in this nihilistic rant he calls an article and I'm hard pressed to find it. He sounds a lot like an angry old right winger.
But the League of Nations was ineffectual in stopping WWII, that's a plain fact. It did not have the support of the US, in spite of being suggested by Wilson himself, and it had no authority over its member countries. The UN isn't perfect, but it's a damn sight better than the League of Nations.
And to call Zinn an "angry old right winger" simplyt shows your own ignorance.
Your "logic" has been suspended from reality.....
Lefty--learn a lot more about the League Nations and I mean lots more before you ever criticize someone like Howard Zinn again.
Your obvious ignorance about the League of Nations has been noted....
Feel free to enlighten me Jackson. I view it as an important step in our history.
I have heard Howard Zinn called many names, but this is the first time anyone ever called him a right winger. He is anything BUT that ...
MichaelC
I didn't call him a right winger. I said he sounded like one in this article.
You're completely mistaken. First of all, the League of Nations was indeed "an ineffectual body which did nothing to prevent war."
Secondly, today's Limbaughs do attack the UN, but they don't attack it for "doing nothing to prevent war." They attack it for almost the exact opposite reason: namely, because the UN is occasionally able to muster some degree of opposition to the US. The Limbaughs would only approve of an "international" organization that followed US dictates, 100% of the time.
To the best of my knowledge, it was the precursor of the UN and I view them both as important. I think the UN does much today but it has even greater potential should we come to life after corporate fascism. As for my knee jerk reaction to the "ineffectual" barb, I googled +UN +ineffectual and it returned 404,000 hits leading me to some of the most unsavory right wing sites on the planet.
He wasn't criticizing international cooperation and international organizations, he was criticizing the League of Nations specifically. Your follow up comment suggests you misunderstood this point. The years it was active, 1919-1946, were among the worst years for international peace. The member states invaded other countries and the organization was unable to effectively penalize anyone. You can say this is perhaps true of the UN as well, but we haven't seen widespread war like World War II, which occurred while the LoN was active, since its inception. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_of_Nations
Perhaps you missed all the post-WWII genocides and wars. The stockpiling of WMD and the development of sophisticated biological weaponry. The massive concentration of wealth in the world in the hands of a few. The poverty and exploitation today that is unprecedented in all of human history. You logic is flawed. Just because all of these thing have happened since the inception of the UN doesn't make me blame the UN for these things. In the same way, I think you cheap shot the League of Nations.
But the UN was not developed to stop genocide, weaponry or the concentration of wealth. It was developed specifically to prevent a global conflict, which is what the League of Nations tried to do but failed. That is Zinn's main point.
What? are you Wilson's grandson or something? Why defend him?
You need to read a little Zinn before you make a remark like that. Howard Zinn was leading left wing schools of thought when you were in diapers.
I am commenting on this article. I am not condemning the man's life works. Point me to anything of value in this article. His conclusion is a real whopper. Why doesn't he demand that wal-mart turn over it's profits to the unions and start working for fair wages in third world countries.
What? Howard Zinn is a champion of the working class, the oppressed, those seeking peace. Have you not read or even heard of a People's History of the United States? Many mainstream historians, and book publishers, gloss over the negative aspects of American history and tell the story from the winners, the ruling class, point of view. Zinn is committed to sharing the true history that most are never taught.
The only thing one needs to know about "lefty" is that he is anything but left. His sloppy conflation of Howard Zinn and Rush Limbaugh is at best silly, at worst grotesque. That he 'puts his foot in his mouth' once again is not surprising. Tainting Zinn by proxy to the scurrilous right wing demagoguery of Limbaugh is inexcusable. Limbaugh's views about the UN are motivated by completely antithetical reasons than are Howard Zinn's .
Though I find Zinn's initial support of Obama unacceptable (even after Bush), it is understandable among all too many good intentioned progressives. Yet in retrospect, the more Obama proceeds into imperial savagery and the dictates of oligarchy– which was always a given–despite his campaign's remonstrances to the contrary, Zinn's previous support becomes questionable.
If anyone, Howard Zinn should have know better, before, not after the fact.
