Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel Dies at 87

Nobel laureate and holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel has died at the age of 87. Wiesel was best known for his book Night, which drew on his experiences in Nazi concentration camps during the final years of World War II.

Julian Assange Should Be Awarded Nobel Peace Prize, Suggests Russia
THE GUARDIAN: Russia urges Assange nomination in calculated dig at the US over WikiLeaks founder's detention

Russia has suggested that Julian Assange should be awarded the Nobel peace prize, in an unexpected show of support from Moscow for the jailed WikiLeaks founder.

In what appears to be a calculated dig at the US, the Kremlin urged non-governmental organisations to think seriously about "nominating Assange as a Nobel Prize laureate".

"Public and non-governmental organisations should think of how to help him," the source from inside president Dmitry Medvedev's office told Russian news agencies. Speaking in Brussels, where Medvedev was attending a Russia-EU summit yesterday , the source went on: "Maybe, nominate him as a Nobel Prize laureate."

Russia's reflexively suspicious leadership appears to have come round to WikiLeaks, having decided that the ongoing torrent of disclosures are ultimately far more damaging and disastrous to America's long-term geopolitical interests than they are to Russia's. >>> Luke Harding | Thursday, December 09. 2010

Iranian Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi Gets British Human Rights Award
Dr Ebadi considers the award to be an attack against Iran's suppression of activism. Photo: Times Online
TIMES ONLINE: An Iranian Nobel laureate will accept an award from a Government-financed human rights organisation in a move that is likely to ramp up the the Islamic Republic’s “propaganda” machine against the UK and further strain relations between the two countries.

The Times has learnt that Shirin Ebadi — the first Muslim women to win the Nobel Peace Prize for championing human rights and campaigning for democracy in Iran — will be presented with the award today by an organisation which annually receives £1.6 million, the bulk of its budget, from the Department of International Development (DFID).

International Services, a York-based development agency which helps disadvantaged people in places such as the Middle East and claims to be “non-political”, will present Dr Ebadi with the Award for Global Defence of Human Rights.

This comes after Dr Ebadi, 62, who has spent the past six months away from Iran attacking the regime’s alleged human rights abuses and electoral fraud, recently had her 2003 Nobel peace medal confiscated by the Iranian Government and her bank account frozen on the claim that she owes £250,000 in tax. >>> Richard Kerbaj | Monday, December 07, 2009

The Obama Nobel Mystery
YNET NEWS: Obama’s Nobel Prize win a blatant attempt to Europeanize US policy

According to Alfred Nobel's will – and in contrast with other Nobel Prize committees – the members of the Nobel Prize for Peace committee are not experts, but politicians, members of the Norwegian Parliament.

The chairman of the committee, Thorbjorn Jagland, former Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Norway, is the Vice President and the Chairman of the Middle East Committee of the "Socialist International," known for its opposition to US and Israeli policies. He is, also, the Chairman of the "Oslo Center for Peace and Human Rights," which advocates a Dovish-Leftist worldview, in cooperation with former President Jimmy Carter, who is close to President Obama and considered a role-model for the new Nobel laureate.

Along with other members of the Committee, Jagland represents a Parliament that has called to recognize Hamas, to dialogue with Iran, to tolerate rogue regimes, to enhance ties with Muslim regimes, to condemn (what he terms) Islamophobia and to condemn systematically the policies of Washington (until Obama's victory) and Jerusalem.

Awarding Obama the Nobel Peace Prize – in spite of the fact that the deadline for nominations was February 1, 10 days into Obama's Administration – constitutes a transparent attempt by European politicians to bolster Obama's determination in the global arena and improve his standing in the domestic arena. While Obama's stock has risen internationally, it has deteriorated internally, in light of his lack of success in the areas of unemployment, taxes, budget deficit, health insurance reform, Afghanistan, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela, Russia and al-Qaeda. >>> Yoram Ettinger | Saturday, October 10, 2009

Barack Obama Win Mocks Nobel Peace Prize: Alexander Downer
THE AUSTRALIAN: THE Nobel Peace Prize was discredited if Barack Obama could be nominated for the award after just 11 days in office and win it nine months later, former foreign minister Alexander Downer said yesterday.

Mr Downer called the US President's surprise win a farce, saying it was a pity Mr Obama had not refused the award.

He singled out Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai as a worthy alternative who had been ignored after years of struggling for human rights.

"The peace prize has to be for actual achievement - not potential - and it has to be achievement in promoting world peace, not raising the prestige of the American state, which is largely what Barack Obama has done so far," Mr Downer told the ABC.

Mr Obama had been in office for just 11 days when nominations for this year's Nobel Peace Prize closed on February 1. He spent most of those first days settling into the White House.

Although humbly questioning whether he was deserving, he described the prize as a "call to action".

The award's founder, Alfred Nobel, decreed the annual prize was to be bestowed for achievements "during the preceding year". According to his will, the winner "shall 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".

The Norwegian judges took an alternative approach, handing the prize to Mr Obama for future works. Thorbjorn Jagland, the committee's chairman, defended the award in the face of public outcry, saying: "It was because we would like to support what he is trying to achieve."

It took two other former US presidents, Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, a combined total of 12 years before they were given the award. >>> Brad Norington, Washington correspondent | Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Iran's New Penal Code Unfair to Women: Nobel Laureate
AFP: TEHRAN — Nobel peace laureate Shrin Ebadi on Wednesday criticised Iran's new Islamic penal code, saying it remains unfair to women and uses an "incorrect" interpretation of Islam.

Iran's parliament in September adopted the outlines of the new Islamic penal code submitted by the judiciary, which is a modified version of the Sharia-based law implemented in Iran since 1982.

"After 25 years we are still repeating mistakes of the first day," Ebadi told a meeting and news conference staged by her rights group on the subject.

"The criminal laws adopted after the revolution unfortunately took away a woman's human identity and turned her into a second-class being who is incapable and mentally-deranged," she said. >>> | November 5, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback (US) Barnes & Noble >>>
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