Nobel Peace Prize, Naomi Klein, and 10-layer chess

Mere moments after the announcement that Barrack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, Naomi Klein wasn't bullish on news. In her Democracy Now interview she points out many ways in which the Obama administration, so far, has disappointed the ground troops in the fight for peace (pardon my ironic metaphor).

"...we’re seeing his actual commitment to change. And it has been one disappointment after the next," said Klein.

When I heard her assessment shortly after the announcement, I was quite impressed. Any thinking progressive with hopes of real significant change would have to register feelings of disappointment in his actions thus far. As a matter of fact, we've all been scratching our heads and making up stories about the multi-layer strategy of 10-level chess and positing that although many of his moves seem to be antithetical to peace, that, really, in the long run, they will actually support peace, because that's how far ahead he's strategizing in the 10-layer chess game.

Then Obama made his statement that acknowledged much of what she said, saying that he doesn't believe he deserves the Prize as it stands now, but that he will endeavor to *honor* it in his future actions.

He seemed very careful in choosing his words -- and to my ear, there was the recognition that the award and the moniker is going to make his job more difficult. Because from now on, every decision he makes from now on is going to be colored by the "Nobel Peace Prize Winner" title. As if he didn't have enough pressure on him, from now on he'll be measured according to the title "Nobel Peace Prize Winner." Imagine this headline: "Today, Nobel Peace Prize Winner Barrack Obama committed 60,000 more troops to Afghanistan, in a move many are saying will lead to quagmire."

In effect, the Nobel committee put another of layer of complexity on the chess board that Obama is playing on. But also gave him (and us) a large Swiss Bank Account of political currency to be spent on peace, and only on peace.

Talk about 10-layer chess -- that would be check.

of a new Cold War with Russia and the forging of a common front re: Iran. (B x R, if you insist on chess terms).

actions are what Klein is responding to. I'm not sure it's the best thing that Obama's hand would be forced away from quiet diplomacy -- but, it's what we've got, and my post is intended to suggest that this represents a shift from covert to overt.

something like this (heard it on the radio yesterday): "If you are an American President, and you speak of respect and diplomacy, you get a Nobel Peace Prize."

I think we shouldn't underestimate the sheer relief in the rest of the world that Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld no longer have their finger on the button.

I mean, really. They are telling us, U.S. voters--or rather, the private voting machine corporate execs: "Yes! Yes! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! Omigod, it's OVER! Respect! Diplomacy! Oh, my!" and they fall weeping to the ground, and offer up their highest prize.

Armageddon, deferred. That's what they're approving of, and trying to encourage, in the New Evil Empire. But if we don't get rid of those private voting systems, we could well skid way backwards, and be inflicted once again with leadership that doesn't even give lip service to respect and diplomacy and is universally loathed.

Obama got the Nobel Peace Prize for not being Bush! But I am not saying that sardonically. I mean it. I think it's a very courageous act to earn election to the White House, and not be Bush. And I DO think Obama earned it--got the most votes (a lot more than recorded, as a matter of fact). Why they permitted him to win we may not understand yet. But he did win. And I can't think of anything more perilous--requiring more courage, skill and vision--than following this Junta into the White House, and having to deal with the greatly empowered Dark Lords of Corporate Rule, on our behalf, and on behalf of the rest of the world.

I would have preferred it to go to Senator Piedad Cordoba, of Colombia--a very courageous woman who could have used the protection of the Nobel Peace Prize in her often lonely and perilous struggle to bring peace in Colombia's 40+ year civil war. And it may turn out to be a curse to Obama, rather than a help. But I have no big argument with this award--despite my eyes being open about the weekly toll of civilian deaths in Afghanistan under US bombings, and other failures, and crimes, of the Obama administration. Obama is just one man, who has put himself in the way of the most dangerous forces on earth--our own war profiteers, and global corporate predators, and the ever-plotting Bush Cartel. I feel kind of European in this sense--a slowdown to Armageddon is better than a runaway train heading straight for it.

because yes, someone like Cordoba could really use the protection. and he's not the only one. Obama has the heaviest lifting to do in terms of cleaning up after Bush, who took us right up to the brink of Armageddon on multiple fronts. Obama has the task of mending those fences, and putting our house back in order. With the honor comes the responsibility to go forth and make peace.

the other night on Rachel's show Joe Trippi made a frustrating appearance arguing the relative usefulness of push polling. he intended to make the point that even tho Fox (Fix) News skews their polling instruments, that we'd be smart to pay attention to the content of the responses nonetheless. I don't entirely agree, but i think it's relevant to Nobel discussion b/c Fox's meme all day Friday was that Obama got the honor for not being Bush, which is a really weird stance to take. Usually, a sour grapes argument would say "we set up the following administration for that success." Indeed that's the case, but it's different than when they claim that something like economic recovery has a lag time before setting in. I find it a-maze-ing that they're so quick to make that claim because it affirms the foundation of liberal/progressive critique of the last eight years -- that it was the worst in history.

