Commentary
Nobel Peace
Prize – An Ideological Weapon of Imperialism
The Nobel Committee announced the
recipient of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize to be U.S. president Barack Obama, a
president who is currently engaged in two foreign wars and threatening to engulf
Pakistan and Iran in further wars. If not for the long list of warmongers who
have been awarded the Peace Prize, including Henry Kissinger, Menachim Begin and Anwar Sadat, this announcement might be
shocking. As it is, this is just further confirmation that the Nobel Peace
Prize is an ideological weapon in the hands of the imperialists designed to
confuse people and to limit their resistance.
The U.S. and European imperialists are
currently involved in a very dangerous game of brinkmanship with Iran,
threatening to impose severe economic sanctions and even to bomb that country
if it does not submit to imperialist bullying. The imperialists are also
attempting to weaken and dismember Pakistan, in effect returning it to its
former colonial status. Whoever controls the Middle East, Iran, Afghanistan and
Pakistan will be in a position to threaten all of Europe and Asia, including
the oil- and gas-rich regions of Central Asia and the huge populations of South
Asia.
The former Bush administration aspired
to seize these regions for U.S. imperialism alone and to shut out its European
allies from a share in the plunder. Obama has promised to reverse that policy
and to reward the European imperialists with a piece of the pie if they agree
to a larger military role, especially in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Obama has
also been attempting, with some apparent success, to forge a common front with
the major European powers in bullying Iran and bringing it to its knees.
At the same time, Obama has been having
difficulties on the home front. His health care proposals have met staunch
opposition from the insurance industry and his attempts to rein in Israel,
however small, have also met fierce opposition. Despite upholding an
essentially identical policy towards Iran as that held by the Bush
administration – alternating threats with dialogue – he is being attacked for
being too “soft” on Iran and for proceeding too slowly.
At such a critical time for the Obama
administration, the Nobel Committee came to his rescue with is decision to
award him the Peace Prize. Even Obama appears to have been surprised by the
decision, admitting that he has not yet done anything to deserve it. He went so
far as to accept it on behalf of U.S. imperialism as a whole, for its decades
of bringing “peace and security” to the world. How much this award will do to
shore up Obama’s popularity at home remains to be seen, as it has generated far
more negative press in the U.S. than positive press and even his supporters
appear to be confused. However, the award is clearly a vote of confidence in
Obama by his European imperialist allies, a promise that they will support him
through his difficult times at home so long as he keeps his end of the bargain
to cut them in on the spoils of his foreign adventures.