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WikiLeaks Nominated For 2011 Nobel Peace Prize

mvar writes "Whistle-blower site WikiLeaks has been nominated for the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize by a Norwegian politician who cited its role in freedom of speech, news agency NTB reported Wednesday. 'WikiLeaks is one of this century's most important contributors to freedom of speech and transparency,' parliamentarian Snorre Valen said in his nomination. Valen cited WikiLeaks' role in disclosing the assets of Tunisia's former president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his nearest family, contributing to the protests that forced them into exile."

495 comments

  1. Century by Squeeonline · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I hate when people say things like "X of the century". It's only about 10% of the way there yet, don't go spoiling the rest for us if you have future sight.

    1. Re:Century by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The Nobel Peace Prize means absolutely nothing now. It was blatantly given to someone who had not earned it and did not deserve it, and that person is Barack Obama. He wasn't even in office long enough to help or hinder peace for anyone when it was given to him. It's clear that this once-lofty prize has become infected and tainted by the very politics and cronyism that has corrupted most other institutions. So yeah, this is a nice gesture, but it's just a token one with no real meaning.

      Oh and for you more childish types who instantly polarize when Obama is mentioned, grow up. I don't care how nice and decent of a fellow he is. I don't care how much you like him. None of that has anything to do with it. He simply hadn't done anything one way or another for the cause of peace when the prize was awarded to him. There are many people who were more deserving of it than him -- heroes, scientists, doctors, philanthropists, lots of folks who have done much more good. They were all passed up. That's the point.

    2. Re:Century by mosb1000 · · Score: 0, Troll

      What you have said is true. On the other hand, this latest nomination brings the award renewed credibility.

    3. Re:Century by treeves · · Score: 2

      This is one of the most compelling comments on Slashdot about the century made thus far this decade! (this decade started last month btw)

      --
      ...the future crusty old bastards are already drinking the Kool-Aid.
    4. Re:Century by vadim_t · · Score: 1

      I agree that Obama shouldn't have been nominated for the reasons you said.

      But it seems like a difficult prize to award. People who do this sort of thing are rare.

      There are many people who were more deserving of it than him -- heroes, scientists, doctors, philanthropists, lots of folks who have done much more good. They were all passed up. That's the point.

      Got a list?

    5. Re:Century by Locke2005 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I've explained this before: the Nobel Peace Prize was given to Obama specifically for not being George W. Bush! Unfortunately, Obama has not done quite as well at not being Bush than many of us had hoped...

      --
      I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
    6. Re:Century by amRadioHed · · Score: 1

      I don't know about you, but the decade started for me a year and one month ago.

      No, I'm just kidding. Of course that doesn't make any sense. It actually started in mid-June, 2009.

      --
      We hope your rules and wisdom choke you / Now we are one in everlasting peace
    7. Re:Century by Duradin · · Score: 1

      Who's getting nominated now?

    8. Re:Century by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 5, Informative

      and, scientists dont get PEACE prices, fool.

      Norman Borlaug, 1970.

      --

      "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
    9. Re:Century by AntiBasic · · Score: 4, Informative

      To add the superfluousness of the nobel, the irony of the 2009 recipient hosting a dinner for the man who is imprisoning the 2010 winner was lost on the populace.

      They told me if I voted for McCain these things would happen.

    10. Re:Century by golden+age+villain · · Score: 4, Insightful

      What credibility? What has Wikileaks done for peace? The mention of Tunisia is ridiculous. None of what was mentioned in the cables was news to Tunisians. It was not even news for me who never really researched about the situation in Tunisia. Ben Ali's regime collapsed because he oppressed its population for 20 years and at some point people got sick of it. They did not need anyone to tell them how much the Ben Ali clan was abusing its situation and robbing the country. Plus it remains to be seen how much good this whole revolution will bring.

    11. Re:Century by akma · · Score: 5, Informative

      What you have said is true. On the other hand, this latest nomination brings the award renewed credibility.

      They gave it to the head of a terrorist organization: Yassir Arafat...... they have no credibility, and will never gain any until they revoke his.

      --
      akma
    12. Re:Century by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It actually started in mid-June, 2009.

      No it didn't.

    13. Re:Century by GigG · · Score: 4, Informative

      If there isn't someone worthy of it don't give it. It wasn't awarded in 1914-16, '23, '24, '28, '32, '39-'43, '48, '55, '56, '66 , '67 and 72.

      And as the recepient of the prize is supposed to go "to the person who 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."

      Wiki leaks certainly didn't do anything to promote fraternity between nations or reduce standing armies or even promote peace.

      --
      Is buying a Harley Davidson as your first motorcycle since you were 16 at age 49 a midlife crisis issue?
    14. Re:Century by Ellis+D.+Tripp · · Score: 1

      Linus Pauling, 1962
      Joseph Rotblat, 1995

      --
      Remember "News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters"? Help make it a reality again! http://soylentnews.org
    15. Re:Century by shoehornjob · · Score: 1

      But it's not X of the century. It's the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize. There is a difference.

      --
      "We are just a war away from Amerikastan. When god vs god the undoing of man." Dave Mustaine
    16. Re:Century by nagnamer · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It's done far more than Barak Obama, and I believe that should qualify.

      --
      Every harsh word you utter has the right address. It only sounds harsh because the one on the envelope is the wrong one.
    17. Re:Century by chispito · · Score: 3, Insightful

      it was given to barack obama, because instead of emphasizing divisions and accumulated (rightful) anger, he chose to express a road of peace, union and collaboration in between races, and managed to successfully bring black and white together during his election campaign. it doesnt matter whether you like him or not, it doesnt matter what our political views are. this was what had happened. and, scientists dont get PEACE prices, fool.

      So you're saying that he was eligible for the prize because he was a black man who got white people to vote for him? That's not peace, that's political success. Whether it has a long lasting affect on race relations in the US will remain be to be seen (I'm hopeful).

      --
      The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
    18. Re:Century by LinkX39 · · Score: 1

      I totally agree, it's way overuse. Wish I could expand on my thoughts but I'm smack in the middle of the Snow Storm of the Century right now and the power could go out at any minute.

    19. Re:Century by rs1n · · Score: 1

      You can see how the prize has become nothing more than a tool for political leverage -- albeit very poorly. This is true even when you consider the more recent recipient Liu Xiaobo. While he may be deserving of the prize, it is hard to ignore the political aspect -- i.e. getting China to make changes with respect to human rights. It almost feels as though this was actually the real intent of the prize, and that Liu Xiaobo was a nominee who happened to be an appropriate face for the prize.

      In the years before, the prize was generally given to those who had greatly contributed toward peace (and that their contributions had already happened). That isn't to say that politics was completely out of the picture. However, it was mainly to recognize those who fought for a noble cause, and everything else (politics) came second. Now, it has been completely reversed. The prize is now just a political leverage that happens to also (sometimes) recognize the efforts of individuals/organizations toward peace. What a pity.

    20. Re:Century by Microlith · · Score: 1

      The Nobel Peace Prize means absolutely nothing now. It was blatantly given to someone who had not earned it and did not deserve it, and that person is Barack Obama. He wasn't even in office long enough to help or hinder peace for anyone when it was given to him.

      Some might say the prize was devalued when it was given to warmongers. Some might say the award was given as an encouragement, to try and influence his path.

      It's clear that this once-lofty prize has become infected and tainted by the very politics and cronyism that has corrupted most other institutions. So yeah, this is a nice gesture, but it's just a token one with no real meaning.

      Whose "cronys" might these be? Does Obama or as I imagine is rolling through your head, "the left," have cronies in the committee?

      Oh and for you more childish types who instantly polarize when Obama is mentioned, grow up.

      So says the person who chose Obama as THE defining moment that the Peace Prize was worthless.

    21. Re:Century by nagnamer · · Score: 1

      So he got the nobel peace prize for something he was supposed to do? That's retarded.

      --
      Every harsh word you utter has the right address. It only sounds harsh because the one on the envelope is the wrong one.
    22. Re:Century by nelsonal · · Score: 1

      Of course, that's why they gave it to Al Gore, as well. Perhaps the award needs a name change.

      --
      Degaussing scares the bad magnetism out of the monitor and fills it with good karma.
    23. Re:Century by dkleinsc · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The Nobel Peace Prize means absolutely nothing now. It was blatantly given to someone who had not earned it and did not deserve it, and that person is Henry Kissinger. While in office, he did very little to promote peace, and often actively promoted war. It's clear that this once-lofty prize has become infected and tainted by the very politics and cronyism that has corrupted most other institutions. So yeah, this is a nice gesture, but it's just a token one with no real meaning.

      Oh and for you more childish types who instantly polarize when Kissinger is mentioned, grow up. I don't care how nice and decent of a fellow he is. I don't care how much you like him. None of that has anything to do with it. He simply hadn't done anything for the cause of peace when the prize was awarded to him. There are many people who were more deserving of it than him -- heroes, scientists, doctors, philanthropists, lots of folks who have done much more good. They were all passed up. That's the point.

      --
      I am officially gone from /. Long live http://www.soylentnews.com/
    24. Re:Century by log0n · · Score: 1

      "Oh and for you more childish types who [emph]instantly polarize when Obama is mentioned, grow up.[/emph] I don't care how nice and decent of a fellow he is. I don't care how much you like him."

      Enjoyed that. Thanks!

    25. Re:Century by vadim_t · · Score: 1

      Following that definition literally would be very weird.

      I don't think "promoting fraternity" and "reducing standing armies" are automatically good things. Promoting fraternity could be putting down a revolt against a tyrannic government, and reducing armies could come as a result of aggression.

      For instance, should Truman have got one for Hiroshima and Nagasaki? After all it did force Japan to stop their military actions, and reduced in the imposition of the war renunciation clause.

    26. Re:Century by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, that person was Yasser Arafat.

      Barack Obama's prize was simply a poor sequel.

    27. Re:Century by Mysteray · · Score: 2

      it was given to barack obama, because instead of emphasizing divisions and accumulated (rightful) anger, he chose to express a road of peace, union and collaboration in between races, and managed to successfully bring black and white together during his election campaign

      As far as I could tell, he conducted a very ordinary campaign for a Democratic presidential candidate with the exception of himself being a black dude. This is not particularly noteworthy, and in my opinion, that speaks the loudest.

      You make it sound as if US politics is being conducted in the deep South in 1965 or something with race riots and the like dominating the political process. That's absurd. It's not like that and the proof is in the fact that the majority of Americans voted for him and race wasn't really an issue.

      Give the Nobel Prize to the American people for that. Obama was mostly in the right place at the right time.

    28. Re:Century by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      On the contrary - he's done a fabulous job at not being George W. Bush. I've seen the two in the same room, they look nothing alike. It's very clear which one is Pres. Bush, and which is Pres. Obama.

    29. Re:Century by Martin+Blank · · Score: 5, Informative

      The touchpoint for Tunisia was not Wikileaks, but a young, college-educated man trying to earn a meager living for his family through selling vegetables from a cart because he could find no other job. He didn't have the money to pay the bribes necessary to get a permit, and the police took away his only means of earning a living. On top of the confiscation, and because he refused to pay a bribe to get the cart back, the police assaulted him and insulted his family. When he went to protest, he was ignored, so he went and got some flammable liquid, doused himself with it, and ignited it. Demonstrations started shortly after this, and the police cracked down on them, escalating the demonstration to riots. It spiraled from there.

      --
      You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
    30. Re:Century by _0xd0ad · · Score: 1

      The 1st decade began on January 1, year 1.
      The 2nd decade began on January 1, year 11.
      (...snip...)
      The 201st decade began on January 1, year 2001.
      The 202nd decade began on January 1, year 2011 (last month).

    31. Re:Century by MightyYar · · Score: 1

      and that person is Barack Obama.

      At least he hadn't done any harm... Yassir Arafat won because he stopped being a terrorist.

      The prize has been a joke for a while now - the Obama "wish upon a star" prize was mild in comparison.

      Worse than Obama:

      • Al Gore for his work on Global Warming??? Wow, what a stretch to tie that to peace.
      • Kissinger - nuff said
      • Cordell Hull, who won for good enough reasons, but in the past had forced a refugee ship full of Jews to turn around and sail back to Nazi Germany.
      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    32. Re:Century by MightyYar · · Score: 1

      was lost on the populace.

      What populous? It was reported in almost every news story about the event that I heard.

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    33. Re:Century by Skidborg · · Score: 1

      There was no dramatic war between the races before he was elected, and hate crimes haven't dropped at all since he was.

      --
      Supporter of the +1 Over Dramatic mod option. In memory of apk.
    34. Re:Century by santiagodraco · · Score: 2

      The one who sounds polarized here is yourself bud. So you imply that anyone who responds in disagreement with you is "immature", ie you are right, end of story. Sounds like you might be the one needing some more years of fermenting.

      As for your assertion that Obama receiving the prize is somehow absurd, I would have to disagree. The Obama campaign and his work leading to his election was one of the most positive things to happen in the world at that time, most specificially in generating a positve image for America and hope for an improved world culture. Do I think that this is a good enough reason to award the prize? Not necessarily, but i also disagree that it's absurd or that it has somehow completely discredited the institution.

      Let's sum it up this way. You post is politically motivated plain and simple

    35. Re:Century by rednip · · Score: 0

      How exactly is President Obama imprisoning Liu Xiaobo? Why is that comment 'insightful', all I see is a 'dog-wistle' comment designed to appeal to talk-radio supplicants.

      --
      The force that blew the Big Bang continues to accelerate.
    36. Re:Century by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      I could see Fox News jumping on this now. Further proof of a liberal conspiracy. There are so many people out there actually working for peace. Wikileaks isn't about peace it is just about making other people look bad. Yea lets leak some of the more shady deals countries made to protect the peace, so they will have to resent and go to war with each other... Yea lets give a peace prize to him. I agree it just as bad as giving it to sitting president who was in the middle of fighting 2 wars. Granted he didn't start it but to give a piece prize before he finished it was just dumb.

      The peace prize is for the people who fit Liberal Europe's ideals, and stand up against "the man" and shakes things up. Does it helped for peace or not is immaterial.

      How about giving to it to say Bill Gates who is helping starving nations. As we all should know Hungry people are most likely to war against each other then well fed ones.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    37. Re:Century by characterZer0 · · Score: 1

      Kissinger was awarded the prize for helping to negotiate a cease-fire in Vietnam. The agreements failed. In hindsight, he may not have been deserving of the prize. But he did something. Obama had done nothing. Not nothing lasting, not nothing good, but nothing. He just got elected.

      --
      Go green: turn off your refrigerator.
    38. Re:Century by Surt · · Score: 2

      I don't think Al Gore's work on Global Warming deserves derision for being a stretch to tie to peace. If you take AGW as a given, then the connection to peace is pretty straightforward. Doing nothing about AGW = rising sea levels. Rising sea levels = hundreds of millions of displaced, angry people. Hundreds of millions of displaced, angry people = war.

      --
      "Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
    39. Re:Century by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I think you missed something. Let's go over this slowly.

      2009 recipient

      Obama. Good job, you got that one right.

      the 2010 winner

      Xiaobo. Got that one too.

      the man who is imprisoning the 2010 winner

      Not Obama. So far so good.

      [Obama] hosting a dinner for the man who is imprisoning [Xiaobo]

      Well, I'll let you figure it out from here.

    40. Re:Century by Yvanhoe · · Score: 1

      The Nobel prize has laways have had controversial positions and made a few errors with hindsight. Obama's award was strange but all in all the institution is good and brings into light useful individuals and institutions.

      Maybe you are the one polarizing by dismissing it because it awarded a prize to Obama ? Note that Wikileaks was nominated, meaning that it is an official contestant. Many people can be nominated. Georges W. Bush was nominated every year for instance.

      --
      The Wise adapts himself to the world. The Fool adapts the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the Fool.
    41. Re:Century by wonkavader · · Score: 0

      I voted for him, and you're RIGHT.

    42. Re:Century by flaming+error · · Score: 1

      > The Nobel Peace Prize means absolutely nothing now

      Either you don't know what "absolute" means, or "absolute" means absolutely nothing now.

    43. Re:Century by amRadioHed · · Score: 1

      We refer to decades as the 80's, the 90's, the 2000's, the 2010's, etc... The 2010's didn't start this year, they started last year.

      --
      We hope your rules and wisdom choke you / Now we are one in everlasting peace
    44. Re:Century by multi+io · · Score: 1

      What you have said is true. On the other hand, this latest nomination brings the award renewed credibility.

      If they manage to given the price to two worthy receivers for every unworthy receiver that they also give it to, they're about as good at handing out peace prices as the black death was good at not killing people.

    45. Re:Century by mrops · · Score: 3, Insightful

      perspective perspective perspective... I don't believe Yassir Araffat was the head of terrorist organization no more than G. W. Bush was.

      I was bought up in India, and countless times in my history books I read how those who bombed the british rule and parliament were heroes, they still are today with countless statues all over the city. Today you call Arafat a terrorist, if Palestine is liberated he will go down as a hero.

    46. Re:Century by ToadProphet · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You forgot to mention Nelson Mandela - a 'terrorist'. Funny that you didn't bring him up.

      --
      It's on America's tortured brow, That Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow
    47. Re:Century by flaming+error · · Score: 1

      > People who do this sort of thing are rare.
      Peacemakers are not rare at all. They're just less famous than the war-mongers.

    48. Re:Century by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You can of course count off a decade starting at a completely arbitrary point in time. If you want to count from the Gregorian calendar, then the natural starting point is on the xx01s, because they 1-indexed the years. Those bastards.

      If we were inventing new units of time today with no eye toward backward compatibility with existing calendars, it would probably start at 0 and the natural reference for decades would be the xx00s. Also, in a 12-hour clock representing a 24 hour day, AM and PM would start at 0 and go to 11:59, rather than starting at 12:00, going up to 12:59, rolling over to 1:00, then counting up to 11:59. That always bothered me far more than the decade thing, but I think people accept it more easily because they deal with it far more often, not because it makes any more sense (it seems to make far less sense, and you'd think you should optimize for fixing the things you work with frequently). 24-hour clocks get this right, at least.

    49. Re:Century by lennier · · Score: 3, Funny

      For instance, should Truman have got one for Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

      It would certainly be in the spirit of Nobel's personal contribution to world peace - better living through high explosives.

      --
      You are not a brain: http://books.google.com/books?id=2oV61CeDx-YC
    50. Re:Century by lennier · · Score: 1

      scientists dont get PEACE prices, fool.

      The price of peace is eternal... um... peaceligance?

      --
      You are not a brain: http://books.google.com/books?id=2oV61CeDx-YC
    51. Re:Century by bsDaemon · · Score: 1

      Hmm... way to set the bar so high, there ;-)

    52. Re:Century by grcumb · · Score: 5, Insightful

      What you have said is true. On the other hand, this latest nomination brings the award renewed credibility.

      They gave it to the head of a terrorist organization: Yassir Arafat...... they have no credibility, and will never gain any until they revoke his.

      Feh, Arafat was a dilettante, Henry Kissinger bombed an entire country illegally and they still gave him a Nobel Prize.

      --
      Crumb's Corollary: Never bring a knife to a bun fight.
    53. Re:Century by nagnamer · · Score: 1

      Hmm... way to set the bar so high, there ;-)

      Hehe, true that.

      --
      Every harsh word you utter has the right address. It only sounds harsh because the one on the envelope is the wrong one.
    54. Re:Century by lennier · · Score: 2

      So he got the nobel peace prize for something he was supposed to do? That's retarded.

      Temporally speaking, it's actually advanced.

      --
      You are not a brain: http://books.google.com/books?id=2oV61CeDx-YC
    55. Re:Century by _0xd0ad · · Score: 1

      GGGP didn't say the 2010's. He said this decade. Obviously he thinks your method of referring to decades is dumb.

      At least, to be consistent, after the 80s and 90s should come the 100s and 110s.

    56. Re:Century by paesano · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yes, perspective, perspective. I'm sure from someone's perspective any action can be justified.

      The question you should ask is when did Yassir Arafat every do anything that resulted in a lasting peace? He certainly had opportunities, but he always ended up walking away from them. A lasting peace would have made him irrelevant.

    57. Re:Century by vadim_t · · Score: 1

      So where's your list?

      Completely serious question. I do agree Obama was the wrong choice. So who would you have chosen instead?

    58. Re:Century by lennier · · Score: 1

      It was blatantly given to someone who had not earned it and did not deserve it, and that person is Henry Kissinger.

      Hey, that's unfair. When it came to "make love not war", Henry might not have been the kissingest, but...

      --
      You are not a brain: http://books.google.com/books?id=2oV61CeDx-YC
    59. Re:Century by MightyYar · · Score: 1

      I don't think Al Gore's work on Global Warming deserves derision for being a stretch to tie to peace. If you take AGW as a given, then the connection to peace is pretty straightforward. Doing nothing about AGW = rising sea levels. Rising sea levels = hundreds of millions of displaced, angry people. Hundreds of millions of displaced, angry people = war.

      There are plenty of real-life, real-world, non-hypothetical wars and conflicts that deserve the committee's attention. Giving to a guy who is not in any way associated with peace efforts of any kind is a stretch. Not as bad as giving the prize to a terrorist, but definitely a bigger stretch than giving to a guy (Obama) who is at least directly connected to the war/peace-making process.

      To address your thesis more directly, what if I propose an alternate future than yours, where the threat of rising sea levels actually gives people a common plight and goal, and therefore reduces war from current levels? What if it changes the climate drastically and makes the Sahara fertile again? Yes, I agree that the science behind anthropogenic global warming is sound, but I also realize that these models cannot possibly predict the effects of a higher temperature to the point which you can predict future events - let alone the balance of war and peace.

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    60. Re:Century by _0xd0ad · · Score: 1

      AM and PM would start at 0 and go to 11:59, rather than starting at 12:00, going up to 12:59, rolling over to 1:00, then counting up to 11:59

      You got that horribly mangled. Using 24-hour notation and standard mathematical inequality signs:

      00:00 = PM
      00:00 < AM <= 12:00
      12:00 < PM <= 23:59

    61. Re:Century by lakeland · · Score: 1

      Well, lets say 'in the last 100 years'. How does that work for you?

