Gore and the Nobel Peace Prize

Does anyone, other than the recipients and the Nobel Prize committee, take the Peace Prize seriously any more?

Henry Kissinger was awarded the Peace Prize in 1973, a man who was responsible for genocide. See Christopher Hitchens’ “The Trial of Henry Kissinger” for a bit of background. “Weighing the evidence with judicial care, and developing his case with scrupulous parsing of the written record, Hitchens takes the floor as prosecuting counsel. He investigates, in turn, Kissinger’s involvement in the war in Indochina, mass murder in Bangladesh, planned assassinations in Santiago, Nicosia and Washington, D.C., and genocide in East Timor. Drawing on first-hand testimony, previously unpublished documentation, and broad sweeps through material released under the Freedom of Information Act, he mounts a devastating indictment of a man whose ambition and ruthlessness have directly resulted in both individual murders and widespread, indiscriminate slaughter.”

Hitchens also took on Mother Teresa, another Peace Prize winner, who did considerable harm to humanity. Actually, looking at the list of winners, one sees a lot of seedy characters who ought to be prosecuted rather than felicitated. The latest award is also rather dubious. Mind you, I would rather have Gore run in the US presidential elections than Hillary Clinton. With all his faults, he is a much better candidate than the bunch of jokers currently in the race. Still, one wishes that the prize was less of a joke.

Author: Atanu Dey

Economist. View all posts by Atanu Dey