Back in 2009, just months after his swearing in, president Barack Obama was crowned with an unexpected glory: he won the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 due to “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”
Back then there was little indication that just a few years after his crowning achievement of “ending the war” in and returning US troops from Iraq, he would send US troops right back in Iraq for the 3rd US invasion of the country in three decades, but also send out US troops across the globe, and launch the second cold war, pushing the world to the brink of another “large scale war.”
Those who wish to read Obama’s teleprompted and ghostwritten acceptance “speech can do so here.
At the time the White House, and the fawning media, was delighted by this crowning, if premature, achievement of the progressive president.
Which is why don’t expect much coverage of the inevitable aftermath: earlier today, in what France24 dubbed an “in an unprecedented move“, the controversial head of Norway’s Nobel Peace Prize committee was removed Tuesday and demoted to the rank of mere member.
Thorbjoern Jagland, a former Norwegian premier, drew criticism after becoming committee chairman in 2009 for awarding the prestigious Nobel to newly elected US President Barack Obama. He will be replaced by current Deputy Chair Kaci Kullmann Five.
The Nobel Peace Prize awarding Norwegian Nobel Committee on Tuesday elected a new chairman to replace Thorbjoern Jagland, whose six-year tenure has been lined with controversies.
Jagland will remain a member of the voting panel but was a contentious leader, attracting criticism for his dual role as committee chairman and head of the European Council when the prize was awarded to the European Union in 2012. His leadership also was clouded by the decision to give the prize to Barack Obama in 2009 after he had just been elected president, and the 2010 prize to the jailed dissident Liu Xiabo drew fury from China.
The former labor politician was replaced by the panel’s deputy chairman, Kaci Kullmann Five, a former conservative party leader. She denied that Jagland’s ousting had anything to do with pressure from China, which froze diplomatic ties to Norway after the 2010 award.
She did not deny that his ousting had anything to do with Obama who has since the aware become a neo-con warhawk, who has put some of the most bloodthirsty republicans to shame, and whose actions (and lack thereof) have led to not only global conflict intensity spiking To a 7-year high, but have generated untold riches to the shareholders of the military industrial complex.