    62. Re:Century by lakeland · · Score: 1

      Reading is so over-rated

      --

      2009 recipient

      Obama. Good job, you got that one right.

      the 2010 winner

      Xiaobo. Got that one too.

      the man who is imprisoning the 2010 winner

      Hu Jintao

      [Obama] hosting a dinner for [Hu Jintao]

      Seems he read correctly

    63. Re:Century by Dishevel · · Score: 1

      No one.
      Not Obama.
      Not anyone else.

      --
      Why is it so hard to only have politicians for a few years, then have them go away?
    64. Re:Century by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm pretty sure he got it for not being George W. Bush...

    65. Re:Century by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It would be ironic, if the world were a simple place.

    66. Re:Century by vadim_t · · Score: 1

      So then peacemakers are rare after all?

    67. Re:Century by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Reading is so over-rated

      Indeed. Why don't you click parent a few times until you find the comment that GP was replying to, and read it again. Here, I'll quote it:

      How exactly is President Obama imprisoning Liu Xiaobo? Why is that comment 'insightful', all I see is a 'dog-wistle' comment designed to appeal to talk-radio supplicants.

      So, how done do you like your crow?

      /me rolls eyes

    68. Re:Century by Culture20 · · Score: 1

      perspective perspective perspective... I don't believe Yassir Araffat was the head of terrorist organization no more than G. W. Bush was. I was bought up in India, and countless times in my history books I read how those who bombed the british rule and parliament were heroes, they still are today with countless statues all over the city. Today you call Arafat a terrorist, if Palestine is liberated he will go down as a hero.

      British parliament versus innocent women and children... I believe he was the head of a terrorist organization. No warrior hero is he.

    69. Re:Century by Culture20 · · Score: 1

      As added point to my previous comment. Remember that Lenin liberated Russia from the czars and while he was a hero in the ussr, he is a monster everywhere else.

    70. Re:Century by TheSambassador · · Score: 1

      http://whatthefuckhasobamadonesofar.com/ It seems like the "Obama hasn't done anything" thing is barely true. It's just that most people don't care/hear about what he HAS done for some reason.

    71. Re:Century by Will.Woodhull · · Score: 1

      And here I thought that Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize because he had the audacity to write a successful and inspiring book that took a lot of the conflicts that were going on in the world and reframed their underlying questions in ways that avoided the childish "us versus them" mentality that underlies wars. His election pretty much confirmed that a large number of Americans felt that he was offering ideas that promised to move the world toward a better place, and the way his election was celebrated in many foreign lands suggests that his message was not just for the American voters, but that he also spoke for a large and diverse world-wide audience.

      I realize that this opinion is not espoused by Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh and is therefore highly suspect in some quarters. But that is true of a lot of other fact-based opinions.

      --
      Will
    72. Re:Century by Culture20 · · Score: 1

      I don't think "promoting fraternity" and "reducing standing armies" are automatically good things. Promoting fraternity could be putting down a revolt against a tyrannic government, and reducing armies could come as a result of aggression.

      it's not the Nobel Good Prize.

    73. Re:Century by TheRaven64 · · Score: 3, Informative

      Go back to that page. Find a timeline, or a list of things with dates attached. Filter them for those that have actually had an impact on world peace. Now, of those, how many happened before he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize? He took office on the 20th of January, and was awarded the prize on the 10th of December, but the nominations closed on the first of February, meaning he'd been in office for less than two weeks before he was nominated and less than a year before he won.

      He might deserve a Nobel Peace Prize in a few years. He got one in 2009 for not being George W Bush. Compare this 'achievement' to those of some of the previous winners, like Martin Luther King, Jr., Desmond Mpilo Tutu or Nelson Mandela.

      Mind you, since they jointly awarded it to Yasser Arafat, Yitzhak Rabin, and Shimon, for deciding to take a little break from their war it's not had a great deal of credibility.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    74. Re:Century by DoomHamster · · Score: 1

      Ooh! Ooh! I want to hop on the pedantic train too! If you don't specify the scope of the decade, technically the decade starts...NOW!.........aaaaaand NOW!...and again..................NOW! Hee Hee! This is fun!






      NOW!

    75. Re:Century by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      Not to mention the collective award to International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War in 1985.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    76. Re:Century by NoOneInParticular · · Score: 1
      Given the definition of the reasons for getting the prize:

      ...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

      Obama certainly qualifies for 'the best work for fraternity between nations', by not being Bush. I know, I know, Bush could not have been re-elected simply for not being eligible anymore, but Obama also qualifies for not being McCain. McCain would've been a signal to the world that the US is Bush, and that this would have utterly destroyed any 'fraternity between nations', namely between the US and the rest of world. So, on two counts, not being Bush, and not being McCain, Obama has done the best work for fraternity between nations in 2009. True, it's actually the people of the United States that voted for Obama that deserve the Nobel Peace Prize, but given the last congress elections, they don't deserve that honor anyway (and those Norwegians probably figured that out). Obama has not voted Republican (though many democrats did). He deserves the prize for not being Bush, nor McCain, nor a Republican. Yes, that's it, he's not a Republican. That's worth a prize, right?

      Yes, we in the rest of the world truly detest Republicans and don't fraternize with them. Reagan is still considered a complete asswipe.

    77. Re:Century by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Has he been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize yet? Because it sounds to me like he's done a hell of a lot more for peace and freedom than Wikileaks has.

    78. Re:Century by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If it adds anything, I believe Bush to have been a terrorist, if viewed by anyone other than an american. And I'm in America anyway.

    79. Re:Century by Will.Woodhull · · Score: 1

      Except of course he did write a somewhat inspiring book, which was arguably the reason that a major political contingent coalesced behind him, leading to his nomination and then his election. The celebrations of his election outside of the USA pretty much confirms that the vision he presented was not a parochial USA only thing, but touched a universal chord.

      To successfully run for President in the USA based on vision is rare thing. Among the Presidents that I have directly experienced, JFK might also have done that, but I was still in grade school at the time and thus not an objective observer.

      --
      Will
    80. Re:Century by tnk1 · · Score: 1

      Well, the Nobel Prize only gives you about 1.4 million dollars. That's not even close to what Obama's corporate overlords give him.

      If the Nobel Prize committee is going to get into the practice of using their endowment for bribery, they need to learn how it is done. Perhaps more corporate sponsorship....

      As for Wikileaks, I'm not sure what they are doing would be strictly considered "creating world peace". However, they have provided some interesting reading material. Perhaps they should get the Prize for Literature as a consolation if that Peace Prize doesn't work out for them.

    81. Re:Century by xbytor · · Score: 1

      and Linus Pauling 1962

    82. Re:Century by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

      Nope. you get the Nobel Peace Prize for condemning the US. Carter gave a anti-US speach, and he got the prize. Obama gives talks comdemning the power the US has, and he gets the prize. Wikileaks spreads bad press about the US, so they get the prize. If you want the complete set of Nobel prizes, you just have to topple the US, and they will fall over themselves to shower you with prizes.

    83. Re:Century by Chapter80 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I've explained this before: the Nobel Peace Prize was given to Obama specifically for not being George W. Bush!

      You just named the qualifications of 7 Billion people.

      Where do I pick up my Nobel Peace Prize?

    84. Re:Century by PRMan · · Score: 1

      U2 Lead Singer Bono deserves it 10X more than Obama. And that's just another celebrity off the top of my head.

      --
      Peter predicted that you would "deliberately forget" creation 2000 years ago...
    85. Re:Century by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Wait what? Who the hell are you replying to?
      The thread in summary, first this was posted:

      To add the superfluousness of the nobel, the irony of the 2009 recipient hosting a dinner for the man who is imprisoning the 2010 winner was lost on the populace.

      Then some idiot, rednip, comes along and fails to parse the sentence correctly, he therefore thinks the above sentence says that Obama is imprisoning Liu Xiaobo. The actual sentence says that Obama hosted a dinner for Hu Jintao (who imprisoned Liu Xiaobo):

      How exactly is President Obama imprisoning Liu Xiaobo? Why is that comment 'insightful', all I see is a 'dog-wistle' comment designed to appeal to talk-radio supplicants.

      To which a helpful AC replied with a step by step guide to parsing an English sentence. You appear to have replied to that AC with the exact same break-down of the sentence except you book-ended it with "Reading is overrated" and "Seems he read correctly" at the end. Who? Who read correctly? Rednip didn't.

    86. Re:Century by tsm_sf · · Score: 1

      The Nobel Peace Prize means absolutely nothing now. It was blatantly given to someone who had not earned it and did not deserve it, and that person is Barack Obama.

      Are you kidding? He won the award chiefly for not being George Bush. In fact, you could go a bit further and think of the medal as being awarded to the American public for electing a sane adult for a change (please don't tell me that GWB was the absolute brightest mind the conservatives had to work with).

      Oh and if you don't like it why not invent your own explosive compound and then react in horror to the destruction it causes by establishing your own peace prize.
      What's that? You can't? Well, maybe your tears are volatile.

      --
      Literalism isn't a form of humor, it's you being irritating.
    87. Re:Century by Ellis+D.+Tripp · · Score: 1

      Well, if you consider physicians as "scientists", then you need to include Albert Schweitzer (1952), and Doctors Without Borders (1999)

      --
      Remember "News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters"? Help make it a reality again! http://soylentnews.org
    88. Re:Century by Martin+Blank · · Score: 2

      Nobel Prize candidates must be living. The young man died of his burns in early January.

      --
      You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
    89. Re:Century by ebs16 · · Score: 1

      This is nothing new. The Nobel Peace Prize has been meaningless since it was given to Arafat in 1994.

    90. Re:Century by BitZtream · · Score: 1

      Thats what you get for listening to 'them' rather than paying attention to what politicians have actually done versus they say they've done.

      I've learned in politics that the best thing to do is vote for the guy who does exactly what you don't want done. You can safely assume none of the things they tell you they'll do during their campaigning will get done, so you pick the guy who you least agree with, that will earn you the most benefit, treat it like opposite world and pay attention and politics are amazingly predictable.

      --
      Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
    91. Re:Century by sznupi · · Score: 1

      Lenin? A charismatic leader of early days for sure, but he wasn't even around long enough. His biggest folly was allowing the reign of monsters like Stalin or Dzierzynski (but check out their biographies - those men were created by their times; and BTW a bit soap opera-like with Dzierzynski - Jozef Pilsudski was one of his classmates)

      And ironically ... during the reign of Stalin, the life expectancy in the area of Soviet Union increased dramatically (that's despite all the victims!); generally, bringing a very backwards, impoverished country up to the status of a superpower.

      Or another humor of history: yes, strong censorship. But also the first largely literate generation.

      --
      One that hath name thou can not otter
    92. Re:Century by Rakshasa+Taisab · · Score: 1

      They actually wanted to give it to Lio Xiaobo that year, but had to go for a second lesser candidate due to strong political opposition. Obama was just a stand-in 'chosen' due to the Chinese.

      Was the 2009 Nobel Prize award a bit lame? Well, there's the reason why.

      --
      - These characters were randomly selected.
    93. Re:Century by TapeCutter · · Score: 1

      "Worthy" is subjective. Funny thing, but no matter who they pick for the peace prize people will fight over it.

      --
      And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
    94. Re:Century by end15 · · Score: 1

      Just to clarify Obama was given the peace prize for his Cairo Speech in 2009 known as "A New Beginning". Although there may have been people who deserved the prize more than Obama, that speech did have an important impact on western relations with Muslim leaders around the world. You may not agree with their decision but your assertion that Obama had not done anything seems myopic.

      --
      All glory to the Hypnotoad!
    95. Re:Century by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Obama campaign and his work leading to his election was one of the biggest lies to happen in the world at that time, most specificially in generating a positve image for America and hope for an improved world culture.

      FTFY.

    96. Re:Century by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I fail to see the irony. The fact that he is willing to invite people like that to dinner is the reason he was given the nobel prize. Truly promoting peace means promoting it with everyone, not just other people that also promote peace.

    97. Re:Century by Idbar · · Score: 1

      On the bright side, at least facebook is not a nominee... Yet.

    98. Re:Century by russotto · · Score: 1

      I was bought up in India, and countless times in my history books I read how those who bombed the british rule and parliament were heroes

      That's just because it was the English. They're odd that way. They've got a statue of Oliver Cromwell outside parliament. You might have heard of the gentleman; he overthrew the British monarchy, dissolved parliament (more than once) and ruled by decree, and was, after his death and the restoration of the monarchy, dug up and his corpse beheaded. Yet outside parliament, near another statue of Richard the Lion-Hearted, there's Cromwell's statue.

    99. Re:Century by krishkrish · · Score: 1

      I am not sure wikileaks has dome much for "fraternity between nations".

    100. Re:Century by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Everyone", you say? I'm sure your dinner invitation was just lost in the mail. Perhaps if you took some hostages too you'd be bumped up the invite list?

    101. Re:Century by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jHe5OjAm_E

    102. Re:Century by DriedClexler · · Score: 2

      You weren't happy with your Time Person of the Year, 2006 award?

      --
      Information theory is life. The rest is just the KL divergence.
    103. Re:Century by Draek · · Score: 1

      Only now? check up the list of winners on Wikipedia, both it and the Literature prize have been little but tools for political shills for at least half a century now.

      --
      No problem is insoluble in all conceivable circumstances.
    104. Re:Century by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nice theory, but 12 AM is midnight (0000) and 12 PM is noon (1200).

    105. Re:Century by dbIII · · Score: 1

      It was blatantly given to someone who had not earned it and did not deserve it, and that person is Barack Obama

      So why does that annoy you more than Arafat or some of the other choices that would be worse by any measurement?
      The peace prize upsets a lot of people nearly every time it is awarded.

    106. Re:Century by bogjobber · · Score: 1

      The Peace Prize has always been more about politics than anything else. They gave the Peace Prize to Yasser Arafat, an infamous terrorist and a man that started more than a few armed conflicts in the Middle East (not that I'm totally pro-Israel, but the man definitely was not a peaceful person). It was given to Anwar El Sadat, for the Camp David Accords, even though Sadat had initiated a couple wars with Israel. It was given to Henry Kissinger, even though Kissinger masterminded the invasion and bombing of Cambodia during the Vietnam War (which was instrumental in allowing the Khmer Rouge to take power).

      So if you were taking the Nobel Peace Prize very seriously before they gave it to Obama, you were a little deluded anyway. It's always been that way. At least Obama didn't get it for starting and then stopping a war.

    107. Re:Century by lxs · · Score: 1

      For the so-called Leader of the Free world, his accomplishments look terribly parochial to me. Gitmo is still open, the administration is on the fence about Egypt, and the US is still occupying two sovereign countries. But some obscure park gets more funding. Woo!

    108. Re:Century by lxs · · Score: 1

      They also gave it to Nelson Mandela, who was head of the ANC, a terrorist organization according to the US.

    109. Re:Century by Talla · · Score: 1

      No, he got it because Torbjorn Jagland really likes being in the spotlight. Unfortunately he's not very good at politics, so he practically got kicked out of the important spots in the Labor party when they lost big after a period with him as prime minister. Getting the most powerful man in the world to visit Norway was an excellent alternative way to get attention. The way he sucked up to Obama in the Norwegian news media was just sickening to watch.

    110. Re:Century by alnjmshntr · · Score: 1

      Nelson Mandela was also the head of a terrorist organisation, why don't you mention how giving him the Nobel prize has tarnished their credibility?

      --
      If I had created the world I wouldn't have messed about with butterflies and daffodils. I would have started with lasers
    111. Re:Century by mcvos · · Score: 1

      And as the recepient of the prize is supposed to go "to the person who 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."

      Wiki leaks certainly didn't do anything to promote fraternity between nations or reduce standing armies or even promote peace.

      Obama actually did, though. He held some nice speeches in various Arab countries that did increase fraternity between nations. It softened many people's negative view of the US. Of course it also created some high expectations that he wasn't able to live up to.

    112. Re:Century by mcvos · · Score: 1

      I've never had the advantage of being in the same room with both of them, but from their policies, I do have some trouble telling them apart.

    113. Re:Century by mcvos · · Score: 1

      Obama had done nothing. Not nothing lasting, not nothing good, but nothing. He just got elected.

      He didn't do nothing. He held speeches. He held speeches in the Arab world, offering a stretched out hand, to reconcile their differences, and promise that things would be different in the future.

      Whether that's worthy of a peace price is questionable, but it's more than merely getting elected.

    114. Re:Century by Lisandro · · Score: 1

      It was given to Henry Kissinger as well, but then again, some worthy individuals like Mother Teresa or Nelson Mandela received it too. I think they really dropped the ball when they didn't award it to Mahatma Gandhi though.

    115. Re:Century by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      You jest but actually much of the modern world would not exist without high explosives. They are mainly used in mining and demolition. Explosive bolts and self-destruct are both essential for spacecraft.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    116. Re:Century by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you don't specify the scope of the decade, it's assumed that you mean the current decade, starting the first decade on the beginning of the calendar and starting a new decade every 10 years thereafter. IOW, the current decade started on January 1, 2011.

    117. Re:Century by boxwood · · Score: 1

      Obama prevented a war with Iran by being elected. If John McCain was elected president the US would have bombed Iran. But since Obama got elected Iran hasn't been bombed.

      Yeah maybe if Iran gets the stuxnet situation worked out and their nuclear weapons program back on track maybe the US will have to bomb Iran sometime in the future. But we at least have a chance for peace as opposed to certain war if Obama hadn't been elected.

    118. Re:Century by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Unfortunately, Obama has not done quite as well at not being Bush than many of us had hoped...

      Meaning he still shouldn't have received it. Regardless, the Nobel Peace Prize should be given to a person for who they ARE rather than who they AREN'T.

    119. Re:Century by GigG · · Score: 1

      Which is to be expected when you give the award for "saying" things instead of "doing" things.

      --
      Is buying a Harley Davidson as your first motorcycle since you were 16 at age 49 a midlife crisis issue?
    120. Re:Century by ikeman32 · · Score: 1

      I bet this really chafes the state department's ass. I love it even if wikileaks doesn't get the award.

    121. Re:Century by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      That chip on your shoulder is weighing you down, little diddums.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    122. Re:Century by sznupi · · Score: 1

      When did anybody do anything that resulted in a lasting peace?

      --
      One that hath name thou can not otter
    123. Re:Century by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      Kissinger was awarded the prize for helping to negotiate a cease-fire in Vietnam. The agreements failed. In hindsight, he may not have been deserving of the prize. But he did something. Obama had done nothing. Not nothing lasting, not nothing good, but nothing. He just got elected.

      That's like giving a medal to a burglar who sends back some of the goods he's stolen.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    124. Re:Century by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      Let's sum it up this way. You post is politically motivated plain and simple

      No, it's not political, because he's 100% right and you're 120%+ wrong.. Barack Obama is a Muslim, a foreigner, a socialist and a terrorist: these aren't opinions, they are facts, like night follows day, leaving the gold standard and putting fluoride in the water emasculated the virile core of America, and the Illuminati are now just a short step away from controlling the world.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    125. Re:Century by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      Any sentence that starts with the phrase "U2 Lead Singer Bono deserves" should follow it with "to be horsewhipped"..

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    126. Re:Century by Drugmath · · Score: 2

      Well, apparently you tricked a couple people there, enough to get modded Insightful at least.

      As I'm sure you're well aware, Kissinger was awarded the Nobel specifically for his role in the negotiation of the Paris Peace Accords (the 1973 ceasefire and withdrawal of US troops from Vietnam). Whether he should have declined the award like Le Duc Tho did is another story, but irrelevant to the discussion at hand.

      I'm not sure that you can make a claim that Obama had done anything remotely similar when he was awarded the Prize.

    127. Re:Century by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      spot on - that did a lot of damage to the NPP. The NPP is a complete joke. Hard for liberals to understand that statement because it deals with logic and common sense.

    128. Re:Century by Locke2005 · · Score: 1

      Well, the Nobel Prize only gives you about 1.4 million dollars. That's not even close to what Obama's corporate overlords give him.

      [Citation needed]

      --
      I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
    129. Re:Century by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Let me guess. You DIDN'T vote for Obama.

      Other random people have won the Peace Prize before, including Yasser Arafat. This year a Chinese man who strongly advocated a more democratic China won it. It's not hard to make the argument that a more democratic China will not be a peaceful ordeal.

      Quit whining; the Peace Prize is, and has never been, an objective award. It's the least impressive of the Nobel Prizes, in my opinion.

    130. Re:Century by Geminii · · Score: 1

      The Oval Office. Getting in is your problem. :)

    131. Re:Century by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The value of the Nobel Peace peace prize is based on what you personally have done to deserve it. If you've taken great strides to achieve and facilitate peace, then when people hear that you got the Nobel Peace prize for stopping a war, they would be pretty impressed. If you say got a peace prize for .. promoting global warming, something which arguably could've gone to many other people who do much more, it kinda loses it's potency.

  2. I second - but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...anonymously, as I am in the USA

    1. Re:I second - but... by beefnog · · Score: 3, Informative

      I second, and I am openly in the USA :)

    2. Re:I second - but... by kenholm3 · · Score: 1, Funny

      It won't be anonymous when Assange gets the /. leaks...

      --
      God is good all the time! -K
    3. Re:I second - but... by eepok · · Score: 1

      I'm with you! Anonymously!

    4. Re:I second - but... by mosb1000 · · Score: 4, Funny

      . . . and he was never heard from again.

    5. Re:I second - but... by Fibe-Piper · · Score: 1

      Or, are you with him (or her), anonymously?

      --
      I went to battle M.C. Escher, but drew a blank.
    6. Re:I second - but... by Kneo24 · · Score: 1

      Oh no, we'll hear from him again, but there will be a drastic shift in his views and beliefs.

    7. Re:I second - but... by martin-boundary · · Score: 4, Funny

      . . . and he was never heard from again.

      Can I have his IPv4 address?

    8. Re:I second - but... by flaming+error · · Score: 1

      The world mourned, and was left with only egg nog.

    9. Re:I second - but... by eepok · · Score: 2

      Damn it!

    10. Re:I second - but... by blair1q · · Score: 1

      Yes. In fact, you can have a beowulf cluster of them.

    11. Re:I second - but... by PRMan · · Score: 1

      OK, that was really funny.

      --
      Peter predicted that you would "deliberately forget" creation 2000 years ago...
    12. Re:I second - but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What about all the people who work for US defense contractors who were openly told that if they or anyone in their family were to browse wikileaks - at home or at work - that they would lose their job? Do you think this is a joke to them? Some of us really are anonymous for a reason. And yes, we are cowards. For now.

