Nobel Peace Prize was tarnished under Jagland's reign
When Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, few people were more angered and embarrassed than the new US president's closest aides. Morten Wetland, a top Norwegian diplomat, gave a good explanation.
When Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, few people were more angered and embarrassed than the new US president's closest aides. Morten Wetland, a top Norwegian diplomat, gave a good explanation.
"My co-worker in Washington got a tongue-lashing from Obama's chief of staff," he told , a Norwegian newspaper. "Many people thought awarding Obama was pretty embarrassing. An American president would like to set his own agenda. In this case he was forced into a role that he did not seek. Besides, it was only one year into his first presidential term. It can seem as if someone did this to get Obama to visit their country."
Many people knew the award was all about the new Nobel Committee chairman Thorbjorn Jagland, who wanted to put his own stamp on the body. Jagland has now been removed as chairman, unprecedented in the award's century-old history.
In his public statements, Jagland sounded as if the prize was the international community's endorsement of Obama's electoral victory. The American electorate did make the right choice, but if so, shouldn't they get the peace prize instead of a president just nine months into his first term?
Likewise the committee's equally controversial award to Liu Xiaobo the following year has Jagland's signature all over it. As the head of the Council of Europe, the continent's foremost human rights institution, Jagland would have been perfectly justified to recognise Liu. But the Nobel Peace Prize? It's supposed to be awarded to those who have "done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses". Advocating human rights, as Liu has done, is not the same as achieving peace.
Then the 2012 peace award to the European Union, when the euro zone was under threat of a breakup because of the sovereign debt crisis, was seen as a deliberate morale boost. Jagland did well to promote the Western liberal values he champions, but not necessarily in a way that fulfils the mandate passed on by Alfred Nobel. The Nobel Peace Prize has always had its share of controversy, but rarely has its credibility been so questioned as it was under Jagland.
