Only 500 people support the White house petition to hand over Obama's Nobel prize to Putin, but is this because people believe Obama deserves it?
The news is just in that Russia and the US agree on the Syrian chemical disarmament so it could be argued that Obama really deserved his peace prize. Not because he got stuck in his own 'red line' talk, nor by shoving the hot potato of attacking Syria on the plates of congress, but by accepting international loss of face.
In spite of all expectations Obama agreed to a Syria deal without the promise of an UN resolution threatening force if Assad doesn't comply. No grandstanding, but an almost unnoticed diplomatic move which offered the final way out of the negotiations with the Russians.
Drawing red lines is actually quite simple. Grandstanding is easy. What's hard is to weasel your way out of a complex international situation with all the telltale signs of a huge conflict in the making.
Obama slithered away from his big words and his moral stance, but by doing so defused a war in the making. The end result. although obfuscated in an amusing twist of failed American diplomacy is what counts.
Syria won't use chemical weapons again, maybe some will even get destroyed, the world learned that if you want to mass murder your own citizens you better use traditional weapons and Obama learned that big words cause more harm than obfuscated concessions.
People will forget that the US never got national or international support for it's activism; that Obama didn't single-handedly lead his country into a new conflict; that he failed as a convincing commander in chief.
They will remember though that a conflict the American people didn't want was sidestepped by some silent concessions which will be forgotten by the time his final autobiography is written.
Does Obama retro-actively deserve his Nobel Prize or should it be handed over to the man who loves his peacemakers, but for once reverted to some smart diplomacy?
#Syria _if you missed the news on the agreement between Russia and the US check f.i. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/14/syris-crisis-us-russia-chemical-weapons-deal #Politics
"Syria won't use chemical weapons again" – it was never proven that they used them to begin with.
Obama didn't have a choice in the matter. He opened his mouth without the support of the people he represents. He should consider himself lucky that Kerry had an even bigger mouth and that his foot landed directly in it.
Delighted that things have worked out better than anyone expected… despite how convoluted it was. It's about time Russia did something. Fantastic outcome.
lol at Kerry's foot and mouth size +Neil Beaven Now that's a metaphor I could have used in my post.
If you give Putin the peace prize you should give one to every oppressive leader. Easy to forget how he wields his authority; circumvent election rules, pandering to the Russian Orthodox Church. Why is his theocracy any more worthy than one based in Islam? Oh yeah, white guy holding a gun.
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Neither of them deserve peace prizes. Period.
"so it could be argued…" It could, but … seriously?
You don't need a prize to pursue peace … don't even get me started on that. And who was it that won it last year? Oh yes…
The smartest political move (and also the most decent thing period) the US could right now, if get aid to the Syrian Refugees. They need water, food, medical, etc.
Last I heard, there were 2 million of them in Lebanon, and half of them were kids. These are people smart enough to get themselves out of a war zone. If anybody deserves support, it's them
Any leader votes for war shouldn't be leader. Leader should be a role models for their nations teach them how to solve problems not making more problems by destroying another nations. All Syrian people who lives in Syria needs help and support it's not their fault they got attacked by Syrian rebels and al Qaeda. I feel so bad what happened to those civilian i cross my fingers for this nightmare to be end soon. And all refugee will go back home safe.
+Silvana Hammoud You are seriously deluded if you think that Assad is the good guy.
We don't know what exactly has been playing out behind the diplomatic scenes. Here is one point of view:
Russia and the US have been talking about chemical disarmament of Syria for a while and only after a military threat things got moving on this front.
Although it certainly looked like it. I'm not sure if Kerry's remark was offhand (foot in mouth) or not…. Somehow Russia is finally helping out what the US was aiming for: Chemic disarmament of Syria. Who's playing who……?
Nobel Peace Price – who cares?! It has lost any Significance from Day #1, because it was funded by a Guy who made most of his Money from Explosives …
Peacemaker, name of a gun in the US +Dieter Mueller (and the reason I was looking for such an image 😉
Based on what I understand to be true about Nobel, I'd side with Obama having the prize
For the record, people seem to have accepted Britam as a hoax because they wanted it to be one, without what I consider appropriate skepticism
…Had he stopped the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and brought the troops home I would have said he deserved it…otherwise…no…
Obama got a Nobel simply for not being George Bush, which we now know to be more or less a false premise. He is nothing more than a very expensive Bush-alike. And Putin was bound to have an opportunity to prove an American president to be a weenie, we've had a run on weenies in the white house lately.
May I ask that anyone that posts… their country…. so that we can see their contribution to this crisis. How have you helped?
Bet you will not.
US, I've signed and shared online petitions, emailed and phoned my reps and senators and the white house. There was a protest downtown Denver last Monday, but it was already raining, and we know where that went.
+Martin Muldoon
It is both a generalisation and a misconception that actions and decisions of governments are based on the opinions of the majority of those people they govern – in any specific country…
Based on your premise, as an American you could be viewed as homophobic, Christian,
pro-gun, pro-war, anti-legalisation of cannabis, anti-choice on abortion…all of those decisions were made by your government despite the majority not supporting any of them…
wooddragon45 – UK – and definitely not proud of it for at least two decades…
Netherlands, but living elsewhere. Armchair general reporting to duty.
Meanwhile Obama played the local audience and 'keeps the military action' open. Hollow words as Syria just signed the chemical weapon treaty and there is no way Obama will ever get a UN council to agree on an attack.
considering it was probably a deal forged between the two at the G20 – perhaps they should split it like those sappy heart necklaces that split into two for friends and lovers 😉
U.S. here. Any so-called Commander-in-Chief who refers to the Marine Corps as the Marine "Corpse" reveals he's nothing more than a Community-Organizer-in-Chief and nothing more. I chafe at any reference to him as a military leader. That's only one of my dozens of complaints upon this charade.
"Obama slithered away from his big words and his moral stance, but by doing so defused a war in the making."
slithered away … really? That's just unnecessary and takes away from the point you are trying to make.
Maybe, but too late to edit it and 'defusing a war in the making' is a nice feather for Obama.
Some criticism of his belief words are cheap seemed in place +Jeff Dishman