    13. Re:I second - but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I second, and I am openly in the USA :)

      Oh no, a couple terrorists.

    14. Re:I second - but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It was already allocated to the guy who spoofed it in the first place in order to post he message above.

    15. Re:I second - but... by MidoriKid · · Score: 1

      If Wikileaks wins will the USA boycott the whole thing?

  3. Just great by Lev13than · · Score: 4, Funny

    If Wikileaks has been nominated, does that mean the actual prize going to be won by Mark Zuckerberg?

    --
    When you have nothing left to burn you must set yourself on fire
    1. Re:Just great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You don't read names very often, do you...

    2. Re:Just great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Woosh!

    3. Re:Just great by Khopesh · · Score: 2

      I agree; I thought Nobel Prizes could only be awarded to individuals, which appears to indicate Assange even if he is just a figurehead. As he said on Saturday Night Live,

      What are the differences between Mark Zuckerberg and me? I give private information on corporations to you for free, and I’m a villain. Zuckerberg gives your private information to corporations for money and he’s Man of the Year.

      --
      Use my userscript to add story images to Slashdot. There's no going back.
    4. Re:Just great by Kneo24 · · Score: 1

      I thought the same too, but after looking through the list on wikipedia there are winners who are an institution and then a person won in the same year. I imagine the person is most likely a figure head of that institution, or someone really important who helped said institution.

    5. Re:Just great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      no, Ballmer wouldn't allow it

    6. Re:Just great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or perhaps Bin Laden - lets give him one for not blowing up any towers in nearly 10 years!

    7. Re:Just great by jmauro · · Score: 1

      The Person\Org award is a relatively new invention. In the olden days they just straight up gave it to the "International Societies of the Red Cross and Red Crescent".

    8. Re:Just great by ElusiveJoe · · Score: 1

      It's a whistle-blower prize, not a tower-blower. Although, if you think about it, Nobel did invent the dynamite. Guess it would be fair to have one more award...

    9. Re:Just great by Binky_the_Zakalwe · · Score: 1

      You do know that's wasn't Assange himself on Saturday Night Live? That was an actor in a comedy sketch. I can understand in 50 years time when this has all blown over quotes and get misattributed to people, but that sketch was 4 or 5 weeks ago now...

    10. Re:Just great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, the Nobel Peace Prize can perfectly well be awarded to organizations, and has been in the past. Many of these has been shared between the organization and a front figure, but not all. The 1999 prize was awarded to Doctors Without Borders and in 1988 to United Nations Peace Keeping Forces. Red Cross has three Nobel Prizes if I don't remember wrong, and UN also has several through different functions.

    11. Re:Just great by SolitaryMan · · Score: 1

      For this kind of prize -- a very social one -- it actually makes sense.

      --
      May Peace Prevail On Earth
  4. What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by xophos · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Just look who got that one before.

    1. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by H0p313ss · · Score: 4, Informative

      Just look who got that one before.

      2010 - LIU XIAOBO for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China.

      2009 - BARACK OBAMA for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.

      2008 - MARTTI AHTISAARI for his important efforts, on several continents and over more than three decades, to resolve international conflicts.

      2007 - INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE (IPCC) and ALBERT ARNOLD ( AL) GORE JR. for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change.

      2006 - MUHAMMAD YUNUS and GRAMEEN BANK for their efforts to create economic and social development from below.

      2005 - INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY and MOHAMED ELBARADEI for their efforts to prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes and to ensure that nuclear energy for peaceful purposes is used in the safest possible way.

      2004 - WANGARI MAATHAI for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace

      2003 - SHIRIN EBADI for her efforts for democracy and human rights

      2002 - JIMMY CARTER JR., former President of the United States of America, for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development

      2001- UNITED NATIONS & KOFI ANNAN, United Nations Secretary General

      2000 - KIM DAE JUNG for his work for democracy and human rights in South Korea and in East Asia in general, and for peace and reconciliation with North Korea in particular.

      1999 - DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS (MÉDECINS SANS FRONTIÈRES), Brussels, Belgium.

      1998 - JOHN HUME and DAVID TRIMBLE for their efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict in Northern Ireland.

      1997 - INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO BAN LANDMINES (ICBL) and JODY WILLIAMS for their work for the banning and clearing of anti-personnel mines.

      1996 - The prize was awarded jointly to: CARLOS FELIPE XIMENES BELO and JOSE RAMOS-HORTA for their work towards a just and peaceful solution to the conflict in East Timor.

      1995 - The prize was awarded jointly to: JOSEPH ROTBLAT and to the PUGWASH CONFERENCES ON SCIENCE AND WORLD AFFAIRS for their efforts to diminish the part played by nuclear arms in international politics and in the longer run to eliminate such arms.

      1994 - The prize was awarded joinly to: YASSER ARAFAT , Chairman of the Executive Committee of the PLO, President of the Palestinian National Authority. SHIMON PERES , Foreign Minister of Israel. YITZHAK RABIN , Prime Minister of Israel. for their efforts to create peace in the Middle East.

      1993 - The prize was awarded jointly to: NELSON MANDELA Leader of the ANC. FREDRIK WILLEM DE KLERK President of the Republic of South Africa.

      1992 - RIGOBERTA MENCHU TUM, Guatemala. Campaigner for human rights, especially for indigenous peoples.

      1991 - AUNG SAN SUU KYI, Burma. Oppositional leader, human rights advocate.

      1990 - MIKHAIL SERGEYEVICH GORBACHEV , President of the USSR, helped to bring the Cold War to an end.

      1989 - THE 14TH DALAI LAMA (TENZIN GYATSO) , Tibet. Religious and political leader of the Tibetan people.

      Clearly a wretched hive of scum and villainy... if you're a conservative.

      --
      XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
    2. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Clearly a wretched hive of scum and villainy... if you're a conservative.

      I think you made a point you didn't even know you were making. These awards are clearly in large part politically motivated.

    3. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by xophos · · Score: 1

      I stand corrected.
      I just had Obama freshly in memory.
      Most of the others probably deserved it.

    4. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by qmaqdk · · Score: 1

      Wonder why they never put Gandhi on that list.

      --
      My UID is prime. Hah!
    5. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by trippyd · · Score: 1

      Your point is valid, but they do not deny this. It is sometimes intended as a political statement:
      http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/carter-awarded-nobel-peace-prize-while-chairman-attacks-bush-policies-607982.html

    6. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by CyberK · · Score: 1

      Because he was killed by a very bad man before the world recognized how awesome he was, and the prize can't be awarded posthumously.

    7. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by darjen · · Score: 1

      2010 LIU XIAOBO - ardent supporter of President Bush's wars. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liu_xiabo#Political_views

      2009 BARACK OBAMA - escalator of Bush's wars, clearly has made them his own.

      1919 Woodrow Wilson - drug the US into the first world war based on lies, despite running on keeping US out.

      1925 Austen Chamberlain - British war imperialist who opposed Irish independence.
                      Charles Gates Dawes - For his collecting war reparations from Germany

      Lots of other warmongers on the list, which I'm too lazy to add. There might be a few who honestly deserved it but there are more than a few who led campaigns that are the exact opposite of peace.

    8. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by bracher · · Score: 1

      Clearly a wretched hive of scum and villainy... if you're a conservative.

      I'm pretty sure they were talking about 1973 when Henry Kissinger won the award. http://www.zpub.com/un/wanted-hkiss.html

    9. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by ClickOnThis · · Score: 2

      Wonder why they never put Gandhi on that list.

      He never won, but he was nominated five times with the last nomination coming days before he was murdered.

      --
      If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
    10. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      As a conservative I disagree - there's only a couple there I feel are truly bad. That includes Yasser Arafat, Barack Obama and the IPCC. Some of them are rather stupid, such as Grameen Bank and Yunus who if I remember correctly is basically corrupt.

      The opposition is somewhat more on principled grounds as the "Nobel Committee" has basically consisted of or been headed by senior Labour Party politicians. It is ludicrous to say that a career politician can somehow play a role in the Nobel Peace Price selection process whilst ejecting their political and ideological stance towards the world for a temporary period of time. I actually wouldn't mind if it was someone who had the same point of view but had never been a politician in their life took part. Norway is far more "clan-oriented" than what many countries perceive, such as the current Labour party prime minister being the son of a former Labour party politician, and acts like these simply fit very well with the (in my opinion very correct) picture of a monopoly and universalisation of power.

      A further point that justifies and puts a tangible edge to the criticism is that Nobel's will was very specific in that the prize should go to someone who (as closely as I can recall) has worked 'towards the reduction of standing armies and enactment of peace treaties'. Not "made people happier", not "tried to spread joy", but basically contributed a great deal towards a reduction in the number of people who hold guns and wear uniforms. This has been extended to nuclear weapons naturally, but things like Grameen is completely far out. The Arafat/Peres was highly controversial in its time because it was basically "based on hope", kind of an incentive and a political act of support, but since then the Labour party has pretty much removed all stops towards using the prize as a policy tool.

      This has actually been the cause of some controversy in Norway, and books have been written arguing that the current prize is basically hijacked and completely different from everything Nobel said and wanted.

    11. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by nagnamer · · Score: 1

      Clearly a wretched hive of scum and villainy... if you're a conservative.

      Or if you live outside US.

      --
      Every harsh word you utter has the right address. It only sounds harsh because the one on the envelope is the wrong one.
    12. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by disambiguated · · Score: 2

      These awards are clearly in large part politically motivated.

      Yeah, clearly.... Because there's no way there could be an actual correlation between political views and "the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses."

    13. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Because he was Indian, a lawyer and politically motivated (so they claim).

      The prize however was cancelled the year after Gandhis death. Since the prize cannot be given to a non-living person, many people believe Gandhi was the winner that year. Maybe Wikileaks can shed some light on this ;-)

    14. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think what happened was that Gandhi died before they got around to it, and they don't give prizes posthumously. I also think there was one year where they awarded no peace prize in honor of Gandhi.

    15. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by elrous0 · · Score: 2

      I wonder if, if they win, the U.S. will boycott like the Chinese did last year. It would be worth over-inflating Assange's ego just to see that epic level of hypocrisy on display.

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    16. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      These awards are clearly in large part politically motivated.

      No shit, it's a fucking peace prize.

    17. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It went political right about the time everyone went batshit insane of BOOOOSH. We have no use for any of them, including the ex-pres fratboi. Keep up the good work, tool.

    18. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Please tell me what was exceptional about Obama in the first two weeks of his presidency when he was nominated, let alone since. Usually, you have to actually DO something to get the award, but Obama's nomination just exposes the left wing bias of the board.

    19. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by santiagodraco · · Score: 0

      Very well said H0p313ss.

    20. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by H0p313ss · · Score: 1

      There might be a few who honestly deserved it but there are more than a few who led campaigns that are the exact opposite of peace.

      Quite the opposite, the vast majority are highly deserving and a handful should never have been included. Even the examples you came up with are open for debate.

      --
      XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
    21. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by H0p313ss · · Score: 2

      Clearly a wretched hive of scum and villainy... if you're a conservative.

      I'm pretty sure they were talking about 1973 when Henry Kissinger won the award.

      Yes, there was a damn dirty shame. Especially with people like Roméo Dallaire never getting any recognition.

      --
      XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
    22. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by Frangible · · Score: 1

      It is ironic. Gandhi gave his life for peace and change, and never won. Obama won without doing anything at all.

      It should be based on an individual and their actions and choices. Yet, it is more like an international high school popularity contest.

      I have seen this before in every kind of organization, large and small. Contributions and objective change are ignored, and recognition is "merited" to people based on emotion alone.

      Unless there is an objective quantification used in this process, it will continue to be driven by emotion. Because that's what we do, when we fail to have systems in place to mitigate the effects of emotional decision making.

      Nothing changed with Al Gore, Arafat, or Obama-- the selection process is as it always was. Flawed, subjective, and rooted entirely in emotion. The entire system was never objective. So will Assange win? I have no idea. But it will have little to do with any sort of objective, quantified way that you could measure what he did or did not do.

    23. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by darjen · · Score: 1

      Sorry, but you're wrong. Giving the prize to enthusiastic warmongers just totally destroys the credibility of someone who is supposedly trying to promote peace. And there are more than a handful who have won the prize in the past 100 years, many of whom I didn't even list. You can't be promoting wars and be for peace at the same time. This is the purest example of orwellian doublethink.

    24. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by Steauengeglase · · Score: 1

      Easy, he got us out of the Bush administration.

      Yes, I'm being silly, but there were a lot of people on the left and on the right who honestly wondered if Bush was going to leave office or just declare an eternal state of emergency.

    25. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by Paracelcus · · Score: 0

      The only one who definitely does not belong there is Obama, he's turned out to be just one more example of America picking lousy leaders.

      --
      I killed da wabbit -Elmer Fudd
    26. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by thetoadwarrior · · Score: 1

      Do you think a Nobel peace prize should go towards people who cater to corporations over citizens, start questionable wars or would prefer people who have had cancer shouldn't be able to get healthcare? That would discredit the award immensely,

    27. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by deapbluesea · · Score: 1

      Clearly a wretched hive of scum and villainy... if you're a conservative.

      I see you are a pupil of Mr. Obama. You put words in people's mouths, erect a straw man argument based on your own stereotypes and misconceptions of those who disagree with you, then knock it down and congratulate yourself on your oratory and debate skill. I wonder if such behavior would classify as one who has 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"?

      --
      Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.
    28. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by O('_')O_Bush · · Score: 1

      The 1989 award to the Dalai Lama was in honor of Ghandi, because he died before he would have been awarded the prize, and the prize isn't awarded posthumously.

      --
      while(1) attack(People.Sandy);
    29. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by LWATCDR · · Score: 1

      "BARACK OBAMA for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."
      By getting elected? He was the jr. senator from Illinois and the President elect. exactly what did he do deserve that award?
        I know it is an old saw but face it that was just a political statement by the Nobel Committee that they really hated Bush.
       

      --
      See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
    30. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by O('_')O_Bush · · Score: 1

      You are fairly enthusiastic in your opinion, but hardly correct. There is a lot of debate among these candidates, and you contradicted yourself by denying so.

      Obama, for example, is part of the reason why we are de-escalating the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, why we are not at war with NK after its attacks on SK, and are not raising aggression with China and Russia over territorial disputes with Japan.

      I'm not a supporter of Obama, but you can hardly call him an enthusiastic warmonger. Unless you are confusing warmongering with diplomacy.

      --
      while(1) attack(People.Sandy);
    31. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

      That includes [...] the IPCC

      I want all physicists to have their prizes revoked, because I am skeptical about the laws of thermodynamics. It's all a big international conspiracy to prop up the energy companies you know, yeah. Brilliant amateur scientists have blown gaping in their theories, but these papers weren't accepted in their "peer-reviewed" science journals. When they want to suppress something from their cliquish little world of scientific acceptance they just label it "entirely unsound" or "hilariously wrong" and "disprove" it with their bullshit energy-conservationist theories, CENSORING it from the world of science! All a big scam to prop up the energy companies and get them more grant money, I tell you!

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
    32. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Clearly a wretched hive of scum and villainy... if you're a conservative.

      If you're a neocon, peace is a vice rather than a virtue, so they probably think of this as "The Nobel Peace Penalty". So they can be happy with the choice of recipients as well...

    33. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by danbert8 · · Score: 1

      Jimmy Carter... Given a peace prize in 2002 left office in 1981.
      Barack Obama... Given a peace prize in 2009, took office in 2009.

      Jimmy Carter was actually given the award for what he did which was well known 20 years after his term. Barack was given the award for the promises he made (and has not yet fulfilled) during his campaign. Has the war in Iraq ended? What about Afghanistan? If and when he ends at least one war, than I would say the prize was justified. I don't call getting elected president any more of an extraordinary effort for international diplomacy or cooperation than it was for Bush, Clinton, the other Bush, or Reagan after Carter.

      --
      Yes it's an anecdote! Were you expecting original research in a Slashdot comment?
    34. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by H0p313ss · · Score: 1

      Clearly a wretched hive of scum and villainy... if you're a conservative.

      I see you are a pupil of Mr. Obama. You put words in people's mouths, erect a straw man argument based on your own stereotypes and misconceptions of those who disagree with you, then knock it down and congratulate yourself on your oratory and debate skill. I wonder if such behavior would classify as one who has 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"?

      I show you 20 years of history and you pick out one example to support your dubious theory, fascinating. Any other bad habits we should be aware of?

      --
      XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
    35. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by Minwee · · Score: 2

      No kidding.

      2008 - MARTTI AHTISAARI - Who spent every single day from 1994 to 2000 seeking out and destroying molecular Oxygen, leaving behind poisonous Carbon Dioxide in its place.

      2002 - JIMMY CARTER JR., - A man who confessed to murdering millions of members of the arachis hypogaea family, and who has somehow avoided being tried for his crimes so far.

      It just gets worse the deeper you dig. Even the 14th Dalai Lama scores 800 milihitlers on the evilometer for his part in the mysterious deaths of his thirteen predecessors.

    36. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      not to mention Kissinger, who prolonged the Vietnam war to get Nixon reelected.

      Each day to facilitate the process by which the United States washes her hands of Vietnam someone has to give up his life so that the United States doesn't have to admit something that the entire world already knows, so that we can't say that we have made a mistake. Someone has to dies so that President Nixon won't be, and these are his words, "the first President to lose a war."

      We are asking Americans to think about that because how do you ask a man to be the last man to dies in Vietnam? How do ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake? But we are trying to do that, and we are doing it with thousands of rationalizations, and if you read carefully the President's last speech to the people of this country, you can see that he says, and says clearly: But the issue, gentlemen, the issue is communism, and the question is whether or not we will leave that country to the communists or whether or not we will try to give it hope to be a free people. But the point is they are not a free people now under us. They are not a free people, and we cannot fight communism all over the world, and I think we should have learned that lesson by now.

      -- John Kerry

      Maybe they've improved the process since then, but giving the prize to Kissinger was disgusting and it will forever sully the prize's reputation.

    37. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by H0p313ss · · Score: 1

      Clearly a wretched hive of scum and villainy... if you're a conservative.

      Or if you live outside US.

      I don't understand your point, the vast majority of the recipients are not Americans.

      --
      XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
    38. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by Machtyn · · Score: 1

      It is interesting that Gorbachev won the award, but Reagan was not jointly awarded. Hmmm. Now, there is clearly a group of undeserved in that list, but even a conservative would agree that the Dalai Lama, Aung San Suu Kyi, Nelson Mandela, Jody Williams, Doctors Without Borders, and Liu Xaiobo and a few others that I don't know much about are all deserving winners. It just seems that recently the award has been given to snub the conservative US.

    39. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by Obfuscant · · Score: 1

      Easy, he got us out of the Bush administration.

      Ahhh, another one of those who don't read the Constitution. No, Obama didn't get us out of "the Bush administration", the fact that the second term ended and a third was not possible did that, and that's in the Constitution.

      I bet you drove around with an "anyone but Bush" bumper sticker in the 2008 campaign.

      Yes, I'm being silly, but there were a lot of people on the left and on the right who honestly wondered if Bush was going to leave office or just declare an eternal state of emergency.

      No, there weren't. There was no honest belief that that would happen. There were scare and fear mongers who spouted it as if it were a fact, but nobody honestly believed it.

    40. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I noticed that you stopped at 1989. Why not go back further and include the like of Henry Kissigner?

    41. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by nagnamer · · Score: 0

      I don't understand your point, the vast majority of the recipients are not Americans.

      I wasn't referring to recipients.

      --
      Every harsh word you utter has the right address. It only sounds harsh because the one on the envelope is the wrong one.
    42. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Probably unlike you I do not take the view that everyone who works in a different direction than myself is either stupid, so evil that they should be locked up, or mad.

      I don't support the IPCC because of the action they are/were trying to get the world to take, in terms of its guaranteed cost compared to its likely results in light of the probability of cause.

      Let's take probability of cause first: in extremely brief, everything you say is based on research conducted by scientists. If scientists are strongly biased they are in my view likely to consciously (did you see the normalization of temperature records on old tree rings and the rejection of recent tree rings?) or subconsciously influence the results, even quite strongly. When you have a small field dominated by statistical models based on "skill of use" and "the art of the research" (did you see the emails relating to the years-long model grunt?) then the scope for such biases to have an effect is pretty large. How do we know those biases were there other than asking for a signed letter from every scientist in the world? Because certain of the scientists had a certain mindset showing an extreme degree of bias, and the way communities work is that if someone is effectively mad or evil in the eyes of other parts of that community, those individuals will tend to be thrown out, highlighted, somehow ostracised or rejected. The UK scientists were a respected and often defended part of the world community of climate scientists.

      In summary, since the world community of climate scientists failed to detect madness in its ranks, the entirety of it can pretty much be rejected outright. Too bad that the actions of a small number of scientists had those consequences, but it's not them that CAUSED the problem, simply those that EXPOSED it. We hence stand pretty much without credible science since all the scientists that could provide such have blacklisted themselves by not creating a stir about the tendencies in their field before the day the shitbomb exploded.

      As to costs: If CO2 is the problem, then the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is the problem. If the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is the problem then you simply have to take a look at how it has the shape of a formula-1 acceleration curve, whilst the actual man-made RELEASE of CO2 has increased only gradually, or stayed somewhat flattish. Like a sink being filled from a faucet with explosive speed, and someone says "let's avoid the chance of a problem by turning the faucet down 10%". If the size of problem is related to the points on a scale, it's like we are currently at 100, and taking action places us at 10,000 whilst not taking action places us at 12,000.

      Hence if the mythology fell in place for taking action, this would be pretty rapidly be discovered, leading to a global mess of anger and conflict. There's two routes that situation could go down. Route 1 is that dramatic cuts in all nations win out, including by necessity the use of threats of global warfare to stop nations that don't comply. This would put society pretty much back to a middle ages level. In itself that has huge potential for creating conflict (remember, WW2 pretty much triggered by hyperinflation and lost savings - think about what driving wooden carts pulled by horses would do) and we would still run out of oil in X years anyway. Route 2 is that we cut to 80-90% of today, but as mentioned that would just drive a lot of conflict but have no practical effect.

