Nobel Nomination Nonsense - Edward Snowden’s nod should be ignored.

[DonViejo]

Michael Moynihan

Thousands of officials are allowed to nominate Peace Prize laureates. Just like Vladimir Putin and Julian Assange's nominations, Edward Snowden’s nod should be ignored.

If you have a paper thin skin (as I do) and are paid to comment on the news (this, for some mysterious reason, also applies to me), it’s advisable to fully disengage from writing about the Edward Snowden saga. After the initial leaks, I offered a cautious piece, urging against the instant beatification of the former NSA contractor. We knew little about him, I argued, so let’s wait for it to play out, and we’ll be better situated to determine if he was more Pentagon Papers than Pumpkin Papers. But it's one of those stories allergic to nuance: you're either a lackey of empire (the Snowden skeptic) or a fulminating anti-American trying to undermine Obama’s foreign policy (the Snowden supporter). In a debate without shades of grey, I'd rather leave the whole business to those with more anger, passion, and energy.

But allow me to wade into one tiny aspect of the Snowden affair without wading into the debate: across Twitter and cluttering my inbox; in stories from Time, Bloomberg, The Verge, The Guardian, The Washington Post, Reuters, and dozens of others; and in breathless dispatches from the universe of Facebook, I have been repeatedly informed within that last twenty-four hours that Edward Snowden has been “nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.” Take that previous Nobel Peace Prize laureate Barack Obama!

Well, almost. Because all of the media outlets listed above, and all my Snowdenite friends on Facebook and Twitter, have fallen for the perennial person whose politics I share was nominated for the most meaningless prize on the planet story. But what, dear reader, does it actually mean to be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize? The short answer: not much.

Remember that flurry of reports in October that “Russian President Vladimir Putin was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by an advocacy group that credits him with bringing about a peaceful resolution to the Syrian-U.S. dispute over chemical weapons?” In 2012, hundreds of news organizations reported on Bradley Manning’s nomination (one of those Norwegian parliamentarians who nominated Snowden also nominated Manning). In 2011, the wires were clogged with stories of a potential Peace Prize gong for Julian Assange. And my personal favorite, courtesy of a former Swedish deputy prime minister and parliamentarian, the 2006 nominations of former U.N. ambassador John Bolton and right-wing polemicist Kenneth Timmerman, author of books on Jesse Jackson, the Iran nuclear program, and how the French “betrayed” America. (" target="_blank">On the cover of Timmerman’s book Countdown to Crisis: The Coming Nuclear Showdown with Iran, potential readers are told the book is written by “a Nobel Peace Prize nominee.”)

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http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/01/30/nobel-nomination-nonsense.html

[monmouth3]

1. Couldn't agree more...n/t

[RC]

2. Edward Snowden deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for pulling back the covers of a criminal agency.

Without him, we would not know of the extent of the illegality and unconstitutionally of the actives of the NSA against the citizens of this country. To say nothing of the damage the NSA spying is doing to the creditably of this country. Talk about your unamerican activities, the NSA is topping the list at the moment.

Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Lord Acton

Absolute power is what the NSA has when they can and does spy on any and everyone, with impunity and with little to no oversight.
Those that belittle Edward Snowden for what he did, are at the same time, condoning the unconstitutional actions the NSA is doing, regardless of their excuses to the contrary.
Edward Snowden is a Patriot and should be exonerated. The people that need to be brought to justice are those that are responsible for the criminal activities of the NSA.

[treestar]

4. I thought it was meaningless, since Obama got it?

But what is most ridiculous is that it has nothing to do with promoting world peace. If anything, Eddie's actions risked conflict.

[RC]

5. Apparently you haven't been paying attention.

Unless you think the enslavement of the American citizens, along with most of the rest of the world is a good thing.

Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
If our overlords know everything we do, how can we get out from under their control?

[treestar]

6. I haven't been enslaved

I would think that would make the news.

[Cha]

3. Kick! I'm very interested in reading

this when I return.. mahalo, Don~