{"id":83960,"date":"2013-10-12T08:13:00","date_gmt":"2013-10-12T07:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/?guid=5f8d216ed02c32e8d754bec423e8acb7"},"modified":"2013-10-12T08:13:00","modified_gmt":"2013-10-12T07:13:00","slug":"nobel-hypocrisy-repeats-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/editorials\/nobel-hypocrisy-repeats-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Nobel Hypocrisy Repeats"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\"><b>Nobel Hypocrisy Repeats<\/b><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">by Stephen Lendman<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Nobel Committee members broke their own rules. Peace Prize nominations &#8220;may be submitted by any person who meets the nominat(ing) criteria.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Candidates eligible to win &#8220;are those persons or organizations nominated by qualified individuals.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Nominations &#8220;must be postmarked no later than February 1 each year. Nominations postmarked and received after this date are included in the following year&#8217;s discussions.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">On October 11, Nobel Committee members awarded the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) its 2013 Peace Prize.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">It reflects its involvement in destroying Syria&#8217;s chemical weapons. It&#8217;s unclear when OPCW was nominated. It was well beyond the February 1 deadlined.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">The organization has done little so far in Syria to deserve honoring. Its mandate has nothing to do with restoring peace.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Doing so requires Obama calling off his dogs. It requires ending support for thousands of imported cutthroat killers. It demands ceasing what Washington intends to continue.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">On October 1, OPCW&#8217;s advance team arrived in Damascus. Additional inspectors followed.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">They&#8217;ve barely begun their work. They&#8217;re tasked with destroying Syrian chemical weapons. Months are needed to do so.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Since conflict erupted in early 2011, Russia has done more by far than any other nation or organization pursuing peace.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov deserve full credit. They were ignored. They were bypassed. They weren&#8217;t considered. More on them below.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Nobel tradition is long and inglorious. War criminals often win. Peace advocates are spurned. It&#8217;s longstanding policy. It&#8217;s no surprise.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Bradley Manning was passed over. So was Edward Snowden. Worthy candidates have little chance. Shame and hypocrisy define longstanding Nobel policy.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">On October 11, its <a href=\"http:\/\/nobelpeaceprize.org\/en_GB\/laureates\/laureates-2013\/announce-2013\/\"><span style=\"color: #1255cc;\">Committee members<\/span><\/a> said they &#8220;decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2013 is to be awarded to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) for its extensive efforts to eliminate chemical weapons.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Hopefully they&#8217;ll accomplish their mission as planned. They&#8217;ve barely begun. They&#8217;ve done little so far.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">They face tough challenges. They&#8217;re operating in a war zone. Western-enlisted death squads may disrupt them.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">They possess chemical weapons. They&#8217;ve used them multiple times. Their stockpile won&#8217;t be destroyed.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">OPCW is mandated to eliminate Syria&#8217;s chemical weapons. Doing so won&#8217;t address what insurgents hold.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;(T)hrough inspections, destruction and by other means,&#8221; the OPCW wants all chemical weapons eliminated, said Nobel Committee members.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">America maintains a huge stockpile. Israel has its own. It refuses to become a Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) signatory.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">It&#8217;s nuclear armed and dangerous. It hasn&#8217;t signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) or Biological Weapons Convention (BWC). Its policy is CBW ambiguity.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">America maintains the world&#8217;s largest WMD arsenal. It uses it preemptively. It uses banned weapons in all its wars. So does Israel.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">OPCW is silent. So are Nobel Committee members. Their rhetoric belies their policy. Chemical weapons are &#8220;taboo under international law,&#8221; they said.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;Recent events in Syria, where chemical weapons have again been put to use, have underlined the need to enhance the efforts to do away with such weapons.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;Disarmament figures prominently in Alfred Nobel\u2019s will. The Norwegian Nobel Committee has through numerous prizes underlined the need to do away with nuclear weapons.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;By means of the present award to the OPCW, the Committee is seeking to contribute to the elimination of chemical weapons.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Alfred Nobel invented dynamite. He was a wealthy armaments maker. He was a war profiteer.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Late in life he reinvented himself. He tried remaking his image. He did so by establishing awards in his name.