      Hence the preferred route: Keep society going like a trooper on drugs, and work as fucking hard as you can at developing alternative sources of energy. Extract as much oil as possible in the meantime. Get a navy so that you can defend yourself against shipborne invasions by poor people with guns in 30 years time. Maybe 2/3 of the world's population would die, but everyone dies anyway, and remember, global warming would most likely happen similarly anyway, only that if it happened society would be far less likely to survive and the second

    43. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by pablodiazgutierrez · · Score: 1

      He was murdered shortly after Indian independence, and the Nobel prize is only awarded to living people. Had he lived a bit longer, I'm sure he would have received it.

    44. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by H0p313ss · · Score: 1

      I noticed that you stopped at 1989. Why not go back further and include the like of Henry Kissigner?

      Had to stop somewhere, the list goes back to the 19th century. I was going to stop at 1990 for an even 20 years but that would have omitted the Dalai Lama. The point is that the vast majority of the recipients are only dubious if your world view is seriously fucked up.

      --
      XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
    45. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by Antisyzygy · · Score: 1

      Obama never deserved that prize, and neither did Gore. Obama hasn't done anything noteworthy besides being the first black president in his career and all Gore did is exaggerate the truth. I am a liberal by the way.

      --
      That brings me to an interesting point, / . is just "the ramblings of socially-inept, technology-literate news-mongers".
    46. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Much like Highlander 3, Matrix 2 & 3, Alien Resurrection, AvP, AvP2, Starship Troopers 2 & 3, Star Wars 1, 2 & 3

      We all pretend the 2009 award didn't happen and just move on.

      (I support Obama in many ways, but Nobel Peace Prize? Seriously? Comeon! were there no other contenders that year? how about Wikileaks 2009)

    47. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by darjen · · Score: 1

      Hmm it seems to me like you are the one who is confusing the two. You cant seriously claim that moving a relatively few troops from one country to another and calling Iraq "done" is a reasonable definition of withdrawl. Obama is still willingly in the midst of two wars and will be for a long time. There is no denying that simple fact.

    48. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by H0p313ss · · Score: 1

      Exactly, saying that the prize is worthless because of one (possible?) mistake is like trying to confirm or deny climate change using todays weather.

      --
      XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
    49. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by Hatta · · Score: 1

      Peace is a political motive.

      --
      Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
    50. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The word is 'dragged', blithering illiterate shit-slick, unless you mean to suggest Woodrow Wilson was just high at the time.

      Not an entirely implausible theory, really...

    51. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "if you're a conservative."

      Are, you, fucking, kidding, me? Besides you being typical inflammatory dick on /., you're just wrong.

      +5 Informative, of course. Only on /. Where meeting of the minds and nerds someone manages to overlook the 2009 winner, who didn't earn it and leader of the domestic liberal party, having a state dinner for the prison keeper of the current winner, and maintains exile of the 1989 winner with the threat of imprisonment and likely execution if he returns. Who also has a country with one of the worse human rights record, minimal judicial process, and a horrible, horrible environmental and worker condition records. Where most of the people on your list would spit on if they were associated with, you're feeding him from the victory garden (now that's a liberal name, isn't it? oh, right, it is, coming from WWII, which was largely a Dem war that somehow has been twisted these days to be a conservative war)..

      Again, mind you, that's a 2009 winner and someone you are hailing as anti-conservative.

      btw, how about overlooking the totality of the 1990 winner, nah, conservatives had shit to do with that, militarily and economically. People look at the downsides of Reaganomics now, but forget what some of its outcomes were.

      1994--Yasser Arafat. Yeah, big love from the non-conservatives.

      2000 winner, well, while a good man that went through hell, essentially came from a country that was on the other end of another country with extreme liberalism. He reconciles with said country, by paying the equivalent of hundreds of millions of dollars for the talks. Which came out after he was awarded the peace prize. Said country then went on to develop and test a nuclear weapon. REAL effective there. That's how anti-conservatives handle their business, right? btw, he wouldn't have gone through half the shit he had early in his political career if they didn't split the vote on the early elections.

      Oh, and the funny thing, the tough love of conservatives to push China to handle N Korea, yeah, started with W, not Obama. Clinton had 2 nuclear powers come to bear. W one, and he dismantled that one before the N Koreans played their game when O came to power.

      2007--yeah, a bunch of environmentalists bring to point climate change, when in the US, coal plant power production was pushed into great effect by the Democratic Party presidents at the time. Who in turn played a significant role in pushing down nuclear plants by siding with environmental fears, so that coal and worse plants had to take up the load. Yeah, real smart. Non-conservative policy leads to increase in CO2 output, claims fix, and gets rewarded. Wow.

      2005--similar to previous. Nice WWII to get us involved, nice weaponry developed (nukes) by a largely self-identified (at least these days) liberal group (scientists), and, oh, gee, we now have a nice military industrial complex, let's label that as conservative, and we'll pat ourselves on the back as the solution finders. Grand. Another win against the conservatives!

      Unlike you, most people realize conservatives and liberals are a bunch of dicks. I'm just not sure where you get stuck on labeling the nobel winners as all that and grand, and even some of them aren't even liberal by any stretch.

    52. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by krishkrish · · Score: 1

      That would have given some credibility to the prize. But good that he is not in the list. It saves him from the explaining what is he doing with these guys.

    53. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You put words in people's mouths, erect a straw man argument based on your own stereotypes and misconceptions of those who disagree with you, then knock it down and congratulate yourself on your oratory and debate skill.

      God, tell me about it. Eight years of "there are those who say we don't need to fight terrorists" and "if you don't agree with me, then you hate America" etc. etc. Man, Burning Man was just a twig compared to all the straw men that came out of the White House.

      Oh, snap. I just re-read your comment. You're talking about Obama.....hmmmmmm. Nah, don't see it.

    54. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by WATist · · Score: 1

      Well, half of those seem to be just for trying. It evidently isn't as significant as I thought.

    55. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      To me, it seems like it was awarded a few times not for achievement, but for intent for the future. This is clearly true for Obama, somewhat true for Arafat and Peres, and to some extend for Yunus, who's ideas' supposed helpfulness has been disputed since.

      Also, they seem to have a tendency to award this to people completely unknown to the general public, which I don't necessarily disapprove of, but it still seems strange.

    56. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Even the conservatives have Kissinger.

    57. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by oodaloop · · Score: 1

      2009 - BARACK OBAMA for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.

      What's extraordinary is that people think he actually did anything to deserve this in the first two weeks of his presidency which was when he was nominated.

      --
      Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
    58. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

      You buy into the climategate conspiracy theories. That's pretty much the mindset I was satirizing. And yes I have read the emails (maybe not every single one, but definitely all the "hot-button" emails the conspiracy theories are centered on).

      Also if you see the only solutions as either adopting a unabomber liifestyle or preparing for the end of the world and going into isolationist mode...then you either don't understand what cutting CO2 output requires (electric cars, renewable power, no genocide necessary) or you've bought into more conspiracy theory rhetoric.

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
    59. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by kisak · · Score: 1

      No Nobel Peace Prize was handed out in 1948 the year Gandhi was shot. And it has been stated by several later committee members, for example Geir Lundestad who serves at the current secretary of the committee, that it is a shame Gandhi never got the prize. (The Nobel Prizes can only be handed out to living people).

      Still, it is important to remember that a prize to Gandhi before WWII would have made Great Britan quite angry (Gandhi of course was fighting for Indian independence) and that handing the prize to Gandhi would not have been an easy decision when considering the political climate of the day. The Nobel prize was not handed out during WWII for natural reasons and Gandhi was killed in 1948.

      A controversial Peace Prize at the time before WWII went to Carl von Ossietzky, another pacifist who was a whistleblower for the secret build-up of the German forces by Hitler. Of course the German government claimed that Ossietzky was just another spy who commited treason. Today the general view is that Gandhi is good and Hitler Germany is bad, but things were not as clear cut if you would discuss the matter in the 1930's with a "conservative" or a "liberal" person from Germany, England, USA, etc. No Peace prize is without political implication.

      --

      --- guns don't kill people, people with guns kill people ---

    60. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by Shotgun · · Score: 1

      They "honestly wondered" that? Really? Bush ran for office in 2004 instead of declaring an emergency, and then allowed the 2008 campaigns to proceed, and yet "a lot of people" wondered that he might muscle his way into remaining in office?

      What sort of acid trips are they taking over at the Huffington Post?

      --
      Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
      Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
    61. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You didn't understand what I wrote.

      I wrote that the climategate individuals exhibited a certain mindset which would make them suitable to do independent science - furthermore, that the way communities work is that if the other scientists did not exhibit a similar anti-science mindset they would have detected and called out the former scientists for their bias. They never did.

      How you confuse this with "the climategate conspiracy theories" is beyond me. I present no conspiracy theories and no conspiracies. I make no claims as to any secret cabal or collusion.

      I also have a very different impression from you about what cutting CO2 output entails. For example, electric cars use energy like fossil fuel cars do. Do you know how much CO2 is produced by a coal-fired power plant? Quite a lot. Do I think that there is somehow a conspiracy involved in any way, shape or form? No. I wrote that I presented my honest best efforts reasoning, which I did. Nowhere did I allude to anyone forming a conspiracy about anything.

      Sorry, I already rejected everything you write and you clearly don't get the point. It is like you actually never read, or pretend to never have ready, what I wrote. I would classify you in the 'stupid' category. Although I wouldn't completely rule out the 'evil' category. That my best-efforts opposition is demarcated by being stupid and/or evil is just another sign that I should be pretty comfortable with my position.

    62. Re:What an ugly move to discredit wikileaks by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

      Which of the scientists involved in "climategate" is anti-scientific?

      Electric cars running on even coal power are cleaner than gasoline cars. If the electric cars run on nuclear or hydroelectric power then they will be far cleaner. Replacing coal power plants with nuclear power plants would drastically cut CO2 emissions, and even ths issues of nuclear waste are far easier to deal with than the waste of a coal power plant.

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
  5. Wow by rsborg · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'm sure this will be suppressed somehow, but this is quite appropriate in my opinion.

    --
    Make sure everyone's vote counts: Verified Voting
    1. Re:Wow by Ancantus · · Score: 1

      I'm sure this will be suppressed somehow, but this is quite appropriate in my opinion.

      It would really be a shame if this news was suppressed, if only there was some whistle-blowing site that would leak this information to the general public.

      --
      Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. -- Isaac Asimov
    2. Re:Wow by commodore64_love · · Score: 3, Insightful

      >>>I'm sure this will be suppressed somehow

      You mean like how China refused to let the Nobel prize winner go to his own ceremony? Maybe between now and then, the US will arrest Assange and do the same thing. That would truly be ironic.

      (US acting like China).

      --
      "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
    3. Re:Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Won't happen. Can't be used to criticize the Allies' war on terror since their leader won the same prize two years ago.

    4. Re:Wow by nagnamer · · Score: 1

      Won't happen. Can't be used to criticize the Allies' war on terror since their leader won the same prize two years ago.

      Wow, cool. It's totally ok for Barak and other nobel prize winners to commit any kind of crime now, and they cannot possibly be at fault. It's like get out of jail free card.

      --
      Every harsh word you utter has the right address. It only sounds harsh because the one on the envelope is the wrong one.
    5. Re:Wow by kiwimate · · Score: 2

      This blows my mind for sheer paranoia.

      1. 1. It's already out there - see that link in the summary?
      2. 2. Doing a search for wikileaks nobel shows the top results as newsfeeds from AP and Reuters on Yahoo, the Reuters feed on Bing, and, err, neither of them on Google, but at least the top results are news articles about it.

      So I think the notion that it'll be suppressed is a wee bit silly. Once it's out there, it's out there!

      * and apparently the ordered list tag no longer works, or at least not in preview.

    6. Re:Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What did we learn from Wikileaks? Innocents are killed in war and diplomats are two faced weasels. Yes that deserves a Nobel prize.

    7. Re:Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That was a dig at WL's agenda, not BO.

    8. Re:Wow by Enigma23 · · Score: 1

      >>>I'm sure this will be suppressed somehow

      You mean like how China refused to let the Nobel prize winner go to his own ceremony? Maybe between now and then, the US will arrest Assange and do the same thing. That would truly be ironic.

      (US acting like China).

      Assange arrested? That could never happen - oh, wait...

      --
      Ceci n'est pas une .sig
    9. Re:Wow by Geminii · · Score: 1

      Not everyone in the world thinks there's a huge difference between the governments of the US and China...

  6. Good! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Good! Wikileaks has done more than most of the former nobel peace prize winners to promote transparancy and peace in the world.

    1. Re:Good! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Transparency does not necessarily equate to peace.

      Publishing other people's gossip hardly rises to a Mother Theresa moment.

    2. Re:Good! by nagnamer · · Score: 1

      Neither does keeping Guantanamo Bay alive, but there you go. In reality it doesn't have to do anything with peace.

      --
      Every harsh word you utter has the right address. It only sounds harsh because the one on the envelope is the wrong one.
  7. Obama vs Wikileaks by aaaaaaargh! · · Score: 1, Redundant

    They would deserve it more than Obama, which doesn't necessarily imply that they'd deserve it.

  8. Wait a minute... by damn_registrars · · Score: 2
    At first I thought it said

    Van Halen cited WikiLeaks' role in disclosing the assets of Tunisia's former president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his nearest family, contributing to the protests that forced them into exile

    But I'm pretty sure they don't have the credentials to nominate someone for a Nobel Prize...

    --
    Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
    1. Re:Wait a minute... by countertrolling · · Score: 1

      Well, they should..

      --
      For justice, we must go to Don Corleone
    2. Re:Wait a minute... by Bill_the_Engineer · · Score: 1

      Van Halen is so over rated... or was that heaven?

      --
      These comments are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of my employer or colleagues...
    3. Re:Wait a minute... by Americano · · Score: 1

      They wrote "Running With the Devil", for god's sake man. I'd say that's all the credentials you need for anything in life.

    4. Re:Wait a minute... by Relayman · · Score: 1

      If this person has the credentials, he violated the rules by making his nomination public. "The statutes of the Nobel Foundation restrict disclosure of information about the nominations, whether publicly or privately, for 50 years." This whole thread is bogus.

      --
      If I used a sig over again, would anyone notice?
    5. Re:Wait a minute... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Eddie and Alex would probably do a better job at awarding it.

  9. A nonstory by Sonny+Yatsen · · Score: 5, Informative

    In 2010, 237 nominations were made for the Peace Prize, 38 of which were organizations. While it's of some apparent interest that Wikileaks got a nomination, it is one of many and nomination is open to a lot of people.

    --
    My postings are informational and does not constitute legal advice. Act on it at your risk.
    1. Re:A nonstory by martin-boundary · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yeah, but Wikileaks stands out because they actually did something, which can't always be said for some of the previous Peace Prize recipients.

    2. Re:A nonstory by Duradin · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Person 1: Why did you shoot your dog?
      Person 2: Someone was bitten by a rabid dog.
      1: The rabid dog was in another city, that was your pet.
      2: Well, at least I did something about the rabid dog problem.

      Sometimes doing something isn't better than doing nothing.

    3. Re:A nonstory by hb79 · · Score: 1

      So WikiLeaks is the one of the dogs? Or the owner? Or the victim?

      Actually, could you please put this into a car analogy, so fellow Slashdotters can follow?

    4. Re:A nonstory by xMrFishx · · Score: 1

      Car analogy for analogy required.

    5. Re:A nonstory by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      lets all just carry on letting our governments perform illegal atrocities in secret then shall we.

    6. Re:A nonstory by Duradin · · Score: 1

      That seems to be Wikileaks' plan. Between covering diplomatic gossip and going for the best editing awards they don't have time for illegal atrocities.

    7. Re:A nonstory by sdguero · · Score: 1

      So nominating Wikileaks for the Nobel Peace Prize is the equivalent of shooting your dog?

    8. Re:A nonstory by H0p313ss · · Score: 1

      So nominating Wikileaks for the Nobel Peace Prize is the equivalent of shooting your dog?

      No, the point is "doing something" by itself is not necessarily a good measure of merit. The question is what did you do and why.

      --
      XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
    9. Re:A nonstory by sdguero · · Score: 1

      Hehe yeah I knows. Just trolling I guess and was waiting for a system to image. I do think wikileaks is a good thing for freedom/democracy/human rights and it was done for the right reasons. I don't know if that means it deserves the prize but I guess thats why I don't have a vote; but I do think Assange deserves it more than Obama did. :)

    10. Re:A nonstory by MeNeXT · · Score: 1

      Sometimes doing something isn't better than doing nothing.

      Then I nominate myself.

      --
      DRM? No thanks, I'll just get it somewhere else...
    11. Re:A nonstory by end15 · · Score: 1

      I'm not certain if I've missed something, but the logical error presented in this dialog does not appear to have any connection to the above poster. Is the rabid dog supposed to be tyrants & the shooter Wikileaks? Is the pet dog supposed to be the American diplomatic system? Can you please clarify your point?

      --
      All glory to the Hypnotoad!
    12. Re:A nonstory by H0p313ss · · Score: 1

      I do think Assange deserves it more than Obama did. :)

      Agreed. In fact I have to meet anyone of any political stripe that professes to understand the 2009 award. He has done a lot of good simply by running and beating the old white man, but not THAT good.

      --
      XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
    13. Re:A nonstory by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't see your point...Can you use a car analogy instead please?

    14. Re:A nonstory by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Like who?

      Yes, I know, Obama Obama Obama, waa waa waa, but if you honestly think he appeared out of nowhere when he became POTUS, you're deluded.

    15. Re:A nonstory by agge · · Score: 1

      True the requirements for nominating someone is:
      * Members of national assemblies and governments and members of the Inter-Parliamentary Union,
      * Members of the Permanent Court of Arbitration and the International Court of Justice at the Hague,
      * Members of Institut de Droit International,
      * University professors of history, political science, philosophy, law and theology, university presidents and directors of peace research and international affairs institutes,
      * Former recipients, including board members of organizations that have previously won the prize,
      * Present and past members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, and
      * Former permanent advisers to the Norwegian Nobel Institute.



      The funny thing is that it is a secret who have been nominated so it is impossible to check it it is real any way and seriously I would be be surprised it not George (H. W. AND W.) Bush and Saddam Hussain have been nominated in the past. Confermed infamous nominees included Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin and Benito Mussolini. However, since nomination requires only support from one qualified person, nominations do not represent the opinion of the Nobel committee.

    16. Re:A nonstory by WildBlueYonder · · Score: 1

      However neither Person 1 or Person 2 should win a Nobel peace prize. In your story the Nobel Peace Prize should go to Person 3 in that other city who is spreading awareness for the problem, paying for rabies shots for poor people's pets, etc etc.

  10. Worthless by MarkRose · · Score: 1, Informative

    Why would anyone care about the Nobel Peace Prize? It's worthless.They gave it to Obama, before he even did anything, who has gone on to escalate wars, both military and economic.

    Frankly, I would turn down such a prize. It no longer stands for anything.

    --
    Be relentless!
    1. Re:Worthless by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not to mention giving it to at least one known terrorist, Arafat.

    2. Re:Worthless by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes since he had *so* much to do with starting those wars... oh wait, he didn't.

    3. Re:Worthless by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      you should google "define escalate"

    4. Re:Worthless by damn_registrars · · Score: 2

      They gave it to Obama, before he even did anything

      In fairness, they really gave it to the idea of Obama much more so than to Obama himself. And really, the idea of Obama is what many people voted for, while in the end we have all received for president the man Obama.

      --
      Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
    5. Re:Worthless by commodore64_love · · Score: 0

      Obama didn't start the wars.
      But he didn't end them either (as promised during his first year).
      We're now on year three. Had I been elected president I'd have said, "That's enough" on day two and bring all the boys home. Next I'd empty all the foreign bases and hand them over to the EU, Japan, S. Korea, and so on. The excess money saved would be used to eliminate half the annual deficit.

      --
      "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
    6. Re:Worthless by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "In fairness, they really gave it to the idea of Obama [artvoice.com] much more so than to Obama himself"

      In that case, they should give the next one to the guy who invented a way for ideas to walk up on stage and accept awards.

    7. Re:Worthless by nagnamer · · Score: 1

      Not to mention giving it to at least one known terrorist, Arafat.

      FYI, PLO is a liberation army. It's not a terrorist organization until the "international community" says so. It's a political thing. For instance, KLA is not a terrorist organization despite the fact that it did resort to terrorism, simply because they were backed by the US government (openly).

      --
      Every harsh word you utter has the right address. It only sounds harsh because the one on the envelope is the wrong one.
    8. Re:Worthless by nagnamer · · Score: 1

      And really, the idea of Obama is what many people voted for

      Everybody thought it's a good idea to vote for Obama at the moment. :)

      --
      Every harsh word you utter has the right address. It only sounds harsh because the one on the envelope is the wrong one.
    9. Re:Worthless by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It still stands for a sack full of money that you can either pocket or use to help other people. Turning it down would not be a good idea from a practical standpoint.

    10. Re:Worthless by O('_')O_Bush · · Score: 1

      They gave Obama the Peace Prize for his diplomatic actions as a Senator. It had nothing to do with his time as a President.

      Only Fox News purported the idea that there was favoritism towards Obama from the committee, and that was mostly just butthurt over not having their pet G.W.McCain in office.

      --
      while(1) attack(People.Sandy);
    11. Re:Worthless by mozumder · · Score: 1

      So vote Republican?

    12. Re:Worthless by damn_registrars · · Score: 1
      It's no wonder that you were quickly down-modded; we've seen

      The only person dumber than a second-term Dubya voter is a first-term Obama voter.

      More than a few times. You need to offer up substantive conservative rhetoric than that around here to get someone to promote you.

      --
      Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
    13. Re:Worthless by blair1q · · Score: 1

      They gave it to Obama for not being another Republican President and Chicken-hawk.

      If you think that's not "doing something" then you must be curing cancer twice a day.

    14. Re:Worthless by elsurexiste · · Score: 1

      They gave it to Obama, before he even did anything, who has gone on to escalate wars, both military and economic.

      They also gave it to Henry Kissinger. Seriously, we are in 2011 and they are still finding dirt about him.

      --
      I rarely respond to comments. Also, don't ask for clarifications: a brain and Google are faster, believe me!
    15. Re:Worthless by H0p313ss · · Score: 1

      And really, the idea of Obama is what many people voted for

      Everybody thought it's a good idea to vote for Obama at the moment. :)

      Let us the consider the options: Vice President Palin... 'nuff said.

      --
      XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
    16. Re:Worthless by MarkRose · · Score: 1

      They're hardly better: Iraq in the first place.

      --
      Be relentless!
    17. Re:Worthless by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why would anyone care about the Nobel Peace Prize? It's worthless.