His example is valuable because it glaringly reveals a fundamental shortcoming in the very tradition of American progressivism. This tradition finds itself increasingly impotent if not irrelevant as an antidote to the presently gestating Neo-fascism, whose current avatar is Barack Obama.
The system that contains Zinn's world view, his 'weltanschauung' has become immunized to self corrections emerging from within by its own devices.
Howard Zinn is a Progressive in the classic American oppositional tradition and his work is eminently valuable as such and of seminal importance.
That he speaks out now– convincingly– about the travesty of Obama's obscene 'peace' prize is all to his credit. But he is becoming more valuable now as an example of how superannuated the progressive tradition itself has become. –(Jill Bains).
Amfortas:
Excellent post!
I'm with Zinn; he's rarely wrong when it comes to our imperial empire and the destructiveness it entails.
The best that can be said for Obama's getting the Nobel peace prize, yes, named after the guy who invented TNT and made a fortune from it, is, that it's a strategic move-- it will inspire Obama to think peace.
But he has a heavy load on his plate, the empire comes with a lot of baggage: fighting resource wars in the middle east and elsewhere, keeping the Chinese, Russians and Muslims at bay, supporting Israel and its nuclear arsenal and attacking Iran for trying to achieve the same. And on and on. Empire ,it turns out , isn't easy, the Pentagon and Wall Street are voracious and Nobel must be laughing in his grave, the bomb man, who passes his baton to Obama , the empire man.
Where's a prize for all of us soldiers who learned our lessons from war and reformed? And how about a prize for all the soldiers' families and relatives who were brave enough to cry for ending the bloodshed? Giving Obama the Nobel Peace Prize is an insult to the honorable veterans who stood up to the wars in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc... and still do.
Also you haven't got a clue what the prize was intended for.
Dynamite Explosions? Wars of Aggression and sucking up to the political elite in the West.....
I would rather see a prize for the soldiers who realized what they were asked to do was a war crime and now sit in jail or have had their lives ruined. Those who take pride in this military are the fools.
"Those who take pride in this military are the fools." –(thong-girl)
–Yes. But they are worse than "fools," because many are not fools at all. They know exactly what they are doing. They cannot escape culpability, nor can they be pitied.
When it comes to the American military and its soldiers only the refuseniks, deserters, defectors, resistors, traitors, and whistle-blowers are worthy of respect; those, whom despite the lack of material and educational opportunity, refuse the call of an amoral opportunism .
For them, to participate–in any capacity– in the imperial barbarity is not an option.
They elicit pride, not opprobrium or contempt which unfortunately, settles like an indelible mark on the willing emissaries of death, imperialism and fascism.
–(Jill Bains)
"When it comes to the American military and its soldiers only the refuseniks, deserters, defectors, resistors, traitors, and whistle-blowers are worthy of respect"
humble thanks from an old draft dodger.
Amen, thong-girl!
Very good!
Thongs over Bombs....
Prefer Thongs over Weapons...
Prefer Thongs over War!!!
Did David use a Thong against Goliath?
I am starting a Thongs for Afganistan Fund.
In the spirit of kinship both Afghan and USA women will wear only Burqas and Thongs.
"In the spirit of kinship both Afghan and USA women will wear only Burqas and Thongs."
he..he...he...Hahahaha! Rrrmph..heheheHaaHaaHaah! Hmmph, Grrph... that's sexist as hell, but HaaaaHaaaHaaaaa! HaHaHahaaa!
(You should know that "thong" in many english-speaking countries simply means "sandal")
Love you thong girl
Funny how easy it is to get liberals to attack each other instead of uniting against the conservative enemy.
Since COINTELPRO and later, the smarter libs have let stupid lying cons divide and conquer by virtue of conservative single and narrow mindedness.
Libs quibble among themselves about inconsequential bs that subversive cons often throw out there to put libs on the defensive, to conscript them and make them lose sight of the bigger picture.
There is a positive side to Obama's Nobel that libs could use to their advantage but libs seem to nitpick on the negative, joining the cons in the process.
Howard is one of my heroes, as is Naomi Klein. And I know they well deserve the Nobel along with Nader, Chomsky, Michael Moore and other great progressives. But in terms of strategy, I think that joining the cons in their criticism of Obama's Nobel can be self-defeating. Seems like cons are coopting libs again.