Please, Lord, may she succeed in her difficult quest for peace!

her sister was a lawyer... took mostly jobs representing middle class/lower middle class people in land disputes and minor criminal offense. she was murdered for her work. her house was firebombed and she suffered burns on 80% of her body trying to get her daughter out of the structure. she died a few days later in the hospital.

my friend told us this rather matter-of-factly -- like, she's dealt with it in a million different ways, and has decided that it's something that needs to be spoken. and, to me it really brought home how close these conflicts are. It's not "Oceania" or "Eastasia." It's right here.

It is often difficult to connect with people who are far away, physically, but as to the meddling of our own government, and our responsibility for it, whom we directly touch, in often horrible ways. The US government and its war profiteers are using our tax dollars to support and continue the violence in Colombia--$6 BILLION in military aid to a country with one of the worst human rights records on earth. Those dollars are, in effect, a blessing upon the Colombian government's, and its military's, and its rightwing paramilitary death squads' violence and horror against anyone who dares raise their head in a civil rights cause, or a labor cause, or a democracy cause of any kind. We can't control every evil that occurs in the world, but when our money and our country's name are used in situations like this, we have a responsibility to at least feel the pain of the victims, to connect with them, and, at best, to do what we can to influence our government toward a more righteous path.

I often think of the hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis who died under our bombs, or were tortured in our prisons, or who are now crippled, ill, displaced, due to our loss of control over our government. It is tragic how quickly they have been forgotten, and how there was so little feeling expressed in our national political scene--let alone understanding--for that immense suffering, while the worst of it was being inflicted. Our corpo/fascist media treated it like a football game!

I know many people tried to stop it--as many people are working today to stop the violence in Colombia. And many of us DO allow ourselves to feel for the victims of our war profiteers and our global corporate predators, and are doing what we can to influence our government, and to repair our own democracy, so that our government's infliction of such horrors--or its complicity in them--can be prevented. I really don't blame our people in general for what has occurred in Iraq, what is occurring in Afghanistan, and for the on-going violence in Colombia and our government's support of it. I think our people have a lot to contend with, and have been the special targets of intense propaganda and brainwashing, not so much to convince them of anything as to disempower and demoralize them. We have a lot of work to do here, to empower and to hearten our own people. But in the meantime we must never forget what US funding, the US weapons trade and/or the US military are doing to others around the world. We must try to bring it home.

I certainly don't think Clinton is not the right person to be dealing with these countries that are trying get free from ages of oppression.
US policy toward Columbia is reason in it's self to question the peace prize, IMO.

but it totally reminds me of the episode in the original series where the "casualties" of war voluntarily stepped into a vaporizing booth. so, instead of actually having a war, they had a video game using citizens as pawns who'd then be sacrificed to the "game."

in reality we wage the all-too-real wars, and still act as if it's a video game that doesn't affect us.

he has so much more power and influence to affect things now too though.

I'd rather have the increased standing. I don't think they'll be any added complications. To me the idea is nonsense.
The world wants Obama to lead the deabte even if America does not.

the frightening path it has been on for decades. Is there really any debate over the fact that invading sovereign countries with no provocation, is a war crime? Or backing illegal coup d'etats in other countries because their elected leaders choose to take care of their own citizens with their own resources, rather than sell their countries out to global corporists?

The US using the excuse of Communism, wreaked havoc on innocent people's lives for nearly six decades. When that boogie-man was gone, they invented a new one. The world is not as blind as at least half of those who live here. The world is justifiably frightened now of a Super-power that threatens the stability of other nations. As frightened as they were of the Soviet Union.

Obama has said and done some things that have allayed some of those fears. Such as scrapping the Missile Defense program and beginning the process of shutting down US torture chambers. He's also shown signs of using US power to end nuclear proliferation. He has signaled a willingness to use diplomacy rather than bombs to resolve issues in the ME. All these are a vast improvement over the previous war-mongering administration.

I'm sure most world leaders and their citizens are as aware as we are, the forces of evil, while out of office, are still working hard to push their evil agenda. Cheney, Ledeen, Kissenger, Perle et al do not stop in power or out of power. They are watching to see what happens.

But, Obama cannot do it alone. He will need the help of the rest of the world to fight these forces which are pretty powerful in this country.

Just can't figure out what is taking so long. Warmonger money is my guess.

Logistics:
How quickly can you move 130,000 people halfway across the globe, along with millions of tons of equipment?

Stability:
Remember how screwed up things were when Bagdhad fell? People would rather not see that repeated.

Obligations/training:
We can't just leave and create another Afghanistan, one is enough. We're giving them tons of hummers, for example, and those hummers need mechanics, fuel stops, driver training, driver trainers, supply chains, parts warehouses, parts clerks, etc.

We pull combat, then support/training.

Peace is no different.

Food and fuel to Berlin, for example, required 200,000 flights, for close to a year, just to keep people *alive*, during the airlift.

Obama can't just wave a magic wand, and make everything (and everybody) appear back at bases around the world, with replacement Iraqi forces on the ground. It took 7 years to build, it can't be un-built in 7 months.

And on edit. More bullshit.

Training a professional army, from scratch, takes time and resources. Rebuilding a nation takes even more.