      Wouldn't you be happy if no American personality will ever receive the Nobel peace prize.
      After all, is worthless for you and the controversy disturbs in you from watching American Idol, isn't it?

    18. Re:Worthless by Obfuscant · · Score: 1

      They gave Obama the Peace Prize for his diplomatic actions as a Senator.

      Except he spent all his time as a senator running for President, and the job of a senator doesn't involve foreign policy or diplomatic missions. Foreign policy is the realm of the Executive Branch, not the Legislative.

    19. Re:Worthless by commodore64_love · · Score: 2

      Obama didn't start the wars.

      But he didn't end them either (as promised during his first year).

      We're now on year three. Had I been elected president I'd have said, "That's enough" and bring all the boys home in 2009. Next I'd empty all the foreign bases and hand them over to the EU, Japan, S. Korea, and so on. The excess money saved would be used to eliminate half the annual deficit.

      --
      "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
    20. Re:Worthless by Rakshasa+Taisab · · Score: 1

      Blame the Chinese not the Nobel Peace Committee, since the 2009 Nobel Price was supposed to go to Lio Xiaobo and they got pressured into finding a flashy enough replacement candidate that didn't make it too obvious that they passed on Lio due to pressure.

      --
      - These characters were randomly selected.
    21. Re:Worthless by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You do know that, contrary to common belief, saying it over and over doesn't somehow make it more correct.

    22. Re:Worthless by ashvin213 · · Score: 1

      Don't you know they gave it to Obama as he helped the world by funding the ships while bracing for 2012 disaster. Haven't you seen the movie?

    23. Re:Worthless by RightSaidFred99 · · Score: 1

      Don't get me wrong, I hate Dubya though my opinion on him is softening a bit, but I reject your comment entirely. The idiocy and hyperbole coming from the left and the facile oversimplification (durr, he invaded Iraq for oil!) make any meaningful discussion impossible.

      I'm not a conservative, and I don't give a shit if a bunch of cloistered neckbeard dipshits mod me down.

    24. Re:Worthless by Shotgun · · Score: 1

      No. Not everyone did. Nearly half of the people that actually voted thought it was bad enough of an idea to actually show up at the polls and say so.

      --
      Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
      Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
    25. Re:Worthless by Shotgun · · Score: 1

      and what actions would those have been? Saying that he would invade Pakistan if he thought Bin Laden was hiding out there?

      --
      Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
      Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
    26. Re:Worthless by O('_')O_Bush · · Score: 1

      Obama was in the been in the Senate since 2005. He started campaigning heavily in early/mid 2008.

      Also, you are wrong about senators having a diplomatic role. Senators travel to other countries all the time working on diplomacy. Watch Charlie Wilson's War as a fairly historically accurate depiction on how even a representative can have major impacts on foreign policy and foreign affairs.

      --
      while(1) attack(People.Sandy);
    27. Re:Worthless by O('_')O_Bush · · Score: 1

      How about the Lugar-Obama Nonproliferation legislation for conventional weaponry?

      Or the 2007 Iraq-Afghan War De-Escalation Act (which Bush rejected)?

      Or his several pieces of legislation aimed at preventing nuclear weapons from falling into the hands of terrorists?

      Or his other numerous pieces of legislation that were aimed at creating a more transparent government, setting example for other nations to prevent behind the scenes warmongering?

      Need me to continue?

      --
      while(1) attack(People.Sandy);
    28. Re:Worthless by Obfuscant · · Score: 1
      He started campaigning for president the day he won the election for senator. I will not use weaselly words like "heavily" to try to justify or explain it away.

      Senators have no official role in foreign policy. They can go kissy-face with foreign dignitaries and play at "fact finding", but they get no role other than approval of treaties after the fact.

      He did nothing to merit a Nobel Peace Prize prior to his election as President, and nothing since. The award to him had nothing to do with the stated goals of the Nobel and everything to do with his pandering to foreign interests and for foreign approval during his campaign.

    29. Re:Worthless by MaDeR · · Score: 1

      And in day three you would got overflowed with criticism because of anarchy, deaths and what have you caused by lack od american forces. It would be very possible to end your presidency... prematurely. Yes, life is not fair.

      Yeah. I am no fan of USA staying there and here, but this is clear case of "damned if you do, damned if you don't".

      --
      What modern Obelix would say today? Of course, "Those crazy Americans!".
  11. Peace? by RussellSHarris · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I wouldn't say that WikiLeaks has contributed very much to peace. More like it has contributed rather toward strife.

    Peace is overrated anyway. Don't they say conflict builds character?

    1. Re:Peace? by EkriirkE · · Score: 2

      Many times you need strife to attain peace.

      --
      from 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
      to 45 2F 6E 40 3C DF 10 71 4E 41 DF AA 25 7D 31 3F
    2. Re:Peace? by sxeraverx · · Score: 2

      Premise 1: The Nobel Peace Prize is to be awarded to the person who "...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."

      Premise 2: Wikileaks is a whistleblowing site.

      Premise 3: "Secret secrets are no fun. Secret secrets hurt someone."

      Argument: Wikileaks reveal secrets. Secrets discourage "fraternity between nations", specifically between nations that aren't privy to the secrets. Although there may be tension in the short run, along with the corresponding increase in standing armies and reduction in fraternity between nations that share the secrets, in the long run, the fewer secrets that are secret, the more nations realize that they can't do bad things in secret, and thus the better the situation becomes between nations.

      Conclusion: Wikileaks merits the Nobel Peace Prize.

    3. Re:Peace? by Americano · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Assuming your premises are all correct, Bradley Manning should be receiving the Peace Prize, since, you know, he's the one who put his ass on the line to steal those documents and expose the secrets. Without PFC Manning and people like him, Assange would just be an obnoxious misogynist with a web site.

      While we're at it, let's give Random House Publishing the Nobel prize for Literature, too. That book they published this year was REALLY good!

    4. Re:Peace? by selven · · Score: 1

      he's the one who allegedly put his ass on the line to steal those documents and expose the secrets

      Let's keep this in mind.

    5. Re:Peace? by Americano · · Score: 1

      Fair enough, s/put his ass on the line/allegedly put his ass on the line/ in my statement above. That change in wording doesn't change the fundamental point: it wasn't Assange or anybody else at Wikileaks who took those documents from a classified military system and leaked them. Wikileaks is serving as a publishing platform.

      I'm not suggesting that I believe Manning or Wikileaks *deserves* the peace prize, I'm stating the logical conclusion of the premises outlined in the GGP post.

      Frankly, I think Wikileaks' actions have done more to undermine international "fraternity" than they have to increase it. The State Dept. leaks mean that diplomacy is *less* likely to be taken seriously (and thus, be effective); When talk fails, governments resort to the club.

  12. Another dissident..? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I doubt the small panel of politicians that decides have the guts to nominate a Western dissident.

    It should be a Chinese, Burmese, or Iranian dissdent, but not any of our own controversial figures. /W

  13. The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke by rs1n · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The last prize was given to a man (Obama) as a tool to promote peace, and not because of past contributions of the recipient toward peace. The world was tired of the Bush administration and their pro-war foreign policy, and the committee was banking on Obama making a change by giving him a major incentive to do so. Now it has become even more of a political tool with the nomination of Wikileaks. I cannot see how people can remain objective when it comes to considering Wikileaks as a candidate for the peace prize given the political controversy surrounding it.

    1. Re:The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke by He-Ja · · Score: 0

      I did not read past the first setence of your comment. The last Nobel Peace prize was not given to Obama.

    2. Re:The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I did not read past the first setence of your comment.

      Great way to encourage discussion! Bark when a single point is mistaken and ignore everything following it.

      The last Nobel Peace prize was not given to Obama.

      Last winner (awarded in absentia) was Liu Xiaobo.

    3. Re:The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The last prize was given to a man (Obama) as a tool to promote peace, and not because of past contributions of the recipient toward peace.

      You mean the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. The last one was given to Liu Xiaobo.

    4. Re:The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke by thetagger · · Score: 2

      Here's a hint: in most parts of the world, Wikileaks is celebrated without "but"s or "if"s . Just because your country in particular is different doesn't mean much in the overall picture. The fact that it Wikileaks generates controversy in your country says more about your country than Wikileaks.

    5. Re:The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke by drakaan · · Score: 1

      Here, now you can read past the first sentence and properly respond to the OP:

      The 2009 prize was given to a man (Obama) as a tool to promote peace, and not because of past contributions of the recipient toward peace. The world was tired of the Bush administration and their pro-war foreign policy, and the committee was banking on Obama making a change by giving him a major incentive to do so. Now it has become even more of a political tool with the nomination of Wikileaks. I cannot see how people can remain objective when it comes to considering Wikileaks as a candidate for the peace prize given the political controversy surrounding it.

      --
      "Murphy was an optimist" - O'Toole's commentary on Murphy's Law
    6. Re:The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke by basotl · · Score: 1

      Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009. Liu Xiaobo was the last to be awarded in 2010 and arguably a more deserving individual.

      --
      HTC EVO 4G LTE w/ CM 10.2 | NookColor w/ CM 10.2 | Samsung Epic 4G w/ CM 10.1
    7. Re:The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke by Nadaka · · Score: 2

      He is probably in China, and therefore does not know that the last Nobel peace prize was given to a "terrorist" under house arrest for the unthinkable crime of handing out leaflets that were not 100% supportive of his glorious leaders.

    8. Re:The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke by rs1n · · Score: 1

      You are right. The last prize was given to Liu Xiaobo. That does not change the fact that the Nobel Peace Prize is really just a political tool. In fact, when you consider Liu Xiaobo as a winner, and the fact that his name was essentially blotted out of the news in China, it only confirms what I wrote earlier. In the country in which that prize SHOULD have mattered most, the citizens were likely not even aware of it.

    9. Re:The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke by Kneo24 · · Score: 1

      Correction: Obama was rewarded the peace prize in 2009.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nobel_Peace_Prize_laureates

    10. Re:The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke by vux984 · · Score: 2

      The last prize was given to a man (Obama) as a tool to promote peace...

      Actually the last prize was given to Liu Xiaobo.

      The prize for Obama... I'm mixed. I think his rhetoric and election message was a genuine force for world peace, even though he wasn't president and hadn't done anything policy-wise. He was an advocate for peace, and that message reached and affected a lot of people.

      I don't necessarily know that he was the single most significant advocate for peace of the year... but I don't begrudge him the award.

      I cannot see how people can remain objective when it comes to considering Wikileaks as a candidate for the peace prize given the political controversy surrounding it.

      Given the political nature of peace itself, its hard to imagine that candidates won't be politically controversial from time to time.

    11. Re:The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What do you mean, "it has become"? The Nobel Peace Prize has always been controversial; it's really in the nature of the prize.

      Of course, if your perception of the Nobel Peace Prize rests on nothing but the fact that Obama received it, then I hope you'll forgive me for saying that maybe you should read up a bit on it before you talk about it. You apparently don't know what it stands for, what it's awarded for, by whom, how the recipient is chosen, what its history is, what past recipients there have been, or anything else for that matter.

    12. Re:The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke by drakaan · · Score: 1

      ...and the wisdom of the crowd is always right, then? I'm going to go re-read 1984 with that in mind.

      The reason Wikileaks generates controversy in the US is that there is diversity of opinion here. We aren't all of one mind on a huge number of issues.

      I personally think that what Assange did is fine (he's a civilian), and the soldier who broke just about every opsec-related rule there is should be court-martialed, but that's not the topic.

      The question of whether Wikileaks deserves a nomination focuses narrowly on individual observations of how exactly Wikileaks has contributed to peace on our planet. I think it's very much an open argument as to whether the information they have released has made the world more or less peaceful. That determination is completely separate from whether or not Wikileaks is a good thing, which I believe it is, on the whole.

      --
      "Murphy was an optimist" - O'Toole's commentary on Murphy's Law
    13. Re:The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke by drgregoryhouse · · Score: 2

      This is a quote taken from my local newspaper, by Raj Patel on American discontent with President Obama.
      "A lot of us thought of him as the pizza delivery guy of change, where we would sit on our couches and he would being hot, steaming change in 30 minutes."

      Which leads me to think, cultures and civilization can be easily destroyed by the drop of a bomb, to rebuild that will take time.

    14. Re:The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke by RazorSharp · · Score: 2

      ...and the wisdom of the crowd is always right, then?

      Depends on the crowd.

      --
      "From the depths of my skeptical and rationalist soul, I ask the Lord to protect me from California touchie-feeliedom."
    15. Re:The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The last prize was given to a man (Obama) as a tool to promote peace, and not because of past contributions of the recipient toward peace. The world was tired of the Bush administration and their pro-war foreign policy, and the committee was banking on Obama making a change by giving him a major incentive to do so. Now it has become even more of a political tool with the nomination of Wikileaks. I cannot see how people can remain objective when it comes to considering Wikileaks as a candidate for the peace prize given the political controversy surrounding it.

      And it is somehow wrong to encourage the idea of peace? Who said the Nobel Peace Prize was only about looking into a rear view mirror as a report card for past performance?

      As many posters have pointed out, a I lot of people and organizations get nominated, so this is a bit of a non-story at this point. But political controversy surrounding it is not an argument against. Political controversy has surrounded most people and organizations working for and contributing to peace (completely unrelated to this prize).

    16. Re:The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke by rs1n · · Score: 1

      The last prize was given to a man (Obama) as a tool to promote peace...

      Actually the last prize was given to Liu Xiaobo.

      The prize for Obama... I'm mixed. I think his rhetoric and election message was a genuine force for world peace, even though he wasn't president and hadn't done anything policy-wise. He was an advocate for peace, and that message reached and affected a lot of people.

      I don't necessarily know that he was the single most significant advocate for peace of the year... but I don't begrudge him the award.

      I cannot see how people can remain objective when it comes to considering Wikileaks as a candidate for the peace prize given the political controversy surrounding it.

      Given the political nature of peace itself, its hard to imagine that candidates won't be politically controversial from time to time.

      I don't begrudge any of the recipients. My gripe is that the prize is not so much about whom is selected for the prize, but how today it's much less about what the recipient has done and how can we recognize what he has done, but much much more about how can we use this prize to leverage some political change. Yes, the prize has always had political undertones, but these days it's as if that's all there is, and the individuals being recognized is more of an afterthought.

      Liu Xiaobo - noted for his human rights efforts, but the prize was really to get China to change its policy on human rights. They were hoping to force China's hand because if China were celebrate the prize, they would have to come to terms with Liu Xiaobo's human rights efforts. Instead, they simply blotted him out of the news.

      Barack Obama - yes, nice guy with good intentions for world peace, but the real issue was a plea for Obama to stop the ongoing war. It was as if the prize was just a big incentive for him to do so.

    17. Re:The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke by Quiet_Desperation · · Score: 0

      Here's a hint: in most parts of the world, Wikileaks is celebrated without "but"s or "if"s

      So group think and no diversity. OK.

      The fact that it Wikileaks generates controversy in your country says more about your country than Wikileaks.

      That we can openly debate things?

    18. Re:The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I see things to the contrary - there is not a country that a case like Wikileaks would not cause anger in, hence it says nothing at all about any country, since every country would react like the US. In other words, the case "US" cannot be distinguished from the case "any other country".

      Wikileaks on the other hand was rather unique in the amount of controversy it generated. The case "Wikileaks" can therefore clearly be distinguished from "any other case".

      I guess the only little caveat to that is that this Wikileaks specifically targetted the US, so the degree of controversy speaks about the single axis of US-friendly-contact. Obviously Wikileaks would not cause the same type of _controversy_ in countries like Venezuela or Iran.

    19. Re:The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke by RazorSharp · · Score: 1

      I cannot see how people can remain objective when it comes to considering Wikileaks as a candidate for the peace prize given the political controversy surrounding it.

      I can't see how you can't objectively award someone something like the Nobel Peace Prize unless there is a stand-out candidate like Ghandi. When you have a list of dozens of individuals who have all done great things to promote peace, singling one out as the best is likely to be subjective. I don't have a problem with Obama winning. I think he probably did more to promote peace than Liu Xiaobo did. Liu's Xiaobo's main influence was winning the prize and what it symbolically meant as China attempted to censor the news. Not many people had heard of him before he won the prize. Don't get me wrong, he's sacrificed a lot for his beliefs, but on an international level Obama clearly had accomplished more. It's not that the world was tired of Bush, it's that they were scared of him and his party. His response to 9/11 sharpened the divide between the Muslim world and the west. Just by being elected Obama not only repaired our reputation with many countries, but he also gave Muslims less reason to be extremists. Bush was a terrorist recruiting tool. He invaded a Muslim country to pillage it and force his ideals onto the population. Obama may not have instantly resolved the conflict between the western world and Islamic terrorists, but his presence has given peace a chance it didn't have before his election. Certainly that's deserving of a prize for peace.

      --
      "From the depths of my skeptical and rationalist soul, I ask the Lord to protect me from California touchie-feeliedom."
    20. Re:The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke by countertrolling · · Score: 1

      ...(Obama) as a tool...

      That does make sense. A tool of propaganda.

      The world was tired of the Bush administration and their pro-war foreign policy, and the committee was banking on Obama making a change by giving him a major incentive to do so.

      Banking? No. gambling... that people would fall for it. It was a total outright fraud.. The pro-war foreign policy continues, with enhancements!

      What we are seeing is the miracle of public relations. Mankind's most powerful tool in the new information age. More powerful than a nuclear vessel.

      --
      For justice, we must go to Don Corleone
    21. Re:The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke by nagnamer · · Score: 1

      ...and the wisdom of the crowd is always right, then? I'm going to go re-read 1984 with that in mind.

      thetagger just pointed out that Wikileaks IS celebrated by people around the globe. And it's also true that if it does create controversy in a country, it says more about that country.

      I think it's very much an open argument as to whether the information they have released has made the world more or less peaceful.

      It can also be argued that Nobel peace prize has nothing to do with that. Did opposing your country's leader make the world a more peaceful place? Does escalating a local conflict and doing the dirty job for the US government make the world a more peceful place? Yet these are some of the shit people did before getting the Nobel.

      --
      Every harsh word you utter has the right address. It only sounds harsh because the one on the envelope is the wrong one.
    22. Re:The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke by nagnamer · · Score: 2

      That we can openly debate things?

      No.

      --
      Every harsh word you utter has the right address. It only sounds harsh because the one on the envelope is the wrong one.
    23. Re:The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke by nagnamer · · Score: 1

      I see things to the contrary - there is not a country that a case like Wikileaks would not cause anger in, hence it says nothing at all about any country, since every country would react like the US. In other words, the case "US" cannot be distinguished from the case "any other country".

      If it happened to any other country maybe they'd react the same way. But it happened to the US. Bad luck, that's what it is.

      --
      Every harsh word you utter has the right address. It only sounds harsh because the one on the envelope is the wrong one.
    24. Re:The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke by nagnamer · · Score: 1

      Which leads me to think, cultures and civilization can be easily destroyed by the drop of a bomb, to rebuild that will take time.

      I'd be happy with a regular pizza delivered to me by Obama. :)

      --
      Every harsh word you utter has the right address. It only sounds harsh because the one on the envelope is the wrong one.
    25. Re:The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As a proud US American, I agree, sadly.

    26. Re:The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke by Obfuscant · · Score: 1

      The world was tired of the Bush administration and their pro-war foreign policy, and the committee was banking on Obama making a change by giving him a major incentive to do so.

      That's just silly. Giving someone an allegedly prestigious award isn't incentive for them to do anything but talk about how they got this prestigious award. They've gotten the award, it is unlikely they will get another anytime soon, so there is no reason to do anything to merit one. No, you want to provide an incentive to modify behaviour, you say "you are in an incredible position to do good for the planet. If you do, we'll give you an award."

      More important, I would rather have a President who does good things because he does good things without expectation of winning a Nobel, not one that does good things only because he sees a Nobel as an incentive.

      And finally, I'd rather have a President who looks first to the US for his guidance on how to deal with foreign affairs and not be bought off by the love of people in other countries and whatever awards they might want to bestow on him. I'd even go so far as to say that running US foreign policy based on the desires of foreigners ought to be a disqualifying condition for US President.

    27. Re:The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke by grcumb · · Score: 2

      Here's a hint: in most parts of the world, Wikileaks is celebrated without "but"s or "if"s

      So group think and no diversity. OK.

      No, not group think, Sherlock. Many non-US societies don't actually accuse people of treason for disclosing the truth. In some places, they actually applaud it.

      The fact that a society might feel that its people don't deserve to know what its actual foreign policy is, or how its wars are prosecuted, is nothing to be particularly proud of.

      --
      Crumb's Corollary: Never bring a knife to a bun fight.
    28. Re:The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke by blair1q · · Score: 1

      Ousting the Bush administration and its partisans was a contribution towards peace.

    29. Re:The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke by disambiguated · · Score: 1

      ...it's much less about what the recipient has done and how can we recognize what he has done, but much much more about how can we use this prize to leverage some political change.

      The Nobel committee should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for using the award in this way. After all, isn't using the prize to promote peace more productive than using it merely to congratulate people?

    30. Re:The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The last prize (2010) was given to a man for a long and non-violent struggle against the Chinese government, for which he has been persecuted and jailed. Have a read about Liu Xiaobo and tell me he didn't deserve it.

      Any member of a parliament in the world, amongst others, can nominate for the Nobel Peace Prize. There have previously been nominations for Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden. Nomination means absolutely nothing and is something that the Nobel committee has no control over. So yes, it is a political tool for the nominator but it says nothing about the actual prize.

    31. Re:The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke by drakaan · · Score: 1

      ...It can also be argued that Nobel peace prize has nothing to do with that. Did opposing your country's leader make the world a more peaceful place? Does escalating a local conflict and doing the dirty job for the US government make the world a more peceful place?...

      Exactly my point. There's certainly room for discussion on whether or not any of those things made the world a more peaceful place, and among the various award winners, there is not always agreement on appropriateness. Wikileaks is the example we are talking about, in this case.

      You said that controversy about a nobel prize nominee in a country says more about that country. Does a lack of controversy say nothing? Seems to me that both situations say something.

      What's the point you're trying to make, here?

      --
      "Murphy was an optimist" - O'Toole's commentary on Murphy's Law
    32. Re:The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The last prize was given to a man (Obama)...

      Clearly your definition of "last" is different than mine.