That essentially means we can never criticize a "liberal" in office no matter what they do. That's simply ridiculous.
The corporate dictatorship is the enemy not the poor conservative brainwashed.
If there were ever two blogsites which are out there to divide and conquer it is the Huffington Post and the DailyKos....Both of these sites are nothing but propaganda sites which supports Imperial Military Wars and Conquest by the United States and the Obama administration. People on the so-called left and liberal side claiming to be progressives do not even realize how much they are being duped by the likes of Huffington and Markos. Both Markos and Huffington are backed by the same big corporate money and dollars that supports the Imperial Wars of the Bush and now the Obama administrations. It is sad when dopey people actually go to these sites which are full of propaganda and short on critical thinking and just think how wonderful these shallow blogsites really are.
Arianna Huffington is ANOTHER FRAUD....Huffington Post is nothing but a propaganda site...Huffington the former Republican and one-time Clinton HATER SHOULD NEVER BE TRUSTED WHATSOVER!!!!!! AND HUFFINGTON ALSO SUPPORTS THE MILITARY EMPIRE OF THE UNITED STATES AND RUNS A SITE WHICH IS FUNDED AND BACKED BY BIG CORPORATE MONEY!!!!!
ANY TRUE LEFTIST WORTH THEIR OWN SALT WITH A CONSCIENCE WOULD NOT TRUST THE LIKES OF THE CULTIST ARIANNA HUFFINGTON AND HER SNOBBISH ELITIST PALS WHOM POSE NOW AS "DEMOCRATS" AND SO-CALLED "PROGRESSIVES."
Arianna Huffington is no more a lefty, liberal or progressive than the Pope is a Methodist....Markos at DailyKos is another phony "liberal" like Huffington and her phonies....
MARKOS IS A CIA OPERATIVE....THE DAILY KOS IS A CIA FRONT BLOG!!!!
I hardly think typing your feelings here is tantamount to capitulation to the neocons. Perhaps, if the Democrats were smart, they would interpret our rants to moderate their leader. So far, he has given us nothing but heartache.
Again I am not only going to tell but ADMONISH all of you OBAMA BOOTLICKERS & SO-CALLED SELF-PROCLAIMED "LEFTY-LIBERALS" RIGHT NOW!!!!! Stop Your Freakin Nonsense already and stop being BIG BABIES Always Defending the Hapless Democratic Party and Mr Obama!!!! Stop it Already---Obama is Bush's THIRD TERM!!!!! STOP Being Shills for American Nationalism and American Empire on behalf of the Obama Administration and the WORTHLESS DEMOCRATIC PARTY WHICH HAS GOTTEN NOTHING DONE FOR PROGRESIVE CAUSES IN OVER 20 PLUS YEARS!!!!!!! SOME OF YOU OUT HERE DO NOT EVEN KNOW WHAT BEINGF A LEFTY OR LIBERAL IS ANYHOW.
Growing a CONSCIENCE is a GOOD First Start. Not putting Democrats and Obama on pedestals is another good start. The Democrats as you know are the ones who ARE NOT GETTNG HEALTHCARE THROUGH.....PEOPLE LIKE Max Baucus, Kent Conrad, Mary Landrieu, Ben Nelson.....so the Democrats are nothing to BOAST ABOUT.....
1. Some of you so-called "LEFTY-LIBERALS" are not.
2. Many of you so-called "LEFTY-LIBERALS" do not even know what it means to be such, since most of you take your cues from the jerkoffs in the corporate led media and sites like the Huffington Post and DailyKos--which are BLOGS that are nothing but water carriers for the American Military Empire.
So, Wake-Up all of you so-called "LEFTY LIBERALS" OKAY!!!!
CRITICIZING OBAMA DOES NOT MEAN YOU ARE A RIGHT-WINGER!!!!! STOP THAT BOGUS REASONING ALREADY!!!!! YOU SHOW YOUR IGNORANCE ACCUSING THOSE WHO CRITICIZE OBAMA OR THE SELLOUT DEMOCRATIC PARTY AS AUTOMATICALLY BEING RIGHT WINGERS AND/OR REPUBLICANS!!!!!!
