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Anti-Chemical Weapon Group Awarded Nobel Peace Prize

Posted by timothy on from the thinking-positive dept.

elashish14 writes "The Nobel Prize Committee has chosen to award the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapon (OPCW) with this year's Peace Prize. The OPCW conducts inspections and oversees the destruction of chemical weapon arsenals. They were established in 1997 and 190 nations have agreed to the treaty. The Nobel Committee's decision was a surprise to many however, who expected Pakistani education activist Malala Yousafzai to receive the award."

8 of 61 comments (clear)

  1. A group whose peace accomplishments... by Nova+Express · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...are on par with Barack Obama, which is to say non-existent.

    But at least they're better than Yasser Arafat or Le Duc Tho.

    --
    Lawrence Person (lawrencepersonh@gmailh.com (remove all "h"s to mail)

    http://www.lawrenceperson.com/

    1. Re:A group whose peace accomplishments... by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 2

      ...are on par with Barack Obama, which is to say non-existent.

      But at least they're better than Yasser Arafat or Le Duc Tho.

      I'm pretty sure that the OPCW would need to be actively manufacturing and selling chemical weapons for that analogy to hold.

      Actually, they seem like a fairly good choice (if, unfortunately, probably one made in knee-jerk response to the recent Syrian incident, rather than any more significant thought). The OPCW mostly does banal, administrative stuff in support of identifying and classifying scheduled compounds and precursors for the purposes of trade controls, and acting as a technical and advocacy group for the (huge) stockpile drawdowns that have occurred in the US, Russia, and a few other Cold War belligerent types who manufactured vast amounts of the things.

      War is not something that's made by a single telegenic villain with a snappy mustache, nor is peace something made by a single charismatic diplomat or saintly empathy-jockey. Peace needs a bunch of relatively dull institutional groundwork in organophosphate and other chemistry. Good for the OPCW.

    2. Re:A group whose peace accomplishments... by dj245 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      ...are on par with Barack Obama, which is to say non-existent.

      But at least they're better than Yasser Arafat or Le Duc Tho.

      I'm pretty sure that the OPCW would need to be actively manufacturing and selling chemical weapons for that analogy to hold. Actually, they seem like a fairly good choice (if, unfortunately, probably one made in knee-jerk response to the recent Syrian incident, rather than any more significant thought).

      If it is a hasty decision, then they deserve it even less. Chemical deaths are less than 1% of the deaths in Syria. Tens of thousands have died by conventional means. Someone decides they want to get rid of the chemical weapons and they are suddenly deserving of the Nobel Peace Prize?

      It elevates the destruction of a weapon to be of a higher importance than the elimination of war. That isn't what the peace prize should be about. Destroying chemical weapons doesn't mean diddly to the average Syrian in the conflict zone. Chemical weapons are mostly a fear of Western nations in the event they "got out" and into the hands of terrorists. Syrians are right to believe that the West only cares about their own potential safety instead of actually stopping a war.

      I wouldn't have given the prize to Malala either. She can get it when she turns 18 or 21. Her actions have already made her more than deserving, but she is a big enough celebrity as it is. She should finish what is left of her childhood.

      --
      Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history.
    3. Re:A group whose peace accomplishments... by GiganticLyingMouth · · Score: 2

      ...are on par with Barack Obama, which is to say non-existent.

      But at least they're better than Yasser Arafat or Le Duc Tho.

      ... but still better than say, Henry Kissinger?

    4. Re:A group whose peace accomplishments... by M.+Baranczak · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The Nobel Peace Prize is like Soviet Russia: a bad joke that nobody fucking wants to hear anymore. The prize committee should just skip the half-measures and award it jointly to Kim Jong Un, Dick Cheney, and Weird Al Yankovic, then commit group suicide. There's no possible way to recover the prize's reputation at this point, they might as well go out with a bang.

  2. I'm not sure I support this by bitt3n · · Score: 3, Funny

    Should we really be celebrating a group that supports the weaponization of anti-chemicals? I've seen enough Star Trek to know the dangers that anti-matter poses to us all.

    --
    how many pairs of boxer shorts should you own?
  3. Just like Henry Kissinger by HiThere · · Score: 3, Informative

    I'm sorry, but ever since Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize over Viet-nam I've declined to consider it as anything but a badge of shame.

    --

    I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
  4. Re:Malala is just getting started by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    With all due respect, Malala's greatest accomplishment until today is getting shot and having it spinned all over the news. While talking and raising issues is important, practical contribution to general peace is far from having been established (yes, Obama peace prize was a major mistake). Her wiki page has only 3 meagre paragraphs on political career and activism which is not at all on par with Nobels of 2010 and 2011 who would be comparable to her. She's too young and she has much more to prove. I believe she will in time but not yet.

    The Guardian has an article describing in some more detail the works of OPCW. They have been overseeing the destruction of about 80% of declared chemical stocks all over the world. This is a dangerous job and an appreciation is totally deserved, and they probably need it now more than ever. It's a great Nobel prize rewarding an agency which is just silently doing its job to clean humanity up of some of the nastiest stuff it had invented.