    33. Re:The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke by Antisyzygy · · Score: 1

      Here's a hint : Wikileak's leaks actually increased the number of violent acts in Tunisia and Egypt because they informed the population how shitty their government is and caused more people to revolt. Im not saying they didn't do the right thing, but nominating them let alone awarding them a peace prize is a load of crap. It goes against the entire principal of the award.

      --
      That brings me to an interesting point, / . is just "the ramblings of socially-inept, technology-literate news-mongers".
    34. Re:The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yep! My country is so free that classified information can be released pretty easily!

      I'd be *more* worried if I lived in a country that appeared to be squeaky clean. After all, China had nothing leaked, so does this mean China is great?

    35. Re:The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke by j-beda · · Score: 1

      I would tend to disagree - you don't generally blame the doctor for letting you know that the infection is so bad that the foot has to be removed. Heck, in this case, the "doctor" didn't even perform the amputation. Ethically speaking, I think the "informant" is in the clear. The negative consequences of the spread of the information should be blamed on the actors who took the undesirable action in the first place, rather than someone who told you about it.

    36. Re:The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke by StuartHankins · · Score: 1

      Knowledge almost always leads to problems -- whether that be disillusionment or conflict, whether the incremental achievements cause harm in some way or prevent suffering -- but the pursuit of understanding and aggregating information is what defines us as humans. You can use the knowledge for good or bad purposes. One would hope at some point our human race would progress beyond today's turmoil, but it's going to take time.

    37. Re:The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke by Antisyzygy · · Score: 1

      You are preaching to the choir. However, a Nobel peace prize is supposed to be reserved for an individual and/or organization that brings nations and people closer to harmony with eachother, and/or for eliminating hardships of the common man. An example of someone who deserves one is Mother Theresa. Wikileaks whole modus operandi is for all of the aforementioned to know everything even if they fraction or fight. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but Wikileaks hardly represents a peaceful movement. Wikileaks wants you to be informed at all costs, even if that means revolution or war. What is right is not necessarily peaceful, however, how can you say that you should award peace medals to an organization that supports revolution as a means for change? Unless they start advocating peaceful revolution like Gandhi, I firmly disapprove of any nomination or award of the Nobel peace prize to Wikileaks. I still appreciate what they are doing, but they should decline the nomination out of principal.

      --
      That brings me to an interesting point, / . is just "the ramblings of socially-inept, technology-literate news-mongers".
    38. Re:The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke by c0lo · · Score: 1

      Knowledge almost always leads to problems --

      Better said: "A previous lack of knowledge almost always lead to problems on short terms when corrected".

      When expressed under this form, the immediate question is: "Would you rather stay blissfully ignorant or perhaps have problems?"
      Sometimes, I think that's the key point in evaluating if a being is intelligent.

      --
      Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
    39. Re:The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke by c0lo · · Score: 1

      Wikileaks wants you to be informed at all costs, even if that means revolution or war

      And the responsibility stays with the messenger?

      I'd rather argue the responsibility should stay with the entities that choose to hide the reality, or created such conditions that people feel revolting is a solution, or the responsibility of those who launch the war.

      --
      Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
    40. Re:The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke by Antisyzygy · · Score: 1

      I am not sure where you gathered that I think Wikileaks should be held responsible for other individuals actions. If you read the whole message I wrote, I merely said they are not an ideal candidate for a Nobel peace prize because they are not concerned with having peace. They are concerned with you, I and everyone else knowing everything that happens amongst our inner circles of government, business and finance. This is a good thing in my opinion, but the Nobel peace prize is meant for people that spend their lives helping people get along rather than spending their time helping people have more things to get pissed off about.

      --
      That brings me to an interesting point, / . is just "the ramblings of socially-inept, technology-literate news-mongers".
    41. Re:The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke by c0lo · · Score: 1

      This is a good thing in my opinion, but the Nobel peace prize is meant for people that spend their lives helping people get along rather than spending their time helping people have more things to get pissed off about.

      "Getting along" based on lies or hiding the truth/actions/etc can succeed only on short term and on matters that are trivial (which I'd argue peace is neither). Anything else fails on long term... that's my experience
      Here: like cheating on your wife and hiding it just "to get along with her" (possibly "for the sake of children" to have an even better justification?).

      --
      Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
    42. Re:The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke by nagnamer · · Score: 1

      You said that controversy about a nobel prize nominee in a country says more about that country.

      What I meant is that the level of controversy that a leak creates in a country speaks more about the country than about WikiLeaks (which is merely a messenger). That's how I understood GP, and I agree if I understood correctly. :)

      --
      Every harsh word you utter has the right address. It only sounds harsh because the one on the envelope is the wrong one.
    43. Re:The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke by Antisyzygy · · Score: 1

      I also mentioned that in my original post. Its not wrong/immoral/evil to expose lies, its just that an entity that wishes for peace would conduct themselves accordingly, i.e. not trying to do things they know causes people to get possibly violent. You are reading too far into what I say. Wikileaks philosophy is an absolute awesome idea, but peace is about everyone respecting eachother while having what they need to live (in order to prevent dissatisfaction). I respect the idea of peace as a principal, such as laid out by Gandhi or Mother Theresa or Buddhism or Jesus. You cannot say that Wikileaks is a peaceful movement, because they do not address peace as an issue, they only care about justice. "An eye for an eye and the whole word goes blind".

      --
      That brings me to an interesting point, / . is just "the ramblings of socially-inept, technology-literate news-mongers".
    44. Re:The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke by c0lo · · Score: 1

      I also mentioned that in my original post. Its not wrong/immoral/evil to expose lies, its just that an entity that wishes for peace would conduct themselves accordingly, i.e. not trying to do things they know causes people to get possibly violent.

      Wasn't evident to me at the first reading, thanks for repeating.
      Then, if my understanding is correct, your argument is with the person that nominated WIkileaks for the peace price, do you confirm?

      You cannot say that Wikileaks is a peaceful movement, because they do not address peace as an issue,

      I'd argue the laureates don't need to address the peace as an issue - that's a "constraint" I can't accept in your argumentation - but to carry work or actions that leads to that.
      I'm quite sure that Mother Theresa did not have in mind the peace, in fact her actions were directed to individuals.
      Same goes for Gandhi, he promoted resistance against tyranny by non-violent mass civil disobedience. And I'm sure he's done it having India in mind (and not the world peace).

      ...they only care about justice.

      Hmmm... no... I agree they care about the truth, I suspect some of its members would have justice in mind as well, but checking what they do declare on their site I don't see anything saying "We publish leaks because we want justice". Up to the rest of the world what they do with the truth.
      And, again, maybe they deserve or maybe they don't deserve now the peace prize, but I'm confident that world will be a better place because a higher amount of truth is known (if not, humanity is doomed. Delusion is not a survival trait on long term).

      --
      Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
    45. Re:The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke by WATist · · Score: 1

      Just wait Wikileaks will get around alienating every one eventually.

    46. Re:The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke by Shotgun · · Score: 1

      The world was tired of the Bush administration and their pro-war foreign policy

      Including the parts of the Muslim world that was encouraging (begging?) Bush to do something about Iraq? We learned about that through the Wikileaks.

      --
      Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
      Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
    47. Re:The Nobel Peace Prize is a joke by Shotgun · · Score: 1

      And it is somehow wrong to encourage the idea of peace?

      No. But peace doesn't come about because of flowery speeches. It requires understanding, intuition and skill to bridge the worldview of warring factions. It requires sacrifice and a willingness to endure oppression to expose corrupt governments.

      Obama did nothing that would qualify. He continues to do nothing, and in fact has arguably been one of the most divisive Presidents this country has ever know.

      I don't know the details, but the police acted stupidly.
      Elections have consequences.
      Republicans can't drive. They have to ride in the back.

      As President, sometimes your first job is to shut the hell up. Seldom has this man availed himself of that opportunity.

      --
      Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
      Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
  14. WikiLeaks = Heroes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The Nobel peace prize is meaningless at this point, but I do agree that without question the people at WikiLeaks are heros and should be commended for their efforts. I wish mainstream press was a principled as WikiLeaks.

    1. Re:WikiLeaks = Heroes by M1FCJ · · Score: 1

      Just because it's been given to people you don't share political views with does not mean it's meaningless. Luckily the rest of the world and the distinguished list of Nobel Peace Prize winners disagree with you.

  15. Kissinger and Obama got one by quantic_oscillation7 · · Score: 0

    so....it became meaningless... i don't think wikileaks guys want to have such fellow companions!

    1. Re:Kissinger and Obama got one by hoferbr · · Score: 2

      Well... Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, José Ramos-Horta, Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa... The list of great people who won the Peace Nobel goes on and on. You have to look at the big picture here, instead of focusing on United States petty politics.

    2. Re:Kissinger and Obama got one by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    3. Re:Kissinger and Obama got one by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 2

      Mother Teresa? That woman who said that it's good for people to suffer physically, because that way they connect to God?

  16. far from deserving by TinWalrus · · Score: 0

    how can he be nominated for the nobel peace prize when he has irrevocably endangered our nations military folks? while i can appreciate this persons motives, i could never agree with his methods.

    1. Re:far from deserving by Kalriath · · Score: 1

      That, and I can't see how getting the democratically elected leader of Zimbabwe imprisoned, facing a death sentence, and inciting violent protests in Tunisia could possibly count as "furthering the efforts of peace". Also, utterly destroying diplomatic relations between countries does not really further "fraternity of nations",

      No, Wikileaks most assuredly does not qualify for this prize. If there was one for furthering the goals of transparency and knowledge, then that would be valid.

      --
      For a site about things like basic rights, Slashdot users sure do like to censor "dissent".
    2. Re:far from deserving by TheCarp · · Score: 1

      So you sympathize with the methods of the military folk? The ones who go around dropping bombs on people and using violence, but not the guy who releases information and has threatened nobody with violence. The military folk put themselves in danger when they signed up. I see no need to sympathize with them, they get paid.

      --
      "I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
    3. Re:far from deserving by Noughmad · · Score: 1

      Does revealing people's secrets (what the 2011 nominee did) really endangers the soldiers more than sending them to Iraq (what the 2009 winner did)?

      --
      PlusFive Slashdot reader for Android. Can post comments.
  17. In Totally Unrelated News... by The+O+Rly+Factor · · Score: 5, Funny

    All members of the Nobel Committee have been apprehended by the US government, due to suspicion by the US government that they are aiding in terrorist activities.

    1. Re:In Totally Unrelated News... by c0lo · · Score: 1

      With both China and US being pissed on the Nobel Committee, indeed a risky business being one of the members.

      --
      Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
    2. Re:In Totally Unrelated News... by Pseudonymus+Bosch · · Score: 1

      Will the US Government arrest the 2009 Nobel Prize winner?

      --
      __
      Men with no respect for life must never be allowed to control the ultimate instruments of death.
      GW Bu
    3. Re:In Totally Unrelated News... by Enigma23 · · Score: 1

      All members of the Nobel Committee have been apprehended by the US government, due to suspicion by the US government that they are aiding in terrorist activities.

      This comment is all the more funny because it could become so dangerously close to the truth...

      --
      Ceci n'est pas une .sig
  18. Stuxnet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The creators of Stuxnet should get the peace prize for setting Iran's nuclear goals back a few years. Hopefully no one will use the code for evil...

  19. Absurd by Gunkerty+Jeb · · Score: 2

    The Nobel Committee is losing it. I'd love to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for telling people a bunch of shit they already know.

    1. Re:Absurd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      God isn't real! Now where's my worldwide fame?

  20. Makes sense by tylersoze · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Since they've already given out two Nobel Peace Prizes for "not being George W Bush" (Gore and Obama) stands to reason a third would be in order.

    Man, just think how awful of a President you have to be that people get prizes for being the exact opposite of you.

    1. Re:Makes sense by Nadaka · · Score: 2

      Obama is hardly the exact opposite of Bush. He has slightly darker skin and curlier hair, but most of his actual policy is aligned with Bush to within a few percent.

    2. Re:Makes sense by nelsonal · · Score: 1

      It's now the, "Nobel tells me pleasant lies" prize.

      --
      Degaussing scares the bad magnetism out of the monitor and fills it with good karma.
    3. Re:Makes sense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Gore wasn't for "Not being Bush". It was for "spreading information about climate change".

    4. Re:Makes sense by Frangible · · Score: 1

      "Nobel invented dynamite. I won't accept his blood money!" -Dr. Gregory House, MD

    5. Re:Makes sense by blair1q · · Score: 1

      Pretty much every Nobel Peace Prize ever given was for "not being George W. Bush".

    6. Re:Makes sense by Confusador · · Score: 1

      And yet the PATRIOT act is up for extension today. They don't actually have to BE the opposite of Bush, just convince people that they're different. That's pretty bad.

    7. Re:Makes sense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      for being the exact opposite of you.

      lol.

      We're still in Afghanistan and Iraq. We still have the Patriot Act. We've got TSA executing government-sanctioned molestation at our airports.

      Exact opposite? Clearly.

    8. Re:Makes sense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Since they've already given out two Nobel Peace Prizes for "not being George W Bush" (Gore and Obama) stands to reason a third would be in order.

      Man, just think how awful of a President you have to be that people get prizes for being the exact opposite of you.

      I have never commented once on this site, but after reading your ignorance, I feel I finally must. Saying obama and bush are opposites is the dumbest thing I have ever read. Coming from a moderate liberal, I must say, obama is nearly 90% the exact same as bush, the only difference is the party. And in todays day and age, that really means not a whole lot. Bush was not a great president, but the attitude that he is such a bad president is false, he was a very mediocre president.

    9. Re:Makes sense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Since they've already given out two Nobel Peace Prizes for "not being George W Bush" (Gore and Obama) stands to reason a third would be in order.

      You forgot Carter...

    10. Re:Makes sense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, because we know how evil Bush was for toppling Sadam (wasn't he nominated for a Nobel?) - AND invading Afghanistan just because of a single incident. What is it to us if another country wants to cut off hands, arms, legs, feet and/or heads, throw acid in women's faces, export terrorism, or whatever. It's called sovereignty man, deal with it.

      If he would've only handled these countries the way Obama (wasn't he awarded a Nobel?) is handling North Korea, Iran and Venezuala, the world would be at peace now.

      Give Iraq back to the Ba'athists and Afghanistan back to the Taliban/Al Qaeda, pay them reparations and sue for peace.

      Freedom is bullsh*t.
      George Bush is evil.
      Re-elect Obama.
      The Nobel for Julian Assange and
      Sainthood for the martyr Bradley Manning

      Oh, and if you're on the Nobel nomination committee, I'm Joe Biden.

    11. Re:Makes sense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Three already. Jimmy Carter, 2002. Maybe time for a fourth then?

    12. Re:Makes sense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Since they've already given out two Nobel Peace Prizes for "not being George W Bush" (Gore and Obama) stands to reason a third would be in order.

      Man, just think how awful of a President you have to be that people get prizes for being the exact opposite of you.

      you must not be from the USA. around here, Obama is known as black Bush. you know... because they're almost identical except for the skin color.

    13. Re:Makes sense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bush is an admitted war criminal. That makes him a "bad president".

    14. Re:Makes sense by Shotgun · · Score: 1

      Then every organic farmer before Gore should have qualified.

      --
      Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
      Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
    15. Re:Makes sense by Shotgun · · Score: 1

      the criteria you use for "war criminal" would indite every modern leader of a country that ever went to war.

      Bush was just an EXTREMELY mediocre President.

      --
      Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
      Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
    16. Re:Makes sense by Geminii · · Score: 1

      "Yeah, I got a NotGeorge. It's on the mantelpiece along with the Grammy."

    17. Re:Makes sense by MaDeR · · Score: 1

      "What is it to us if another country wants to cut off hands, arms, legs, feet and/or heads, throw acid in women's faces, export terrorism, or whatever"
      Thought that is there non-zero chance that you sincerely believe that things mentioned above are real reasons that USA did what it did - this thought scares me. Sanity is overrated in some quaters indeed.

      --
      What modern Obelix would say today? Of course, "Those crazy Americans!".
  21. "ONE" of this century's contributors ? by unity100 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    As far as the last 30 years concerned, they are the ONLY source that has contributed to freedom of speech and the public knowing what their governments were doing. last major flop was during watergate, and both the governments and corporations learned how to deal with that - buy buying out all media into conglomerates. result ? no watergate in the last 30 years.

    and no, cryptome, unfortunately, didnt mean shit.

    first, they didnt have any success in bringing the issues to the masses into mass media - they never went into danger and publicity like wikileaks did, so it was easy for mainstream media to totally ignore them - just like how they totally kept public in the dark about acta, if you want an example -

    and,

    they were inflitrated by nsa right at the start :

    http://bsd.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1910704&cid=34556662

    rendering them totally ineffective.

    1. Re:"ONE" of this century's contributors ? by BJ_Covert_Action · · Score: 1

      Yep, they are the only organization to stand up to governments and expose what they were doing, period. /sarcasm

      It's not like the EFF ever made any attempt to disseminate information about the threats to freedom of speech online. It's not like the ACLU ever made any attempt, whatsoever, in the past 30 years to educate American citizens on how to exercise their rights to the freedom of speech. It's not like Ron Paul (crazy as he is) made any political effort to convince Americans that it is okay to let people say stupid, mean shit since freedom ensures that you get to hear the bad as well as the good.

      Nope, none of those organizations, nor any other individuals (Who got the prize last year? Liu Xiaobo? What was that for again?) have contributed to the cause of free speech in the last 30 years.

      Look unity, I appreciate what Wikileaks has done as much as the next guy (at least, the next intelligent guy who can think for himself), but claiming that they are the only organization to defend free speech in the last 30 years is just downright dishonest. Not to mention the fact that it belittles the contributions of every other organization and individual that has put any time and effort into sticking up for the right to free speech.

      Love on Wikileaks all you want, but tone down the extremism and hyperbole. Keep things in perspective. Otherwise folks won't take you seriously.

    2. Re:"ONE" of this century's contributors ? by unity100 · · Score: 1

      first, establish RELEVANCE in between what you are responding, and what you will say. because what i said and what your argument is are two totally different things :

      spreading attempt to disseminate info on threats to freedom of speech, is not PRACTICING freedom of speech as in exposing scandals and PROVIDING information to people.

      spreading attempts to diseminate info on threats to freedom of speech, is a honorable cause.

      yet it is still NOT the same with actually disseminating INFORMATION that is wanted to be protected as such. the two are different.

      with coarse analogy, if eff is a source that wants to protect pipes that distribute water to the city, wikileaks (and similar publishers) are the sources that provide the water. important, but separate.

      there is nothing extremist and hyperbole in these remarks. there has been no scandal exposed in the level of watergate, since last 30 years. DESPITE internet, period. we are only having these again, due to wikileaks.

      give caesar's to caesar. trying to be skeptic, offstandish, sarcastic, should not mean not giving respect where its due.

    3. Re:"ONE" of this century's contributors ? by Stradivarius · · Score: 1

      If the goal was to recognize contributions to peace, free speech, or knowledge of government actions, Wikileaks is a poor candidate.

      Wikileaks didn't tell us anything about the big-picture actions of the US government we didn't already know from the press. This was no Watergate with its revelations of duplicity. The US government has, in fact, been doing exactly what it's said it was doing. Those US actions have angered a lot of people, but we knew that before Wikileaks. So much for informing the public - we already knew what we needed to know to hold our leaders accountable.

      What we did see is a bunch of diplomatically damaging commentaries, such as US ambassadors' assessments of the character flaws of foreign rulers. If you undermine diplomacy, you make war MORE likely, not less. So much for peace.

      Finally, the most likely result of this scandal is that the free speech laws will become MORE restrictive. Historically our country has relied upon publishers to exercise some discretion about disclosure of classified information, so as not to risk our soldiers or allies on the battlefield. The press has generally tried to balance the public good against the public harm, even while it's disclosed quite a bit. Wikileaks however, by publishing names of Afghan informants, put lives at risk and gave the country a reason to consider stricter laws.

      And what did Wikileaks hope to achieve by recklessly disclosing anything it could get its hands on? Other than notoriety, or vandalism of US diplomatic or anti-terror efforts, that is? It's not like the Taliban Assange aided are any friends of free speech, or of transparent and accountable government.

    4. Re:"ONE" of this century's contributors ? by geekpowa · · Score: 1

      I think the parent was spot on, suggest pay close attention to what was written, particularly this:

      Love on Wikileaks all you want, but tone down the extremism and hyperbole. Keep things in perspective. Otherwise folks won't take you seriously.

      I find it a little tiresome that so many people who assume that wikileaks is the only brave journalist/investigator/researcher out there. Never heard of John Pilger, Noam Chomsky, Greg Shackleton just to name a couple off top of my head. To assume that wikileaks is the only one is an admission of ignorance and insulting to many who labour, frequently at great personal risk, towards exposing excesses of governments and others in positions of trust and authority.

      Wikileaks stands out primarily because they recently gained exceptionally broad mindshare. How did they do this? via the diplomatic cable leak. Little in this leak was revelatory or new; anyone who has invested any time into understanding politics was not surprised by the leak, either it's content or its tone. But it sure made for titillating news: Batman and Robin, haw haw haw; but hardly 'hard' stuff; makes for great press and casual conversation.

      Actually, I view Wikileaks more as a news outlet then a centralised whisteblower safe harbour. The latter, is a valuable and novel new institution and wikileaks should at least be credited for this valuable innovation but only if the promise of this institution clearly materialises and that it becomes self evident that wikileaks is a worthy and functional example of such an institution. Neither of these have been fully satisfied yet in my view. If it does then indeed it is probably Nobel peace prize worthy. But Nobel committee should delay a few years first in order to be confident that the promise of wikileaks materializes. Jumping the gun on peace prize, which they have done a few times now, weakens the gravitas of the prize. Jose Ramos Horta deserves the prize for all he suffered and achieved, but his win is diminished when the prize is subsequently thrown around with seemingly little thought to people like Obama and Al Gore: they haven't earned it: not yet at least.

