Slashdot Mirror
China's Influence Widens Nobel Peace Prize Boycott
c0lo writes "Not only did China decline to attend the upcoming Nobel peace prize ceremony, but urged diplomats in Oslo to stay away from the event warning of 'consequences' if they go. Possibly as a result of this (or on their own decisions), 18 other countries turned down the invitation: Pakistan, Iran, Sudan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Colombia, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Iraq, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Venezuela, the Philippines, Egypt, Ukraine, Cuba and Morocco. Reuters seems to think the 'consequences' are of an economic nature, pointing out that half of the countries with economies that gained global influence during recent times are boycotting the ceremony (with Brazil and India still attending)."
It's true that the Nobel Peace Prize has been unreasonably politicized — not so much with Liu Xiaobo, but certainly with Gore and Obama. Then again, international events are intrinsically political and always have been.
Gore actually deserved it, I think - at least in the way that anyone who received it in the last 20 or 30 or 50 years did. Despite liking Obama a lot (yes, still; everyone, feel free to launch a tirade in reply to this) I'll concede that he basically appears to have gotten it for not being George Bush, but Gore is actually working on a very serious problem, even if half of Slashdot would rather believe that global warming doesn't exist (again ,feel free to reply with long tirades here, fellow Slashdotters).
One could say that he's not working for peace, of course, but then, the peace prize has been about positive social change instead for quite a while.