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| Europe | |
| U.S. Rebuked Norway on Obama Nobel Peace Prize | |
| 2014-05-16 | |
[AnNahar] Barack ObamaI think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody... 's administration rebuked Norway after he won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, saying it was an awkward honor for an as-yet untested leader, a Norwegian diplomat revealed on Thursday. "My most embarrassing day at the U.N., at the time when I was Norway's ambassador there, was when Obama's Nobel Peace Prize was announced. Nobody was talking about it," said Morten Wetland, who served at the U.N. from 2008 to 2012. "My colleague in Washington received a reprimand from Obama's chief of staff (Rahn Emmanuel, at the time). The word 'fawning' was used," Wetland added in an article in Norwegian daily Dagens Naeringsliv. The diplomat said that the prize put Obama, who was nominated for the prize just weeks after taking office, in a difficult position. "An American president wants to set his own agenda. Here he was forced into a role that he hadn't sought," Wetland said. "It could seem like somebody did this to make Obama visit the country."
The announcement came as the U.S. was engaged in two conflicts, in Iraq and Afghanistan. Norway's ambassador to the U.S. at the time, Wegger Stroemmen, could not be reached for comment. Wetland's words were published in the midst of a recurring debate on the independence and the make-up of the Nobel committee, whose five members make fully autonomous decisions but are appointed by the Norwegian parliament. The committee's choices are nevertheless sometimes considered to represent the country's foreign policy. When Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo won the prize in 2010, the Asian nation froze all high level diplomatic contact with Norway. Several voices including Wetland are calling for the opening of the Nobel committee to foreign personalities in order to broaden its scope and highlight its independence. | |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #12 In order for Obam to turn down the prize, he'd have to say "I'm not worthy" or some such. Not gonna happen. |
| Posted by: ed in texas 2014-05-16 21:22 |
| #11 I would hate to be at the end of the line of people rebuking Norway for the Obama Nobel Peace Prize. |
| Posted by: Squinty 2014-05-16 17:41 |
| #10 I think it's considerably more than that now. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2014-05-16 16:16 |
| #9 Isn't there something like $150K which goes along with it? I notice he didn't turn that down either. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2014-05-16 13:28 |
| #8 Mr. Obama could have politely turned it down, and didn't. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2014-05-16 13:12 |
| #7 It was a political move, designed to provoke a green leader to take the bait and do something stupid, I'm sure. Kinda like putting the Norks in charge of human rights. |
| Posted by: gorb 2014-05-16 13:00 |
| #6 "It could seem like somebody did this to make Obama visit the country." Well, it is difficult to get good lefse in Chicago. |
| Posted by: Uncle Phester 2014-05-16 09:13 |
| #5 The prize has been joke for some time. Obama just bemoaned the loss of propaganda value and that it that they shot their bolt early, when he didn't need it yet. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2014-05-16 08:51 |
| #4 The diplo's version of the Eurovision award. Trendy schtick over established substance. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2014-05-16 08:15 |
| #3 Obama did even less than the 1972 Nobel peace prize winner but still accepted the prize. Obama is suppose to be the smartest man the whitehouse but could not resist. A common liberal trait is considering the communication delivery of an objective as the task; not the accomplishment or actual completion of the objective. Examine the list of previous winners and you will understand. |
| Posted by: Airandee 2014-05-16 06:43 |
| #2 Stupid cannot be fixed. |
| Posted by: Raj 2014-05-16 01:09 |
| #1 It was a stupid thing to do then, it is still stupid now. The significant thing is that world media is (finally) talking about it. The shine has worn off, which does not bode well for the Prez. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2014-05-16 01:01 |