    5. Re:"ONE" of this century's contributors ? by unity100 · · Score: 1

      it doesnt matter whether there have been other brave journalist/investigators etc. at any given point in time even in hardest times, there are good people as such. ,Br>
      what matters is whether they have been able to get the job done in alerting masses of population to their story.

      take noam chomsky. he had done a lot of activism had raised a lot of awareness. and ?

      and ?

      had he been able to alert 2-3 billion people all at the same time, to the wrongdoings of entire governments in one shot ? and had been able to do this by forcing the very mouthpieces and outlets of those governments and their corporate supporters ?

      no.

      this is what wikileaks has done. this is why, we regard it quite highly. we respect all people that spent effort for truth. however, effort is not success. apparently, something like wikileaks, has been what we needed.

      btw, wikileaks is not books, activism, awareness raising. its outright exposing verifiable, from-the-source, filth.

    6. Re:"ONE" of this century's contributors ? by geekpowa · · Score: 1

      I disagree.

      Wikileaks reached a huge audience with titillating trivia and entertaining news sound bites. I would assert that the core audience that consumed the 'Batman and Robin' stuff and talked about it on twitter, facebook and around the water cooler paid little heed to the harder stuff, and actually studiously ignored it; the content and it's implications. Wikileaks have certainly increased awareness and engagement in 'hard issues'; yet I am doubtful that their success in doing this radically surpasses any of their notable predecessors.

      I personally think it is impossible to do so. Because majority of the population, beyond minority of young passionate activists, just don't engage with such information unless it becomes a real and immediate threat to their personal pursuits for continued prosperity. For me wikileaks disseminating information is nothing new or interesting; their methods are not novel nor is the information they disseminating anything substantially new. The promise of wikileaks that interests me is the possibility of providing support and safe harbour to whistle-blowers. Life of a whistleblower is a hard, risky and lonely life: any institution that can ease this and lower the barriers preventing people from blowing whistles deserves our full support and respect.

    7. Re:"ONE" of this century's contributors ? by c0lo · · Score: 1

      I disagree.

      Wikileaks reached a huge audience with titillating trivia and entertaining news sound bites.

      Then TFS quote:

      Valen cited WikiLeaks' role in disclosing the assets of Tunisia's former president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his nearest family, contributing to the protests that forced them into exile."

      You sure you aren't on a wrong track?

      --
      Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
    8. Re:"ONE" of this century's contributors ? by c0lo · · Score: 1

      Historically our country has relied upon publishers to exercise some discretion about disclosure of classified information, so as not to risk our soldiers or allies on the battlefield.

      And you believe that the wars (in which your soldiers and allies are/were on the battle-field) is peace? (not arguing on "Wikileaks deserves or not the Nobel prize", but rather trying to understand how's your mind working)

      --
      Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
    9. Re:"ONE" of this century's contributors ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Democracy = Everyone can vote and each vote weighs the same.
      Government secrets = I'm voting for something, I think what I vote for will achieve something, but since I don't know what the government is actually doing behind my back my vote might have the complete opposite effect.
      Breaking government secrets = My vote is once again accurate and I know what it achieves.

      Wikileaks isn't just about Free Speech, it also helped preserve Democracy. I agree with what you said but I just thought this should be mentioned somewhere.

    10. Re:"ONE" of this century's contributors ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And they saved puppies. Cute puppies. Cute puppies being petted by children. They have single-handedly saved the moral fiber of society. Without them we would descend into chaos not unlike what is expected during The Rapture. I heard they have saved the entire world from total annihilation from dangers within and without, including a collision with an asteroid. They are the most important thing IN THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE.

  22. Re:far from deserving(NOT!) by drgregoryhouse · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    Just who has been endangered or is it just a speculation? Citation needed please. Probably just FUD from those exposed by wikileaks.

  23. I just picutre... by alobar72 · · Score: 1

    The Szene: Torture chamber, guantanamo, seven floors downstairs. A guard steps over to the poor fellow who leaked some stuff and says: "congrats, buddy - those wikileakians just won the Nobel price with your leaked documents... We will keep you here for another 10 years " :)

  24. I'd nominate Mark Zuckerberg & Jack Dorsey by mozumder · · Score: 1

    If it weren't for them, the events going on in the mid-east right now wouldn't happen.

    There, I said it. Agreed?

    1. Re:I'd nominate Mark Zuckerberg & Jack Dorsey by qmaqdk · · Score: 1

      No! If they never created Facebook and Twitter then MySpace (which had more users than Facebook at one point and launched 6 months earlier) or Orkut (launched a month before Facebook) would have been used. You can't exactly claim they were unique ideas, just good executions.

      --
      My UID is prime. Hah!
    2. Re:I'd nominate Mark Zuckerberg & Jack Dorsey by RazorSharp · · Score: 1

      If it weren't for them, the events going on in the mid-east right now wouldn't happen.

      There, I said it. Agreed?

      Yeah, because the internet wouldn't exist without Facebook and Twitter. . .

      --
      "From the depths of my skeptical and rationalist soul, I ask the Lord to protect me from California touchie-feeliedom."
    3. Re:I'd nominate Mark Zuckerberg & Jack Dorsey by mozumder · · Score: 1

      No.

      No one would have used MySpace or Orkut to organize Egyptian protests.

      Both of those sites are completely worthless.

      There's a reason people used Facebook and twitter.

    4. Re:I'd nominate Mark Zuckerberg & Jack Dorsey by mozumder · · Score: 1

      What's the "internet"? i only use facebook and twitter.

      Do i have to log into the internet separately?

      You seem to be implying that the egyptian protests would have occurred without Facebook or twitter?

  25. Anti Nobel by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Who is going to start the Anti-Nobel website? I think this would be a good place to detail where the atrocities and censorship. Pictures, examples, financial statements. Top 10 list. links to legal offices that work specifically in corruption.

  26. Meaningless. by BaronHethorSamedi · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The Nobel Peace Prize, according to Alfred Nobel's will, should be awarded to the person (or organization) who "...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."

    Whatever you might think about WikiLeaks' contributions to free speech politics, government transparency, etc., it's hard to see how it's filled any of those criteria. The release of diplomatic cables arguably did a lot to damage fraternity between nations.

    Of course, as others have observed, it seems to have been some time since the letter of Nobel's will has meant anything to the Peace Prize committee.

    1. Re:Meaningless. by vux984 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The release of diplomatic cables arguably did a lot to damage fraternity between nations.

      The release of other things did a lot of good.

      The release of the diplomatic cables did not end the world, and while the governments were embarrassed the actual people I think have been brought together by the frank disclosure that their leaders were being duplicitous jerks. (We all knew this all along, of course. But just putting it out in the open still makes a difference.

    2. Re:Meaningless. by Microlith · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The release of diplomatic cables arguably did a lot to damage fraternity between nations.

      Only if you see fraternity between nations as the interactions between their governments. The people of those nations, on the other hand, may get along much better as a result.

      Humiliate abusive governments, make it obvious what they do. Both the US Federal Government and its meddling in the affairs of other nations and the oppressive governments of the middle east. Maybe then we can come to an understanding without worthless warmongers, dictators, and politicians getting in the way?

    3. Re:Meaningless. by RazorSharp · · Score: 0

      I think that exposing the atrocities and corruption behind militaries goes a long way toward reducing the support they receive from citizens. It's still taboo to accuse the military of being anything but a noble institution in the States, but Wikileaks has done a lot to expose the flaws in that assumption. Wikileaks has also done a lot to inform people of the futility of our presence in Afghanistan and Iraq, thus dropping public support for these endeavors. So that promotes peace and in turn opens the doors to fraternity between our nation and those who currently fear we invade them for some bogus reason.

      --
      "From the depths of my skeptical and rationalist soul, I ask the Lord to protect me from California touchie-feeliedom."
    4. Re:Meaningless. by Frangible · · Score: 1

      End the world? No. And yes, obviously politicians are politicians, no matter the party or nation.

      But Wikileaks did nothing to improve relations between nation-states, and if anything, created at least a few schisms. That's what Nobel's original intent focused on. And maybe that doesn't mean anything anymore, but that was the original, historic intent.

    5. Re:Meaningless. by IrquiM · · Score: 1

      The release of diplomatic cables arguably did a lot to damage fraternity between nations.

      You meant to say between US and the rest of the world - right?

      --
      This is blinging
    6. Re:Meaningless. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That depends on how you look at it. Most of the electorate in said nations have gained a greater common disdain of their politicians and their warped political systems, not of their neighboring countries.

    7. Re:Meaningless. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Only if you see fraternity between nations as the interactions between their governments. The people of those nations, on the other hand, may get along much better as a result.

      Humiliate abusive governments, make it obvious what they do. Both the US Federal Government and its meddling in the affairs of other nations and the oppressive governments of the middle east. Maybe then we can come to an understanding without worthless warmongers, dictators, and politicians getting in the way?

      Fraternity between nation's governments is most important because it keeps the people of said nations from having their homeland invaded, and stabilizes entire geographic regions containing many nations and many more ethnicities and cultures.

      Rock throwing at fellow countrymen in the streets is evidence enough that "the people" utterly lack any sort of fraternity you dream of.

      Rocking the whole boat because you dislike the captain is never a good way to solve problems.

    8. Re:Meaningless. by brillow · · Score: 1

      I didn't know there were strict-constructionists when it came to the Nobel.

    9. Re:Meaningless. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually many nations have been working together to shut wikileaks down..... that's a kind-of fraternity

    10. Re:Meaningless. by BaronHethorSamedi · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I don't flatly disagree with any of your observations. My point is simply that "doing a lot of good," "making a difference," or even the laudable goal of holding governments to account for their actions are not a basis for awarding the Nobel Peace Prize.

      I don't think even Wikileaks would suggest that their mission directly entails the reduction of standing armies, the promotion of peace congresses, or fostering fraternity between nations. Their claimed purposes have more to do, again, with transparency, free speech, and public accountability. Those are all good things, but they are not the principles on which Nobel originally wanted the prize awarded.

      The fact that there is no Nobel Prize awarded for good work in advancing free speech principles does not mean the criteria for awarding an existing prize should be distorted just so we can give a shout out to some entity whose political aims we like or agree with. Unfortunately, this is more or less what the Peace Prize has become--an amorphous love letter from the Nobel Committee to whoever happens to be doing what they like at the moment.

    11. Re:Meaningless. by StuartHankins · · Score: 2

      By shining a light into a cave you may see enough to avoid danger. You may also awaken a den of bears who attack and eat you. Don't blame the light for the result -- the light is neither good nor evil -- but instead use it to attain knowledge and then use that knowledge for good. Sometimes a frank discussion leads to greater understanding and sometimes it leads to a fight. One hopes we are capable at some point of having that grown-up discussion.

    12. Re:Meaningless. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The damage doesn't come from the release of the cables. The damage was caused by one nation secretly screwing another. The countries who were being screwed by the USA were glad they were told about what was going on. If the USA lost the respect of it's friends in the process, it has nobody to blame but itself. Damage was being done, by the USA, except nobody knew it until the cables were leaked. This is justice, not useless harm to nations of the world.

      That's like a high school cheerleader sucking up to the leader of the team but calling her a bitch behind her back. Then another cheerleader tells the leader about it, the leader gets upset at cheerleader 1, but cheerleader 2 gets blamed for being the cause of cheerleader 1 and the leader not getting along anymore. It makes no sense and it's childish (and you expect not to see this sort of reasoning after high school, hence the choice of my example)

    13. Re:Meaningless. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, sure, because that is pretty much Assange's agenda. Make sure to take his dick out of your mouth before you try to come up with some haughty "he only cares about openness" lie because his actions, his planned timed partial release of info actions if you will, show him to be liar. Just what flavor Kool-Aid is he serving these days anyway?

    14. Re:Meaningless. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...and thank god we have a Nobel committee that still believes in the principles of reason, freedom and the power of genuine grass-roots activism.

      FTFY

  27. Wikileaks did not cause the Tunisian revolt by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wikileaks did not cause the Tunisian revolt. The corruption of the ruling family has been known for years

    http://www.youtube.com/user/Nawaat#p/u/8/XRW2BJOewcc

  28. It was meant as an award for America by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The prize given to Obama was meant to award America for choosing someone they believed would lead us away from war, not so much to award Obama himself.

    Given how some in his administration consider Wikileaks a terrorist entity or something close to that, it would be interesting to see how he deals with it politically if they were to get the award.

    1. Re:It was meant as an award for America by Americano · · Score: 1

      Yassir Arafat received it in 1994. I suspect they'll be able to deal with an award to Wikileaks just fine, "politically" speaking.

    2. Re:It was meant as an award for America by ShavedOrangutan · · Score: 2

      The prize given to Obama was meant to award America for choosing someone they believed would lead us away from war, not so much to award Obama himself.

      Obama flat out said that he would be ramping up the war in Afghanistan and would be eying Pakistan next. Was anybody listening?

      --
      Godaddy is a scam and a ripoff.
  29. DDoS BREAK SMASH BURN RIOT FUN! by Thud457 · · Score: 2

    Speaking of which, what do you think of Anonymous' chances of getting Time's "person of the year" ?

    --

    the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

    1. Re:DDoS BREAK SMASH BURN RIOT FUN! by GameboyRMH · · Score: 2

      Well they already gave it to the far more destructive and malevolent Mark Zuckerberg...whoever's most influential by whatever means gets the prize, those are the rules...

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
  30. You have it backwards. by pizzach · · Score: 2

    When you recieve something, you feel an obligation to try to uphold it. Obama said himself that he didn't feel like he deserved it, but that he would do his best to live up to it. In many ways, the prize in this instance was meant to serve as a preemptive, "please don't become George W. Bush." That isn't exactly the same as "getting the prize just because he isn't George W. Bush."

    Maybe slashdotters are different from normal people, but what would you do if you recieved the Nobel Peace prize? Would it affect how you carry out your daily activities. Would it make you more concious of your choices?

    --
    Once you start despising the jerks, you become one.
    1. Re:You have it backwards. by ravenshrike · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I'd kick Thorbjorn Jagland in the balls for accepting my nomination and then allowing me to win. I'd also give the King of Sweden a wedgie.

    2. Re:You have it backwards. by KillAllNazis · · Score: 1

      Noble Peace Prize on one hand, billionaire backslappers on the other. Hmm...

    3. Re:You have it backwards. by srussia · · Score: 1

      Would it make you more concious of your choices?

      Yes, Cristal or Krug.

      --
      Set your phasers on "funky"!
    4. Re:You have it backwards. by ShavedOrangutan · · Score: 1

      Maybe slashdotters are different from normal people, but what would you do if you recieved the Nobel Peace prize?

      I'd eBay it.

      Even Obama recognized the ridiculousness of being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize after 3 days in office. I'd have respected him if he'd declined it and asked for them to consider him again in 4 or 8 years after he'd had the chance to earn it. Which he isn't, of course.

      --
      Godaddy is a scam and a ripoff.
    5. Re:You have it backwards. by outsider007 · · Score: 0

      If he wins will he stop raping swedish ladies?

      --
      If you mod me down the terrorists will have won
    6. Re:You have it backwards. by dintech · · Score: 1

      No, no, you're thinking of Tiger Woods. He won the 'Knobend Grease' prize.

      "...shall have done the most women between nations, etc, etc."

    7. Re:You have it backwards. by boxwood · · Score: 1

      Damn I wish I had mod points.

      +1 Insightful!

  31. Forget about it by Tablizer · · Score: 2

    ...the winner has already been leaked, and WL was not it.

  32. Nobel? Schmobel! by Quiet_Desperation · · Score: 0

    Isn't the nomination kind of trivial? Bill Handel, a radio host here in Southern California got nominated by someone in Congress in 2005. They treated it like a joke for weeks on the show, and used it to ridicule the Nobel nomination of Stanley "Tookie" Williams, a man put to death by California for *four* brutal murders.

  33. holy cow. by unity100 · · Score: 1
    those people have not received PEACE prize for their SCIENCE. they received PEACE for their ACTIVISM.

    in the respect of PEACE price, it doesnt matter whether they were cooks, machinists, or jugglers - they received them for their ACTIVISM as PERSONS.

    example : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linus_Pauling#Activism

    Pauling had been practically apolitical until World War II, but the aftermath of the war and his wife's pacifism changed his life profoundly, and he became a peace activist. During the beginning of the Manhattan Project, Robert Oppenheimer invited him to be in charge of the Chemistry division of the project, but he declined, not wanting to uproot his family. He did work on other projects that had military applications such as explosives, rocket propellants, an oxygen meter for submarines and patented an armor piercing shell and was awarded a Presidential Medal of Merit.[37][38] In 1946, he joined the Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists, chaired by Albert Einstein.[39] Its mission was to warn the public of the dangers associated with the development of nuclear weapons. His political activism prompted the U.S. State Department to deny him a passport in 1952, when he was invited to speak at a scientific conference in London.[40][41] His passport was restored in 1954, shortly before the ceremony in Stockholm where he received his first Nobel Prize. Joining Einstein, Bertrand Russell and eight other leading scientists and intellectuals, he signed the Russell-Einstein Manifesto in 1955.[42] In 1958, Pauling joined a petition drive in cooperation with the founders of the St. Louis Citizen's Committee for Nuclear Information (CNI). This group, headed by Washington University professors Barry Commoner, Eric Reiss, M. W. Friedlander, and John Fowler, set up a study of radioactive strontium-90 in the baby teeth of children across North America. The "Baby Tooth Survey," headed by Dr. Louise Reiss, demonstrated conclusively in 1961 that above-ground nuclear testing posed significant public health risks in the form of radioactive fallout spread primarily via milk from cows that had ingested contaminated grass.[43][44][45] Pauling also participated in a public debate with the atomic physicist Edward Teller about the actual probability of fallout causing mutations.[46] In 1958, Pauling and his wife presented the United Nations with the petition signed by more than 11,000 scientists calling for an end to nuclear-weapon testing. Public pressure and the frightening results of the CNI research subsequently led to a moratorium on above-ground nuclear weapons testing, followed by the Partial Test Ban Treaty, signed in 1963 by John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev. On the day that the treaty went into force, the Nobel Prize Committee awarded Pauling the Nobel Peace Prize, describing him as "Linus Carl Pauling, who ever since 1946 has campaigned ceaselessly, not only against nuclear weapons tests, not only against the spread of these armaments, not only against their very use, but against all warfare as a means of solving international conflicts."[47] The Committee for Nuclear Information was never credited for its significant contribution to the test ban, nor was the ground-breaking research conducted by Dr. Reiss and the "Baby Tooth Survey". The Caltech Chemistry Department, wary of his political views, did not even formally congratulate him. They did throw him a small party, showing they were more appreciative and sympathetic toward his work on radiation mutation. At Caltech he founded Sigma Xi's (The Scientific Research Society) chapter at the school, as he had previously been a member of that organisation. He continued his peace activism in the following years co-founding the International League of Humanists in 1974. He was president of the scientific advisory board of the World Union for Protection of Life and also one of the signers of the Dubrovnik-Philadelphia Statement. Many of Pauling's critics, including

    1. Re:holy cow. by Ellis+D.+Tripp · · Score: 1

      But you said:

      and, scientists dont get PEACE prices, fool.

      I didn't see regarding the nature of their work there, just a blanket statement that scientists don't receive the Peace prize. And in the case of Norman Borlaug (mentioned by the poster before me), he received the prize for his work in agronomy, because helping increase the world's food supply helped provide benefits in the effort for world peace.

      --
      Remember "News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters"? Help make it a reality again! http://soylentnews.org
    2. Re:holy cow. by unity100 · · Score: 1

      then you should carry that blanket wrongness to the initial parent, in which he had counted various irrelevant disciplines that nobel was given out as if related to peace price.

      however it is implied in the sentence still :

      if you count 'scientist' as a classification while talking about peace price, and especially state it, it means that you are considering it as a classification. it is wrong. no scientist receives peace price due to their SCIENCE, so, mention of scientist status is totally irrelevant.

      even in the case of norman borlaug - he didnt receive his peace price because of his SCIENCE work. he received it because his work, worthy of receiving a prize related to his field or not, helped increase the world food supply.

      scientists, indeed, dont receive peace prices - they receive prizes in their respective field.

  34. So if Assange is executed by Obama... by Mysteray · · Score: 1, Troll

    So if Assange is awarded the prize, then extradited to the US and executed for espionage or some such, would it be the first time one Nobel Peace Prize winner is executed by another?

  35. I disagree by Rollgunner · · Score: 1

    It would be appropriate if 'peace' was based on the truth. In my experience, peace between equally matched opponents is usually based on a lie. One party says "I forgive you" or "It doesn't bother me" or "you were right" or "I agree" when they mean absolutely none of those things, but realize that someone must 'bend the knee' in order for there to be peace.

  36. War Lords. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Since the War Lords are the most nominated and the biggest winners of this Nobel Prize. Anything can happens.

  37. Yes! by MacGyver2210 · · Score: 1

    DO IT!

    Then, when the US Government reacts surprisingly similarly to how China reacted when one of its dissidents won, the world (and more importantly the US citizens) will finally understand what type of country we really live in.

    Speaking out when they don't want you to is one of the highest forms of patriotism. Remember that being patriotic is about loyalty to your country and its ideals, not the government or the corrupt bastards that run it.

    --
    If the only way you can accept an assertion is by faith, then you are conceding that it can't be taken on its own merits
    1. Re:Yes! by Tanuki64 · · Score: 1

      Then, when the US Government reacts surprisingly similarly to how China reacted when one of its dissidents won, the world

      Yes.

       

      (and more importantly the US citizens)

      No.

  38. Grow up. Obama was just a recent abuse of by bussdriver · · Score: 1

    Obama getting the prize was a message and encouragement for the USA (and an FU to the American rightwing) to move in the right direction which was a horrible MISTAKE but it does not lower the prize forever or mean the next people are less deserving. His acceptance / defiant speech was more of a disgrace than awarding it to him.

    1) The prize has been given by DIFFERENT people over its lifespan - its not going to be perfect all the time.

    2) Symbolic and abusive use of the Nobel has happened before; for example, the worst one that I know of was when they gave the Nobel prize to Henry Kissinger also given too early into his career (the guy seemed to bring death everywhere he was involved.) Those committee members are gone now. They won't impose a grace period because sometimes it may make sense to award one early - such as last year's Chinese winner or that Iranian lady who probably had it save her life.

    3) The Nobel for Economics is not a legit prize and yet the banks funding it have perpetuated this fake prize for decades - it lets them promote their economic agenda; good or ill it was an addition.

    4) NOBODY deserves the award more this year than WikiLeaks. period. well, unless you think peace and order is more important than truth and freedom.

    This is a good time to promote the Right Livelihood Award (The Alternative Nobel) which is given to anybody not just scientists some approved of economist (I'd never call that science) and 1 politician/activist.