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">They given annually for &#8220;outstanding contributions&#8221; in physics, chemistry, literature, physiology or medicine, economics and &#8220;peace.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Almost anyone can be nominated. Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin and GW Bush had their names submitted.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">They weren&#8217;t chosen. Mahatma Gandhi was nominated four times. Peace champion Kathy Kelly was three times.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Both were eminently deserving. Kelly still is. Neither worthy candidate won.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) provisions prohibit development, production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">CWC signatories must eliminate what they possess. OPCW is mandated to help doing so worldwide. Its work includes:<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">(1) Demilitarization: assuring the destruction of all chemical weapons, precursors, and facilities used to produce them.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">(2) Non-Proliferation: ensuring against proliferation of toxic chemicals and their precursors.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">(3) Assistance and Protection: Member States able to protect their populations pledge to help others that can&#8217;t.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">(4) International Cooperation: ensuring chemicals are used for peaceful, not destructive purposes.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">(5) Universality: promoting adherence to Chemical Weapons Convention provisions.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">(6) National Implementation: establishing National Authorities to assure State Parties meet their CWC obligations.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">OPCW Member States must destroy all CWs they possess. They must eliminate any left in other countries. They must destroy all CW production facilities.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">OPCW is mandated to help. It does so by inspecting Member States declared CW sites. It&#8217;s required to monitor CW destruction.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Given the hazards they present, &#8220;flexibility&#8221; defines how its done. Great care must be taken to avoid doing more harm than good.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">As explained above, Nobel Committee members repeated longstanding policy. They passed over worthy nominees. Bradley Manning was bypassed three times.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Edward Snowden&#8217;s name was submitted too late for 2013. Separately he was nominated for 2014.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">So was Vladimir Putin. Given how Nobel Committee members ignored their own rules, they deserved 2013 consideration.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">In nominating Bradley Manning this year, <a href=\"http:\/\/joyb.blogspot.ie\/2013\/03\/bradley-manning-nobel-peace-prize.html\"><span style=\"color: #1255cc;\">Birgitta Jonsdottir<\/span><\/a> said in part:<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;We have the great honour of nominating Private First Class Bradley Manning for the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;Manning is a soldier in the United States army who stands accused of releasing hundreds of thousands of documents to the whistleblower website WikiLeaks.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;The leaked documents pointed to a long history of corruption, war crimes, and a lack of respect for the sovereignty of other democratic nations by the United States government in international dealings.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">He endured months of excruciating solitary confinement. He was declared guilty by accusation. He was unfairly tried. He was wrongfully convicted on 20 of 22 charges.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">He was sentenced to 35 years imprisonment. It&#8217;s for doing the right thing. It&#8217;s by far the longest ever punishment for leaking sensitive information.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">He disclosed what everyone needs to know. He exposed US crimes of war and against humanity.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Swedish Sociology Professor Stefan Svallfors nominated Snowden. He praised his &#8220;heroic effort at great personal cost.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">He showed &#8220;individuals can stand up for fundamental rights and freedoms.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #1255cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\"><span style=\"color: black;\">His<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/StefanSvallfors\/status\/356005221878616064\/photo\/1\"> nominating letter<\/a><\/span><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"> <\/span><span style=\"color: black;\">said in part:<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\"><span style=\"color: black;\">&#8220;<\/span>Edward Snowden has &#8211; in a heroic effort at great personal cost &#8211; revealed the existence and extent of the surveillance, the US government devotes electronic communications worldwide.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;By putting light on this monitoring program &#8211; conducted in contravention of national laws and international agreements &#8211; Edward Snowden has helped to make the world a little bit better and safer.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;Through his personal efforts, he has also shown that individuals can stand up for fundamental rights and freedoms.