If US President Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize a few weeks ago for the leader the world hoped he would be, he accepted the prize today as the leader he is.
In defending his wars in a speech in Oslo today, Obama neatly fits the predictable, packaged persona of the US Commander-in-Chief in thrall to the be-ribboned military, which itself is the face of the obese military industrial complex.
And he leads a country that has become so accustomed to war, and its pathetic knee-jerk to jingoistic patriotism, that in seeking new adventures the leader preaches to the eager converted.
While the world is appalled by the US escalation of the war in Afghanistan, a majority of Americans are in favour of it, even though the war, like the wars in Vietnam and Iraq, is unwinnable by any conventional definition and will cost much needed treasure, not to mention much cherished blood.
The long history of war as a useful tool in international relations came to an end when the vast majority of countries, including the US, signed a UN declaration that made it illegal to acquire land by means of war.
The inspiration for war, then, has become either brutal all-encompassing punishment (as many as a million people have died helplessly in Iraq) or an act of empire-building or, more in the American style, a means of building military bases to thereby gain economic (read ‘energy’) control of a country and region.
The rest of the world has pulled away from the hammer of war by making acts of terror, based from foreign countries, police-keeping operations: using intelligence and other means to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Not so the US which uses its $680 billion annual military budget to express its militant dissatisfactions around the world while building its military installations.
In endowing Obama with its highest honour, the Nobel committee has done irreparable harm to the Nobel brand.
Awarding a prize for what might be, only to find out that what is was always destined to be, cheapens the memory of those who actually deserved the prize and it tarnishes the gloss of any future awards.
And it encourages the war-monger.
As I read your words I realize I am ashamed to be from what I used to believe to be the greatest nation on earth. That nation that fought for freedoms for all nations; the leader of the free world called America. Today I write from my new home in China.
When Obama was awarded the Nobel peace prize, I asked WHY???? Perhaps for what they thought he would do. Perhaps the world believe as so many Americans that cast their vote for him that he was truly going to end the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as he stated many times in his campaign speeches. bring our troops home, he would say.
He also followed suite with former President Bush and rewarded the Rich Bankers and Corporations for their destruction of the American Economy with much cash as well as a new “Health bill” that will give the pharmaceutical companies and Insurance companies fat paychecks for the coming century as Americans become fatter and sicker and poorer.
But alas he is a politician and is owned by corporate America the Military Industrial War Complex and the Energy Companies and so many more.
I did not vote for him nor the republican candidate. Divide and conquer. The American people vote for who they are told to vote for.
I will not vote again until there is a person that I can believe will be the leader the world deserves.
By: Dr. Dennis Robinson on 8 January, 2010
at 9:21 am
Good day carsonspost.wordpress.com folks
Vacation is upon us, pretty boring. Hoping to locate some entertaining internet humor.
I pledge for your suggestions
By: idedilmgomb on 11 July, 2010
at 2:25 am
http://maxalas.blogspot.com news,video,photo,sport
By: maxalas on 20 November, 2010
at 4:35 pm