Who specifically do people believe should have won the Nobel Peace prize this year -

[stray cat]

and why? Real people and real reasons not just that someone is or is not worthy.

I actually want to learn something here from people who know the world stage about people who have brought meaningful peace in 2009.

[conscious evolution]

1. I can't think of a single person.

[RadicalGeek]

9. Well

The Co-PM of Zimbabwe was mentioned.
The International Criminal Court?

Since they've almost made the NPP a "Green Award"--why not Greenpeace?

[dhpgetsit]

2. How about Cindy Sheehan?

Just off the top of my head.

[Johonny]

8. I'll go with that

like it or not Obama is in charge of two wars at the moment. Kind of hard to push the peace thing with that fact hanging over him. Heck he hasn't even closed Gitmo yet.

[damntexdem]

22. She should have won it a couple of years ago.

No need to crowd President Obama this year.

[lamp_shade]

3. Scarborough was asked that question this morning. He couldn't think of anybody.

[liberal N proud]

4. George Bu$h

Because he went away.

[WeDidIt]

7. and set the stage for an Obama presidency!

:rofl:

[Mimosa]

5. There were 205 nominees for the Peace prize

The Nobel rules state that the nominees names aren't to be divulged until 50 years in the future.

This year there were 205 nominees including 33 organisations. I'm sure some have worked hard to build bridges and help the cause of human understanding. But we don't know who they are who toil in anonymity. The deserving don't always get recognition, do they?

[lamp_shade]

6. I can't think of a single other person who contributed "extraordinary efforts to strengthen

international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples". Not one.

[Captain Hilts]

10. The freedom activists in China who were nominated. nt

[samrock]

11. Ya know in the past there have been

years when they did not give our the Nobel Peace Prize, because there was not a solid enough candidate.. I think THIS should have been one of those years..

[scheming daemons]

12. Freeps, media, and DU trolls say "Anybody but Obama!"

[ecstatic]

13. The whiners have NO IDEA. But just like everything else they are uninformed about,

they still manage to voice their negative opinions.

[el_bryanto]

15. How about Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Richard Tsvangirai

He seems like a contender - granted he only assumed office recently as well, but that was after years of opposition to President Mugabe which included imprisonment.

His name was apparently speculated on as a strong contender before they gave it to Obama and he still seems like a strong contender.

Bryant

[ecstatic]

23. Good option, but is his voice being heard around the world or just in certain

parts?

[el_bryanto]

24. Well Americans don't care about any country that isn't the United States of America

So it's unlikely any regional or national figure of another nation would really have a voice heard round the world.

Bryant

[conscious evolution]

18. Unimformed?

we DUers are anything but uninformed.

[BlooInBloo]

14. ABO...

Anyone But Obama.

It would be nice if DUers didn't typically agree with drudge and freepers, but that's just not the world we live in.

[theHandpuppet]

16. Here's a short list of some other nominees

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/10/08/world/worldwatch/entry5372326.shtml

[TexasObserver]

17. Some guy left DU unexpectedly after mentioning some peace activist.

But, yeah, who else is a better choice?

Just toning down the rhetoric on Iran from the previous administration was a pretty big move, as far as the world goes. Bush was reprehensible to the world. They see a huge, huge difference. It's not difficult to figure that most of the world detested having a US president who arrived in their countries as if saying "yall line up to kiss my ass, now!"

[blondeatlast]

19. Peace is brain surgery, not MASH. Maybe others deserved it as well, but Obama was a solid choice

for it. Besides, I don't feel qualified to second-guess the Nobel Prize committee.

[SoCalDem]

20. Beyonce?

:rofl:

[Donald Ian Rankin]

21. Some possible names:

People:

Barack Obama (I see no reason to object to him winning, although I do worry it will harm him domestically)
Richard Goldstone
Morgan Tvsangirai

Organisations:

Amnesty International
Breaking the Silence
B'Tselem
Oxfam

I would be very surprised if there were not also several other extremely worthy candidates involved in African politics of whom I simply haven't heard, because Africa almost never makes the news in the West, shamefully.

[jpljr77]

25. Sima Samar

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sima_Samar">Sima Samar, head of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission. She had a prominent role in the transitional government in Afghanistan in 2002 but was forced out when the religious nutbags threatened to kill her because she dared to question conservative Islamic orthodoxy. Since then, she's been actively fighting for the basic rights of women in Afghanistan and Sudan.