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;(I) is very rare that individual citizens have the insight of their personal responsibility and courage Edward Snowden showed in his revelation of the American surveillance program.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;For this reason, he is a highly (deserving) candidate.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Honoring him shows a &#8220;willingness to stand up in defense of civil liberties and human rights, even when such a defense (would) be viewed with disfavour by the world&#8217;s dominant military power.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Separately, the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.change.org\/petitions\/to-the-nobel-committee-members-nominate-j-assange-and-e-snowden-for-the-2014-nobel-peace-prize\"><span style=\"color: #1255cc;\">Union Populaire Republicaine<\/span><\/a> submitted its own 2014 Snowden\/Julian Assange nomination. It did so saying:<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">They &#8220;significantly and peacefully worked in favour of human rights respects, of freedom of information and freedom of communication secrecy at a global level, and that this deed makes them eligible for the Nobel Peace Prize.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">A previous article discussed Putin&#8217;s Nobel Peace Prize nomination. He and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov collaborated honorably.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">They deserve full recognition for their efforts. They deplore war. They&#8217;ve gone all out for peaceful conflict resolution.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">They&#8217;ve done so throughout months of conflict. They want things resolve diplomatically.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">They persist courageously. They do so against long odds. Washington and complicit allies obstruct them.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Doing so assures continuing conflict. It denies peace. OPCW&#8217;s efforts in Syria won&#8217;t change things.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Peacemaking initiatives deserve honoring. Maybe someday. Not now. Perhaps never by an organization believing war is peace.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">A Final Comment<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Francis Boyle called honoring OPCW &#8220;a sick joke and a demented fraud.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">&#8220;The United States is in gross and material breach of its solemn obligation to dismantle all chemical weapons by about April 2012 , with no further extensions permitted for any reason.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">OPCW &#8220;has not said one word in public to denounce the USG for this, but meekly rolled over and played dead.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Unmentioned was Norway&#8217;s NATO involvement. It&#8217;s one of 28 North Atlantic Alliance member states. It&#8217;s one of its 12 original members.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">On October 20, 2011, a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/the-press-office\/2011\/10\/20\/fact-sheet-united-states-and-norway-nato-allies-and-global-partners\"><span style=\"color: #1255cc;\">White House Office of the Press Secretary statement<\/span><\/a> praised Norway for its close US ties.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Doing so cited &#8220;common heritage, values, ideals and interests.&#8221; Defense and security cooperation were stressed.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Norway deplores peace. It contributed to Obama&#8217;s imperial war on Libya. It deployed F-16s during early conflict months. It&#8217;s involved in Afghanistan.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">It&#8217;s not waging war on Syria so far. It&#8217;s no guarantee it won&#8217;t be ahead. NATO countries are mandated to support partners&#8217; warmaking efforts if called on.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Article 4 of their charter calls for members to &#8220;consult together whenever, in the opinion of any of them, the territorial integrity, political independence, or security of any&#8221; is threatened.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Article 5 considers a (real, manufactured or otherwise manipulated) armed attack against one or more members, an assault against all. It calls for collective self-defense.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">NATO is very much involved in Obama&#8217;s war on Syria. Complicit allies include Britain, France and Turkey.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Israel is a Mediterranean Dialogue partner. It struck Syria multiples times before. It did so by air and cross-border ground attacks.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">It directly aids insurgent forces. It supplies weapons and medical care for wounded fighters.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Eliminating all weapons of mass destruction is vital. Targeting aggressor countries matter most. None threaten humanity more than America and Israel.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Peace champions deserve honoring. Nobel Committee members spurn them repeatedly. Doing so reveals their true agenda.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"color: #323333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">They support war, not peace. They&#8217;re part of the problem, not the solution. Annual awards reflect longstanding Nobel hypocrisy.