    1. Re:Grow up. Obama was just a recent abuse of by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      4) NOBODY deserves the award more this year than WikiLeaks. period. well, unless you think peace and order is more important than truth and freedom.

      Well, you just brought up the question yourself. In the awarding of a PEACE prize, is it more important to look at peace than it is truth? Is truth peace? Is freedom peace? Is order NOT peace? Can you point me to a Nobel Freedom Prize?

      I'm just playing the antagonist here, as your own words and the entirely-not-needed smug implication you stapled on the end there seem to negate the award entirely if peace isn't the point of the peace prize.

    2. Re:Grow up. Obama was just a recent abuse of by MaskedSlacker · · Score: 1

      NOBODY deserves the award more this year than WikiLeaks. period. well, unless you think peace and order is more important than truth and freedom.

      Sure there is. Off the top of my head, whoever wrote Stuxnet. Forestalling a very real and imminent war between Israel and Iran is an actual contribution to peace. Releasing a bunch of embarassing diplomatic cables, not so much.

  39. Mwahahah! This will tick of the US Politicians by meerling · · Score: 1

    They are going to be absolutely livid when they see this, especially the republicans. ROFLMAO

  40. I don't get it -- Re:Century by beh · · Score: 1

    A nobel peace prize for Wikileaks?

    So far - we are not quite certain, whether wikileaks will aid peace, or actually _cause_ wars.

    Think about it - some of the diplomatic papers released were embarrassing (like US diplomats takes on the German foreign minister, or the comments about Putin) - do these aid peace? No.

    Some more diplomatic papers seem to reveal some arab states actually urged the US to attack Iran - hmm - is that helping peace along in ANY way? I think it makes conflict between those states MORE likely, not LESS.

    Don't get me wrong - wikileaks has done good things - like releasing the helicopter attack videos. These are clear whistleblowing activities, highlighting criminal behaviour. But it seems to me that some of the papers that were released were chosen by the potential size of the print run (i.e. tabloid style), rather than serious and responsible journalism.

    1. Re:I don't get it -- Re:Century by marcosdumay · · Score: 1

      "Some more diplomatic papers seem to reveal some arab states actually urged the US to attack Iran - hmm - is that helping peace along in ANY way?"

      It made it harder for the US to attack Iran. It also made it quite harder to the US to start any war at the middle east, since it showed that the biggest supporter of Al Qaeda is the exact same country that the US is protecting by making wars at the middle east.

      Now, I'd like to know if those current revolutions have anything to do with Wikileaks.

  41. WikiLeaks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Well then, in the interest of free speech and the flow of information, I expect to see Snorre post his credit card info on wikileaks immediately.

  42. What do you suggest? by sjbe · · Score: 1

    To add the superfluousness of the nobel, the irony of the 2009 recipient hosting a dinner for the man who is imprisoning the 2010 winner was lost on the populace.

    A fair criticism though I don't think it was lost on anyone. My response would be: what do you want Mr. Obama to do about it? Seriously. It's not an idle or simple question and I'm not interested in unrealistic or idealistic answers. China cannot reasonably be ignored or browbeaten into releasing Liu Xiaobo from prison (not to mention other political prisoners). Our government has made their opinion on the matter clear enough but beyond that what do you seriously expect Mr. Obama to do? The relationship of the US with China is more complicated than civil rights of one man. For that matter the history of the US on civil rights is pretty bad too so it's not as if we can lecture the world without some amount of hypocrisy. One only has to look as far as Guantanamo to see where China could respond on current US policy for civil rights.

    It's easy to say we shouldn't host such events with China in order to make a statement. I understand the appeal and simplicity of the logic. Nevertheless that sort of passive aggressive scolding accomplishes little and really ignores the bigger picture.

    They told me if I voted for McCain these things would happen.

    Yes they probably would have. It didn't much matter who became president. Whatever their differences the political realities of the US relationship with China will tend to override the specific preferences of whoever happens to be president at a given time.

    1. Re:What do you suggest? by Stradivarius · · Score: 2

      what do you seriously expect Mr. Obama to do

      Lead.

      You're right it's not easy. You're right the situation is complicated. You're right we can't browbeat the Chinese government into treating their people decently. To me, that says the only thing we can realistically do is lead by example. Show the peoples of the world that America still believes in something more than expediency of the moment.

      Unfortunately, for far too long, under far too many Presidents, we have done little of that. We coddle dictators as long as they give us something in return. China finances our debt and sells us cheap goods. Egypt gave us aid against terrorists. Ditto for the Saudis. For years we aided Saddam Hussein. All because it was expedient in the short-term, never mind that such dictatorships foster unrest and radicalism. Never mind that this makes these peoples feel we care nothing for them and undermines our future diplomacy.

      The hardest part is that Congress is not of one mind on the subject. Most politicians don't think beyond the next election, and aren't likely to go out on a limb unless they have cover. That's why you need leadership. Unfortunately, we haven't had it for a while.

    2. Re:What do you suggest? by ShavedOrangutan · · Score: 0

      My response would be: what do you want Mr. Obama to do about it?

      To start with, not host a grand celebration for the leader of an hostile oppressive communist government. But on the other hand, he can't exactly turn away the leader of the government that's financing his social programs.

      --
      Godaddy is a scam and a ripoff.
    3. Re:What do you suggest? by mcvos · · Score: 1

      This is exactly the biggest problem with the US in world politics. The US likes to talk a lot about freedom, democracy and human rights, but when push comes to shove, it's just words. How can you ask other countries to become more democratic when you overthrow democracies and support dictators? How can you ask other countries to respect human rights and free press when you're willing to use every loophole possible to torture your opponents, and prosecute people for publishing inconvenient secrets? And by doing this, you're opening yourself up to criticism on your own human rights record.

      Getting criticized on your human rights record by China, or on your handling of free press by Russia doesn't exactly look good. Sure, the US is nowhere near as bad as China or Russia, but "we're not as bad as China" does not make a great rallying cry, and doesn't lend a lot of power to your demands that other nations should clean up their act.

      The American ideals of freedom and democracy would be incredibly appealing and powerful if only the US lived up to them. Or at least tried.

  43. Fixed link by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The "idea of Obama" link is a 403. Here is the only other link Google has, from amazon, so I suppose slashdotting fears won't close that one like your first.

  44. Re:Nobel Peace Prize - renamed by moj0joj0 · · Score: 1

    I suggest it be called: The Nobel (We Hope You Support) Peace Prize. ...or at least don't start any new wars for the next couple of weeks, if you don't mind.

    With this nomination, it will be interesting to see how this plays out. With some US congressmen calling WikiLeaks a treasonous organization and with the tangential evidence that WikiLeaks was a large contributor to the political changes ongoing throughout the Middle East. This could be an interesting situation.

  45. It's a trap! by obi1one · · Score: 1

    They just want to get him to go to Sweden....

  46. At least Wikileaks did something by mschaffer · · Score: 1

    Yes, winning the Nobel Prize is news. Being nominated is NOT news.

    Anyhow, at least Wikileaks did something. It's not on par with Liu Xiaobo's, but it's much better than the 2009 winner of the peace prize (Mr. Obama) did not do any "work for fraternity between nations, the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses" when he won. His "deeds" were just talk and speculation in 2009 and even now in 2011. Too bad Mr. Nobel didn't put aside something for political speech-writing and finger pointing...

  47. "Nobel nomination" stories are unverifiable by dpbsmith · · Score: 1

    Nominations are kept secret for fifty years so there is no way to confirm whether or not some person has been nominated. The nominators are chosen by the Nobel committee; you can't just send a name in yourself or organize a campaign to nominate someone. All details of the nominations are also kept secret for 50 years, so there is no way to confirm whether or not Snorre Valen is a nominator.

    See the Nobel Prize website's nomination facts.

    1. Re:"Nobel nomination" stories are unverifiable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, you can organize a campaign. According to the website you linked,
      "The right to submit proposals for the Nobel Peace Prize shall, by statute, be enjoyed by:

      1. Members of national assemblies and governments of states;
      2. Members of international courts;
      3. University rectors; professors of social sciences, history, philosophy, law and theology; directors of peace research institutes and foreign policy institutes;
      4. Persons who have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize;
      5. Board members of organizations who have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize;
      6. Active and former members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee; (proposals by members of the Committee to be submitted no later than at the first meeting of the Committee after February 1) and
      7. Former advisers appointed by the Norwegian Nobel Institute.

      The Nobel Peace Prize may also be awarded to institutions and associations."

      So that gives us a nominator pool of, oh, at least a few hundred thousand. And given that Snorre Valen is a member of a national assembly, he is without question qualified to submit a nomination.

  48. Re:far from deserving(NOT!) by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

    Here's a citation for the number of people put in danger by the leaks, from the Pentagon:

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38417666/ns/world_news-south_and_central_asia

    --
    "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
  49. Huh. Maybe they are terrorists by Culture20 · · Score: 1

    If they get a Nobel prize these days they must be.

  50. Yeah right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wikileaks precipitates riots in the streets and a revolution, and therefore gets the peace prize?

    If this actually happens, it will de-value the Nobel prizes for me.

    Who are these Nobel people anyway, some bunch of Danes?, and why do people care about what prizes they award?

  51. No it was not by Shivetya · · Score: 1

    It was one of two things, either one final slap at Bush Inc or just another group clamoring to be part of the Obama experience. It certainly was not for America.

    As far as his reaction, he will let others take that plunge for him. It has been his standard method, when something sticky comes up if he doesn't first shoot himself in the foot (think about his reaction to the harvard incident) he will have some flunky do it unofficially. Which is the most glaring reason his Presidency is so awful, he passes off the ball when its a tough issue and then spikes the football when its accomplished even when he did nothing but sit on the bench.

    The Nobel Peace prize has become little more than a statement machine for those who award it, they are far more interested in expressing their political views than highlighting the best of us.

    --
    * Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
  52. Cool by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Didn't the 2009 winner host the guy who is holding the 2010 winner at a fancy dinner last month?

  53. Re:Nobel Peace Prize - renamed by Locke2005 · · Score: 1

    Some congresscritters are extremely ignorant. The word "treason" presumes WikiLeaks is a US citizen, or at least an organization run by US citizens. It isn't. Are Russian spies sabotaging the US committing "treason"?

    --
    I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
  54. Does Wikileaks influence war or peace? by android.dreamer · · Score: 1

    Is it a coincidence, or didn't Wikileaks help instigate revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt, and hostile action in Zimbabwe, with the release of the diplomatic cables, not to mention arrests around the world for DDoS hackers? It is probably a coincidence, but while the protests/riots may help democracy in those countries, I don't exactly call it "keeping the peace".

  55. Yeah... by zmen · · Score: 0

    Hugo Chavez is the funder of Wikileaks. Wait and see.

  56. Assange is a vigilante without merit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Assange published stolen documents about nothing we already didn't know to create additional anti-american sentiment.
    Somebody give him a peace prize!

  57. Same old shit by trollertron3000 · · Score: 1

    Shouldn't the prize got to the PFC that leaked the cables then? Wikileaks just grandstanded and delivered them after thoroughly scrubbing them. This is just more grandstanding so they can once again tell the world how they feel. We get it. If it's leftist it's really awesome. Message received. Now take your useless Nobel political statement award and fuck off .

    --
    Tiger Blooded Bi-Winning Machine
  58. That Is a Joke by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wikileaks has done more to destablize the free world through espionage, deceit, and short-sightedness and does not even care as to the far reaching ramifications of their potentially catastophic agendas, yielding classified materials to foreign enemies, placing many people in harm's way, and the list goes on. Norway Politicians have no sense if this is the general concensus. Its too bad that such ignorance and widespread chaos is getting a nomination for this nOBEL? prize? That is a joke.

  59. Hardware for peace? by GreyGroom · · Score: 1

    Maybe Julian Assange could receive a peace prize but wikileaks is a web site. How do you give a prize to a web server? What is it going to buy with the prize? A faster hard drive?

  60. "lack of political controversy"... by Radical+Moderate · · Score: 1

    ...is hardly a qualification for the prize. Yeah, I get that "peace" is part of the name, but promoting peace, paradoxically, does not mean ducking controversy.

    --
    Never let a lack of data get in the way of a good rant.
  61. meaningless without definitions by manaway · · Score: 1

    The Nobel Peace Prize, according to Alfred Nobel's will, should be awarded to the person (or organization) who "...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."

    Depends on if "nations" means the rich ruling class or the general population. Is Egypt Mr. Mubarak or the people gathering in city squares? Is the US the corporate executives (whether working in their corp or doing their time in federal positions) or the people whose jobs are outsourced and left with low-paying no-benefits jobs? Similar for Tunisia, Israel/Palestine, Afghanistan, Columbia, and others.

    Whatever you might think about WikiLeaks' contributions to free speech politics, government transparency, etc., it's hard to see how it's filled any of those criteria. The release of diplomatic cables arguably did a lot to damage fraternity between nations.

    Depending on your definition of "nation," you could make a strong argument that transparency makes for more fair and thus more peaceful relations, and less need for armies. Are you better friends with someone you talk with openly, or with someone who lies to you? With which one are you more defensive?

  62. This century by Coppit · · Score: 1

    "WikiLeaks is one of this century's most important contributors to freedom of speech and transparency"

    I guess that's true... The century is still pretty young.

  63. The Peace Prize is not about "deserving" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's about PEACE. It has been given may to people in that same position as Obama, who were making efforts to bring peace to some region or conflict, but hadn't achieved it yet. The Prize in that situation is supposed to enhance the person's recognition in order to increase their chances of success at bringing peace. Other examples include Desmond Tutu (opponent of South African apartheid who got the Prize long before apartheid actually ended), Jimmy Carter (mideast), Woodrow Wilson (League of Nations), and numerous others. Rachel Maddow did a segment about this just after Obama got the Prize. Transcript here.

  64. Guantanamo by Livius · · Score: 1

    Obama ordered the concentration camp / gulag at Guantanamo closed. It turned out he didn't mean it, but it's not their fault that a lot of people were fooled.

  65. A little too ironic by mevets · · Score: 1

    If the 2009 recipient finds himself imprisoning the 2011 recipient; don't 'cha think. Apologies to Alanis; and no this isn't ironic either. Just tragic.

  66. WikiLeaks video. Yes, Obama deserved the Prize. by Futurepower(R) · · Score: 1

    See the excellent video interview: WikiLeaks' Julian Assange.

    About U.S. President Barack Obama: He did an enormous amount for fundamental peace in the U.S. just by being a credible presidential candidate. That, I'm guessing, is why he was voted to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

  67. Would have been funny... by ChromeBallz · · Score: 1

    2010: China: "This is an outrage! Liu Xiaobo cannot be nominated! He is an enemy of the state!" US: "Deal with it." 2011: US: "This is an outrage! WikiLeaks cannot be nominated! They're an enemy of the state!" China: "Deal with it."

    1. Re:Would have been funny... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I wish I had a truly powerful and logical argument againts your comment...Since I don't...

      Fouck you!

  68. War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, and Ignorance is by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nobel peace prize is the ISO standard of fail. Henry Kissinger, Jasser Arafat, Ariel Sharon and Obama... It's a disgusting, twisted lie. A true doublespeak effort. I guess the nomination is just another attempt to discredit Wikileaks.

  69. Obama helped white-black relations. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    U.S. President Barack Obama did an enormous amount for fundamental peace between whites and blacks in the U.S. just by being a credible presidential candidate. That, I'm guessing, is why he was voted to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

  70. Not "interesting" just not batshit insane by dbIII · · Score: 1

    You mean Ronald "we start the bombing in five minutes" Reagan? They guy that kept poking the USSR with a nuclear stick that sold weapons to Hezbolla, Iran, Afgan warlords we are currently fighting against and sent the navy in with the loss of many US lives to help Saddam? I wonder why Gorbachev who came in after the USSR militarists to reverse what they did and not Reagan won the thing?
    That said I must admit that I could not even have been bothered to cross the street and walk a short distance to see Gorbachev speak when he was in my city a few years ago. Gorbachev is no saint and probably doesn't deserve it either but suggesting Reagan was pursuing a path to promote world peace is revisionist bullshit more suited to a Stalinist country than the USA.

  71. Obama improved white-black cultural harmony. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    U.S. President Barack Obama did an enormous amount for fundamental cultural harmony between whites and blacks in the U.S. simply by being a credible presidential candidate. That, I'm guessing, is why he was voted to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

    CBS News video interview: WikiLeaks' Julian Assange..

  72. Kissinger, yes. Gandhi, no. Assange, epic lulz! by Weezul · · Score: 1

    I disagree that the Nobel Peace Prize is meaningless. It's known that dissidents who receive the award become very difficult to kill, although usually they aren't released from prison either. Awards are also given, or not given, for very political reasons however. Obama isn't that out-of-line for a political award, vaguely on par with Arafat. The Nobel Peace Prize's two biggest disgraces were awarding Henry Kissinger and not awarding Mahatma Gandhi. wtf!?!

    Obama was awarded the prize simply because (a) he convincingly said he wanted to do good things, like ending torture, closing Guantánamo Bay, etc., and (b) he clearly held the power to do so. Awarding him the prize was meant to help insure that he carried out those campaign promises, both by granting him greater authority to do so, and by causing embarrassment if he did not.

    I imagine the nobel committee simply didn't understand several factors :
    - Republicans are inherently so polarized they won't care who supports Obama.
    - Democrats are such cowards that a foreign peace prize will shame them in front of the Republicans.
    - Obama was never going to prioritize the clean up Bush's foreign affairs disasters over his own domestic program, i.e. stimulus and healthcare.

    We'll never know how much the peace prize helped coerce powerful figures in the executive branch's bureaucracy into supporting Obama's reforms instead of opposing him, but all indications are that the nobel committee got robbed. I'll change that evaluation if & when some retired DoD, CIA, or DoJ official says "Yeah, we were fighting Obama until he won the peace prize."

    As I said, their attempt seems much like the Arafat award in it's naivety, but not so bad as the Kissinger award. Or as another comment said : Obama [was given the prize] specifically for not being George W. Bush! Unfortunately, Obama has not done quite as well at not being Bush than many of us had hoped...

    There is another darker side to the Nobel Committees selection of Barak Obama, namely the best other candidates were Chinese and Iranian dissidents. We've all seen that China was angered by the nomination of Liu Xiaobo, maybe they wished to postpone any associated economic pain. I'd imagine they wouldn't want to nominate an Iranian dissident because that might tacitly endorse Bush's foreign policy. You might even imagine that Obama's prize was the cowards way lining up an Iranian nomination without endorsing Bush, but the non-cowards won this years debate by giving the prize to Liu Xiaobo.

    Finally, if you think the Nobel Prize has become meaningless, then you should hope like hell the award goes to wikileaks this year. Why? Easy, it'll deeply embarrass Sweden that Assange can't receive the prize in person. Epic lulz!

    --
    The Christian religion has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world. -- Bertrand Russell
  73. Wow paranoid left field throwout there! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wow paranoid left field throwout there! Where did that Gore idea come from? Was that your own idea or did some grown-up help you?

    Al Gore was not given a price for not being George Bush. He was given it for his role in promoting the extremely important information that the IPCC reveals about the human causes of current climate change.

    But you hate both Obama (he's black) and Gore (he's telling people things they don't want to hear) so you dump them both in as "not Shrub" cos you love Shrub, so they MUST be the same, yah?

  74. Nobel Preace Prize for Mordechai Vanunu! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This year the Nobel Peace Prize should go to Mordechai Vanunu, who in 1986 publicly ousted the zionist entity's large scale nuclear bomb manufacturing activity at his ex-workplace at the Dimona atomic reactor and also the zionists collaboration with apartheid Sud-Africa, which resulted in the transfer of six A-bombs to white supremacists and the "Vela" atomic test explosion of 1979. Vanunu also disclosed that Golda Meir ordered the assasination of JFK, who, acting on U-2 reconnaisance aircraft intelligence, threatened to carpet bomb the Dimona reactor, unless jews renounced their A-bomb making programme.

    Mordechai Vanunu, a sephardim jew of Moroccan origin, has suffered 18 years of imprisonment, including 14 years of solitary confinement at the hands of Mossad, mainly because of his conversion to Christianity. Since his release, Vanunu, living in a monsastery, restarted his activism towards the oppressed palestinian people of Gaza.

  75. What about me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If I post Snorre Valen's financial statements and lewd pictures of him with his wife, can I be nominated too? In the spirit of free speech of course.

  76. post-Arafat 'price' by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I guess, after master-terrorist Arafat received it, just about anyone could get nominated.
    The Nobel Peace Price has lost all its credibility, and has caused more than one Noble Comittee Chaiman to resign in protest.

    I mean, in a list of many who have caused stirs, conflicts and unnecessary uproar worldwide, yes, WikiLeaks might actually earn its place.

  77. Directions to pick up award: by DarthVain · · Score: 1

    1 Guantánamo Bay, Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

    Tell the Guar...Secretary at the front office your name is Julian Assange and you would like your reward.

  78. Not Assange on SNL by Khopesh · · Score: 1

    You do know that's wasn't Assange himself on Saturday Night Live? That was an actor in a comedy sketch. I can understand in 50 years time when this has all blown over quotes and get misattributed to people, but that sketch was 4 or 5 weeks ago now...

    Fair enough. I didn't see the sketch but knew the quote. My research showed that it came from "Assange" on SNL. I tried looking for more information but there wasn't any available. In hindsight, I could have looked to see if he had even made an appearance on the show, but that hadn't occurred to me. It seemed perfectly reasonable that that would be a quip fed to him for use in a skit or introductory rant, so I let it go at that.

    It's apt enough not to matter in the end anyway. The point is that it strikes a rather strong chord.

    PS: I had to resist the temptation to "missattribute" your quote ...

    --
    Use my userscript to add story images to Slashdot. There's no going back.
  79. Meanwhile, back at the ranch by Quiet_Desperation · · Score: 1

    Wow! Sherlock? Dated yourself with that one.

    Did you remember to shake your fist in rage when you typed? ;-)

  80. He is a socialist! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Are you people aware that Snorre Valen is a SOCIALIST?
    http://sv.no/Users/(UserID)/8ef86c3f23b0569ac29d808b5bdb81b6/(RefNodeID)/30688
    http://www.snorrevalen.no/2011/02/02/why-i-have-nominated-wikileaks-for-the-nobel-peace-prize/
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snorre_Valen