Not only has Howard Zinn criticized Obama, but, so too have Noam Chomsky, Gore Vidal, Frida Berrigan, Glenn Greenwald, Jeremy Scahill, Dahr Jamail, Naomi Klein, Phyllis Bennis, Richard Falk and the list goes on and on of true Leftists who are REALLY OUT FOR PEACE & JUSTICE & VERY CRITICAL OF THE PRECIOUS BARACK OBAMA!!!!!
You people cannot be that "INTELLIGENT" IF YOU CANNOT HANDLE REASONED CRITICISM OF MR OBAMA AND THE PUTRID DEMOCRATIC PARTY--ANOTHER CORPORATE PARTY IN ITS OWN RIGHT!!!!!!
Where have you gone Mrs. (Cynthia) McKinney I must ask? The country of the USA needs you.....
Hey Jackson, I understand your frustration as many of us do. Howard Zinn has an incredible track record working for peace, justice and equality for all people on earth, and is a first-class world hero for it. I was surprised he voted for Obama.
Noam Chomsky cast his vote for Nader, as he saw through Obama's veneer.
Chris Hedges gave one of the best speeches I ever heard, in September, really admonishing the left for not taking to the streets in large numbers, and said in different words, we (liberals and progressives) should have voted for McKinney or Nader, not Obama.
As long as most people still watch Fox News, or get their information from MSM and listen to the fraudulent soothsaying clergy of organized religion, progressive change won't happen. It's hard work which takes organization, dedication, education, and commitment to succeed in achieving desired results.
As for McKinney (I voted for her), it takes moolah to run for office. When enough people leave the duopoly and join the Greens or one of the socialist parties, it could become a reality, but as long as our fellow sisters and brothers keep voting for "the lesser of two evils", like Ralph Nader said, "you still wind up with evil."
It seems left wing cons hate libs as much as right wing cons do.
How can one expect Obama, McKinney or other corporate party politician to save us when representative government is rigged to be unrepresentative?
spot on, friend!
to expect a system we all know to be rigged to produce a messiah is ludicrous.
only we have the power to make peace.
Here, Here, ActionJackson62.
Couldn't have said it better myself.
It occurred to me earlier this morning after I came across a post on the Internet where someone mentioned Alfred Nobel and his invention of the dynamite. Now how ironic that the Peace Prize was named after that man whose invention lead to an untold number of deaths and injuries that could have been avoided, not to mention the advancement of explosives. And before some idiot tells me that without dynamite, the buildings we live in wouldn't have existed, may I remind you that before the 20th century, most homes were hand built with only the basic tools to help the builders out and yet those buildings still stand strong compared to the modern inventions?
If that's not ugly enough, the fact that this dirty prize is often rewarded to celebrities and crooked politicians should tell us something. RichM, maxpayne, and JenniferBedingfield in these two days said it best when they mentioned that it is all about CLASS. The ruling/monied class is all that qualifies for this dirty prize. Technically, since Nobel made tons of money off his destructive invention, the prize carrying his name is in reality anti-peace.
Here's a great summary of this madman Nobel.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Nobel
The man never had any true love or respect for women IMO which may explain why he succeeded in inventing dynamite of all things !
I thought Alfred and Bertha were an item?
"The man never had any true love or respect for women IMO which may explain why he succeeded in inventing dynamite of all things !"
Huh? Talk about non-sequitor.
Dynamite was a far safer alternative than black powder explosives, or liqiud nytroglycerine. Energy efficient transporation requires excavations through rock for the road grades and tunnels - not to mention mining of metal ores, and this requires explosives. Noblel's invention saved lives.
Will Amerikkans please learn how the modern world around them is built?
Yes, Araquin, I must have been one of those rare USAn's who knew Nobel as the inventor of Dynamite since... I don't know... at least fourth grade? He figured that Nytroglycerine could be made much more safe by mixing it with "Fullers earth" (aka bentonite or attapulgite clay) But come to think of it, I had to learn it by myself through books and by hanging around fellow intellectually curious (aka, in amerikkka, "nerd") boyhood friends.