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">His new book is titled &#8220;Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">http:\/\/www.claritypress.com\/LendmanII.html<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">It airs Fridays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-size: 12px; min-height: 14px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">http:\/\/www.progressiveradionetwork.com\/the-progressive-news-hour<\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; min-height: 22px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px;\">http:\/\/www.dailycensored.com\/nobel-hypocrisy-repeats\/<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div><b>Nobel Hypocrisy Repeats<\/b><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>by Stephen Lendman<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Nobel Committee members broke their own rules. Peace Prize nominations &#8220;may be submitted by any person who meets the nominat(ing) criteria.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Candidates eligible to win &#8220;are those persons or organizations nominated by qualified individuals.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Nominations &#8220;must be postmarked no later than February 1 each year. Nominations postmarked and received after this date are included in the following year&#8217;s discussions.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>On October 11, Nobel Committee members awarded the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) its 2013 Peace Prize.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>It reflects its involvement in destroying Syria&#8217;s chemical weapons. It&#8217;s unclear when OPCW was nominated. It was well beyond the February 1 deadlined.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The organization has done little so far in Syria to deserve honoring. Its mandate has nothing to do with restoring peace.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Doing so requires Obama calling off his dogs. It requires ending support for thousands of imported cutthroat killers. It demands ceasing what Washington intends to continue.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>On October 1, OPCW&#8217;s advance team arrived in Damascus. Additional inspectors followed.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>They&#8217;ve barely begun their work. They&#8217;re tasked with destroying Syrian chemical weapons. Months are needed to do so.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Since conflict erupted in early 2011, Russia has done more by far than any other nation or organization pursuing peace.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov deserve full credit. They were ignored. They were bypassed. They weren&#8217;t considered. More on them below.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Nobel tradition is long and inglorious. War criminals often win. Peace advocates are spurned. It&#8217;s longstanding policy. It&#8217;s no surprise.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Bradley Manning was passed over. So was Edward Snowden. Worthy candidates have little chance. Shame and hypocrisy define longstanding Nobel policy.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>On October 11, its <a href=\"http:\/\/nobelpeaceprize.org\/en_GB\/laureates\/laureates-2013\/announce-2013\/\"><span>Committee members<\/span><\/a> said they &#8220;decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2013 is to be awarded to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) for its extensive efforts to eliminate chemical weapons.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Hopefully they&#8217;ll accomplish their mission as planned. They&#8217;ve barely begun. They&#8217;ve done little so far.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>They face tough challenges. They&#8217;re operating in a war zone. Western-enlisted death squads may disrupt them.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>They possess chemical weapons. They&#8217;ve used them multiple times. Their stockpile won&#8217;t be destroyed.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>OPCW is mandated to eliminate Syria&#8217;s chemical weapons. Doing so won&#8217;t address what insurgents hold.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;(T)hrough inspections, destruction and by other means,&#8221; the OPCW wants all chemical weapons eliminated, said Nobel Committee members.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>America maintains a huge stockpile. Israel has its own. It refuses to become a Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) signatory.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>It&#8217;s nuclear armed and dangerous. It hasn&#8217;t signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) or Biological Weapons Convention (BWC). Its policy is CBW ambiguity.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>America maintains the world&#8217;s largest WMD arsenal. It uses it preemptively. It uses banned weapons in all its wars. So does Israel.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>OPCW is silent. So are Nobel Committee members. Their rhetoric belies their policy. Chemical weapons are &#8220;taboo under international law,&#8221; they said.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;Recent events in Syria, where chemical weapons have again been put to use, have underlined the need to enhance the efforts to do away with such weapons.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;Disarmament figures prominently in Alfred Nobel&rsquo;s will. The Norwegian Nobel Committee has through numerous prizes underlined the need to do away with nuclear weapons.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;By means of the present award to the OPCW, the Committee is seeking to contribute to the elimination of chemical weapons.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Alfred Nobel invented dynamite. He was a wealthy armaments maker. He was a war profiteer.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Late in life he reinvented himself. He tried remaking his image. He did so by establishing awards in his name.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>They given annually for &#8220;outstanding contributions&#8221; in physics, chemistry, literature, physiology or medicine, economics and &#8220;peace.