Government and Policy

Acting against the will of Alfred Nobel

(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-10-24 15:54

Third, whether the Nobel committee is truly independent in practical operation. The Norwegian Nobel Committee – and the Norwegian government for that matter – has always claimed the committee is independent from the government and the parliament and no one could interfere with its operation. Even under pressure, the Nobel committee could make its own decisions. Yet skepticism never ceased. Thorbjørn Jagland, current chair of the committee, is not only a former member and president of the parliament, the Storting, former Prime Minister for Norway's Labour Party, former Foreign Minister of Norway, he is also the current Secretary General of the Council of Europe. Deputy chair Kaci Kullmann Five used to serve as Norway's minister of Trade and Shipping and she is also a former member of Storting and cabinet minister for the Conservative Party. Sissel Rønbeck, the committee's deputy director, is a former member of the parliament and cabinet minister for the Labour Party. Of the remaining two members, Ågot Valle used to serve as the president of the Odelsting, a legislative chamber of Storting, and Inger-Marie Ytterhorn was a member of Norway's Election Law Ad hoc committee. As Heffermehl put it, these members all advocate close military ties with NATO and close diplomatic relations with the US, no matter which party they belong to. They are seasoned players in Norwegian politics, with the same system of values and ideology, which means they have no independence whatsoever in the selection of peace prize winners. It is also the fundamental reason why the choice of peace prize winners during and after the Cold War era clearly bears the marks of the US global strategy.

Manipulator behind the collapse of USSR

In 1970s and 1990s when the Cold War was raging high between two large camps, the Nobel Peace Prize was used as an important tool by the West to propaganda Western values and pressure the Soviet and other countries, which was awarded many times to "democracy, human rights fighters". 35 years ago, on Oct 9, 1975, the prize was awarded to Andrey Dmitriyevich Sakharov, who was known for being against his own country. 20 years ago, on Oct 15, 1990, the prize was again awarded to another person who pushed his homeland to disintegration –former president of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev.

The prize, awarded by Norwegian Nobel Committee, found its way in 15 years first extolling dissidents in the Soviet Union to the former General Secretary of the Communist Party, and at last to some Western "democracy and human rights" advocates, where the circle of the prize awarding track around the globe was started. The trail, though devious, reflects a somewhat stiff principle of certain forces related to the prize. From awarding a political dissident to the leader of the communist party, the factors behind the prize were significant changes in international politics but not the shifts in attitudes and life philosophy of the committee members – the Soviet Union retreated from Eastern Europe tamely, changing its position from a competitor and enemy in the Cold War to a constructive partner of the West who make concessions. Gorbachev was exactly an advocate of such concessions and naturally he became the most suitable candidate.

Most cases during the Cold War demonstrated that the Peace Prize became a "political card" which had totally been "ideologized". It has nothing to do with "peace" and may even have gone the opposite way against it. It's a camouflage some use openly to subvert and disrupt under the name of peace to the end of exerting impact in terms of public opinion, splits in ideology and social instabilities in the Soviet Union and other socialist countries guided by a major strategy of coordinating US-USSR confrontation. The facts again prove that until today, the committee's appreciation of the Cold War mentality hasn't disappeared with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the war.

A political tool of westernizing and separating China

The Nobel Peace Prize has so far been awarded to two Chinese – the Dalai Lama and Liu Xiaobo. The former is a representative of separatist and the latter is a criminal who instigated subversion of state power and violated Chinese laws. In March, 1989, the Dala bloc abet severe riots in Lhasa; in June, supported and instigated by some Western forces, political unrest occurred, followed with political isolation, economic blockade and other suppression methods by Western countries. And in October, the Dalai Lama received the Nobel Peace Prize at the "right time". The chairman of Norwegian Nobel committee declared at the time, the move was to influence China and to acknowledge Chinese students' efforts in pro-democracy activities. He also admitted the reason behind the Dalai winning the prize was mainly about politics but not based on the issue of human rights. He also declared it was also a kind of "punishment" on Beijing. Obviously, that the Dalai became the prize winner was a political "reward" for him, but also a part of the general plan of Western forces in overall suppression and polarization of China.