Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize; "What For?" asks green group

TokyoTom — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 12:45:00 GMT

Pres. Obama has apparently been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize this morning "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples," but there appears to be a few on the left who feel that the award is undeserved.

I copy below an interesting message that I just ran across in my Inbox from the group Green Change; the message - which looks like it could have been written by a libertarian group! (or Glenn Greenwald) - also appears on their webpage:

This morning, President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples," the Nobel Committee said.

Why?

Did Obama bring peace to Iraq?

No. He continues to station 124,000 U.S. troops there, with tens of thousands deployed perhaps indefinitely.

Did he bring peace to Afghanistan?

No. He has escalated the war there, and is part responsible for the scores of civilian deaths that have occurred there. He has done this despite that most Americans now believe the Afghan war is "not worth fighting."

Thorbjoern Jagland, chairman of the Nobel committee said in an interview that "Obama has as president created a new climate in international politics." Has Obama done anything singular to stop the worldwide crisis of climate change?

No. He has spent little or no political capital on the climate crisis, and still refuses to publicly commit the U.S. to strong actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Jagland said that "The Nobel Committee has in particular looked at Obama's vision and work toward a world without atomic weapons." But on this issue, Obama is merely implementing the ideas of the more conservative foreign policy minds of our nation, including Henry Kissinger.

Did he beat the swords of the giant U.S. defense budget into plowshares of peace?

No. In fact, he will soon approve the largest defense bill in our nation's history.

Has he brought home the troops scattered across the world stationed to maintain our empire?

No.

Has he stopped our nation's scandalous weapons trade?

No. The U.S. has expanded its weapons trade. We now supply 2/3rds of the world's foreign armaments.

Did Obama sign the cluster munitions treaty to ban cluster bombs, because 98% of cluster bomb casualties are children?

No. The U.S. has not signed the cluster munitions treaty.

Has Obama brought home the army of mercenaries we have stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan?

No. He has expanded the ranks of these mercenaries to 250,000.

There are millions of people across our world who spend their blood and sweat every day for peace -- real peace. Each and every one of them deserves the Nobel Peace Prize far more than Barack Obama.

Best,

Gary Ruskin
Co-founder
Green Change

P.S. If you like our work, please help us reach our $25,000 fundraising goal by 12/31. Donate $15 or whatever you can today.

So why WAS Obama awarded the Peace Prize? A cynic might wonder if it was given to put moral pressure on Obama not to become even more bellicose (towards Iran), and perhaps to encourage him to achieve more.

[Update] A left-wing economist discusses "Libertarians and global warming"

TokyoTom — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 01:12:00 GMT

Australian economist John Quiggin (whom I've cited previously on climate change costs) has a post up with this title, both at his own blog and at Crooked Timber . Does anybody care to comment? My own response to John was as follows: John, thanks for...(read more)

Edwin Dolan: applying the Lockean framework to climate change

TokyoTom — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 16:31:00 GMT

I would like to bring readers' attention to Edwin G. Dolan's "Science, Public Policy and Global Warming: Rethinking the Market Liberal Position" , from the Fall 2006 issue of The Cato Journal: www.cato.org/pubs/journal/cj26n3/cj26n3...(read more)

"Pay Your Air Share" - Libertarian think tank advocates carbon taxes!

TokyoTom — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 11:16:00 GMT

1. Check out the San Diego-based The Prometheus Institute , http://www.prometheusinstitute.net/ , which has just launched a new website calling for carbon taxes: http://www.payyourairshare.org/ . They propose that: A tax be levied on all major emitters...(read more)

TT`s Lost in Tokyo : libertarian

Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize; "What For?" asks green group

[Update] A left-wing economist discusses "Libertarians and global warming"

Edwin Dolan: applying the Lockean framework to climate change

"Pay Your Air Share" - Libertarian think tank advocates carbon taxes!