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Almost anyone can be nominated. Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin and GW Bush had their names submitted.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>They weren&#8217;t chosen. Mahatma Gandhi was nominated four times. Peace champion Kathy Kelly was three times.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Both were eminently deserving. Kelly still is. Neither worthy candidate won.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) provisions prohibit development, production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>CWC signatories must eliminate what they possess. OPCW is mandated to help doing so worldwide. Its work includes:<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>(1) Demilitarization: assuring the destruction of all chemical weapons, precursors, and facilities used to produce them.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>(2) Non-Proliferation: ensuring against proliferation of toxic chemicals and their precursors.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>(3) Assistance and Protection: Member States able to protect their populations pledge to help others that can&#8217;t.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>(4) International Cooperation: ensuring chemicals are used for peaceful, not destructive purposes.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>(5) Universality: promoting adherence to Chemical Weapons Convention provisions.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>(6) National Implementation: establishing National Authorities to assure State Parties meet their CWC obligations.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>OPCW Member States must destroy all CWs they possess. They must eliminate any left in other countries. They must destroy all CW production facilities.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>OPCW is mandated to help. It does so by inspecting Member States declared CW sites. It&#8217;s required to monitor CW destruction.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Given the hazards they present, &#8220;flexibility&#8221; defines how its done. Great care must be taken to avoid doing more harm than good.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>As explained above, Nobel Committee members repeated longstanding policy. They passed over worthy nominees. Bradley Manning was bypassed three times.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Edward Snowden&#8217;s name was submitted too late for 2013. Separately he was nominated for 2014.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>So was Vladimir Putin. Given how Nobel Committee members ignored their own rules, they deserved 2013 consideration.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>In nominating Bradley Manning this year, <a href=\"http:\/\/joyb.blogspot.ie\/2013\/03\/bradley-manning-nobel-peace-prize.html\"><span>Birgitta Jonsdottir<\/span><\/a> said in part:<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;We have the great honour of nominating Private First Class Bradley Manning for the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;Manning is a soldier in the United States army who stands accused of releasing hundreds of thousands of documents to the whistleblower website WikiLeaks.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;The leaked documents pointed to a long history of corruption, war crimes, and a lack of respect for the sovereignty of other democratic nations by the United States government in international dealings.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>He endured months of excruciating solitary confinement. He was declared guilty by accusation. He was unfairly tried. He was wrongfully convicted on 20 of 22 charges.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>He was sentenced to 35 years imprisonment. It&#8217;s for doing the right thing. It&#8217;s by far the longest ever punishment for leaking sensitive information.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>He disclosed what everyone needs to know. He exposed US crimes of war and against humanity.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Swedish Sociology Professor Stefan Svallfors nominated Snowden. He praised his &#8220;heroic effort at great personal cost.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>He showed &#8220;individuals can stand up for fundamental rights and freedoms.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><span>His<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/StefanSvallfors\/status\/356005221878616064\/photo\/1\"> nominating letter<\/a><\/span><span> <\/span><span>said in part:<\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><span>&#8220;<\/span>Edward Snowden has &#8211; in a heroic effort at great personal cost &#8211; revealed the existence and extent of the surveillance, the US government devotes electronic communications worldwide.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;By putting light on this monitoring program &#8211; conducted in contravention of national laws and international agreements &#8211; Edward Snowden has helped to make the world a little bit better and safer.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;Through his personal efforts, he has also shown that individuals can stand up for fundamental rights and freedoms.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;(I) is very rare that individual citizens have the insight of their personal responsibility and courage Edward Snowden showed in his revelation of the American surveillance program.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;For this reason, he is a highly (deserving) candidate.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Honoring him shows a &#8220;willingness to stand up in defense of civil liberties and human rights, even when such a defense (would) be viewed with disfavour by the world&#8217;s dominant military power.