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February 10, 2012
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Julie Deardorff : Researchers say antioxidants may not be that effective and could do more harm than good
Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
February 3, 2012
Edmund Sanders : Israeli official says Iran is creating missile that could reach East Coast of US
Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
Reza Kahlili : Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: What Obama doesn't grasp about striking deals with Tehran
Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
Brian Bennett: US officials see increasing threat of domestic attack from Iran
Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
January 31, 2012
January 30, 2012
Paul Richter and Ramin Mostaghim: Misreading Teheran's limits -- deadly and economically devastating as they may be -- is a risk administration, Europe seem willing to take
Suzanne Bohan: Warning: Nap-deprived tots missing more than sleep, study finds
Meg Handley: Banks Revamping Rewards Programs to Woo Customers
January 27, 2012
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Yochonon Donn: In liberal New York City, fervently-Orthodox Jews may soon be getting a district to call their own
Jeannine Stein: An inflated ego and thinking you're 'all that' doesn't just make others sick of you, it can make you ill
Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
January 26, 2012
Ed Koch: To the New York Times, calling for the murder of Jews by those capable of having their incitement taken seriously isn't news
Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
Caroline B. Glick: America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent
Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
Melissa Dribben: Jewish voters to play a key role in Florida's Republican primary
Jordan Rau: In quest to grow, Catholic hospital system will announce this morning its break from church
Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
January 19, 2012
January 18, 2012
January 17, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
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David Francis: Where to Invest in 2012: With stocks expected to rebound, opportunity abounds for investors
January 13, 2012
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Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz: Thriving through touch: Gentle massage helps older people with low mobility improve in mind and body
January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
Warren Richey: Supreme Court says no to new rule on eyewitness testimony
John Fauber : Statins found to raise diabetes risk in postmenopausal women
Katy Hopkins : Consider This Before You Pay for an Online Degree
The Kosher Gourmet by Joseph Erdos: This mushroom and barley soup has an intense -- almost nutty -- flavor that mixes robust with Middle East. It has creaminess without cream
January 11, 2012
Shari Roan: Millions of atrial fibrillation sufferers at risk for devastating, but preventable, stroke
Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Karen Kaplan: Study: Nicotine replacement products ineffective when used in real-life situations
January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
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Jewish World Review
Oct. 12, 2009
/ 24 Tishrei 5770
A bluntly political act
By
Jeff Jacoby
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
There's a reason why the Nobel Peace Prize so often sets off heated political arguments: It's conferred by politicians.
All the other Nobel prizes are awarded by scholars: The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, for example, chooses the laureates in physics, chemistry, and economics. The Karolinska Institute, a medical university, names the recipients of the prize for medicine. But for reasons that have never been clear, Alfred Nobel specified in his will that the peace prize should go to someone selected by a committee of Norwegian parliamentarians. And politicians in Norway, like politicians in most places, are apt to care much more about their short-term impact than their long-term credibility.
President Obama is obviously not being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for anything he has done. After all, the deadline for nominations was February 1 just 10 days after Obama took office. But the point of the peace prize isn't concrete achievements in the past, it's the effect the award can have in the present. The chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, explaining the decision to honor Obama, told skeptical journalists this morning: "We hope this can contribute a little bit to enhance what he is trying to do." When former President Jimmy Carter was given the prize in 2002, the Nobel judges readily agreed that the award was intended to be a "kick in the leg" to the Bush administration, which was then gearing up for war in Iraq.
By contrast, the science laureates are always honored for work the significance of which is well-established work that in many cases took places decades earlier. Ada Yonath, one of this year's Nobel laureates in chemistry, was chosen because of her pioneering investigation of ribosomes in the 1970s and 1980s. Physicists Charles Kao, Willard Boyle, and Charles E. Smith are sharing this year's Nobel in physics for breakthroughs in the science of fiber optics and digital photography that got their start in the late 1960s. The three recipients of the 2009 prize in medicine Jack Szostak, Carol Greider and Elizabeth Blackburn are being hailed for discoveries in the field of cell biology that they made 20 years ago.
Nine months into the Obama presidency, as Commentary magazine's Jonathan Tobin notes, "peace is further off in the Middle East, a nuclear Iran is a virtual certainty, and victory in Afghanistan over the Taliban is more doubtful than ever." The closest Obama has come to playing the peacemaker was the "beer summit" he hosted at the White House in July. Someday, perhaps, he will accomplish something genuinely deserving of an international peace prize. Luckily for him, the Norwegian politicians who confer the Nobel are considerably more interested in headlines today than in genuine accomplishments "someday."
"Awarding a peace prize," former Norwegian Nobel Committee Chairman Francis Sejersted once said, "is, to put it bluntly, a political act." As the award to Obama makes clear, that hasn't changed.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
Jeff Jacoby is a Boston Globe columnist. Comment by clicking here.
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