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Separately, the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.change.org\/petitions\/to-the-nobel-committee-members-nominate-j-assange-and-e-snowden-for-the-2014-nobel-peace-prize\"><span>Union Populaire Republicaine<\/span><\/a> submitted its own 2014 Snowden\/Julian Assange nomination. It did so saying:<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>They &#8220;significantly and peacefully worked in favour of human rights respects, of freedom of information and freedom of communication secrecy at a global level, and that this deed makes them eligible for the Nobel Peace Prize.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>A previous article discussed Putin&#8217;s Nobel Peace Prize nomination. He and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov collaborated honorably.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>They deserve full recognition for their efforts. They deplore war. They&#8217;ve gone all out for peaceful conflict resolution.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>They&#8217;ve done so throughout months of conflict. They want things resolve diplomatically.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>They persist courageously. They do so against long odds. Washington and complicit allies obstruct them.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Doing so assures continuing conflict. It denies peace. OPCW&#8217;s efforts in Syria won&#8217;t change things.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Peacemaking initiatives deserve honoring. Maybe someday. Not now. Perhaps never by an organization believing war is peace.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>A Final Comment<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Francis Boyle called honoring OPCW &#8220;a sick joke and a demented fraud.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;The United States is in gross and material breach of its solemn obligation to dismantle all chemical weapons by about April 2012 , with no further extensions permitted for any reason.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>OPCW &#8220;has not said one word in public to denounce the USG for this, but meekly rolled over and played dead.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Unmentioned was Norway&#8217;s NATO involvement. It&#8217;s one of 28 North Atlantic Alliance member states. It&#8217;s one of its 12 original members.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>On October 20, 2011, a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/the-press-office\/2011\/10\/20\/fact-sheet-united-states-and-norway-nato-allies-and-global-partners\"><span>White House Office of the Press Secretary statement<\/span><\/a> praised Norway for its close US ties.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Doing so cited &#8220;common heritage, values, ideals and interests.&#8221; Defense and security cooperation were stressed.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Norway deplores peace. It contributed to Obama&#8217;s imperial war on Libya. It deployed F-16s during early conflict months. It&#8217;s involved in Afghanistan.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>It&#8217;s not waging war on Syria so far. It&#8217;s no guarantee it won&#8217;t be ahead. NATO countries are mandated to support partners&#8217; warmaking efforts if called on.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Article 4 of their charter calls for members to &#8220;consult together whenever, in the opinion of any of them, the territorial integrity, political independence, or security of any&#8221; is threatened.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Article 5 considers a (real, manufactured or otherwise manipulated) armed attack against one or more members, an assault against all. It calls for collective self-defense.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>NATO is very much involved in Obama&#8217;s war on Syria. Complicit allies include Britain, France and Turkey.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Israel is a Mediterranean Dialogue partner. It struck Syria multiples times before. It did so by air and cross-border ground attacks.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>It directly aids insurgent forces. It supplies weapons and medical care for wounded fighters.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Eliminating all weapons of mass destruction is vital. Targeting aggressor countries matter most. None threaten humanity more than America and Israel.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Peace champions deserve honoring. Nobel Committee members spurn them repeatedly. Doing so reveals their true agenda.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>They support war, not peace. They&#8217;re part of the problem, not the solution. Annual awards reflect longstanding Nobel hypocrisy.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>His new book is titled &#8220;Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>http:\/\/www.claritypress.com\/LendmanII.html<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>It airs Fridays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>http:\/\/www.progressiveradionetwork.com\/the-progressive-news-hour<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>http:\/\/www.dailycensored.com\/nobel-hypocrisy-repeats\/<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1217,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[487,461],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-83960","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-breaking-news","7":"category-editorials"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1217"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83960\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}