Edward Snowden Nominated For Nobel Peace Prize 719
An anonymous reader writes "A Swedish professor of sociology has nominated Snowden for the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize. Giving him the prize would also 'save the Nobel Peace Prize from the disrepute that incurred by the hasty and ill-conceived decision to award U.S. President Barack Obama' the prize, according to professor Stefan Svallfors. He notes ultimately that at great personal cost, 'Edward Snowden has helped to make the world a little bit better and safer.'"
Re: You have got to be kidding me (Score:4, Informative)
You couldn't be more wrong. Snowden exposed the unconstitutional (illegal) surveillance by the NSA. IT IS ILLEGAL. The people at the NSA should go to jail and be tried for treason for going against the constitution, and you should go to school to learn these things.
Re:You have got to be kidding me (Score:2, Informative)
No. Read it again.
Considering what I've seen since the initial release of information, I am no longer sure Snowden had any evidence of the government breaking any laws (or 4th Amendment protections). I do think it went way beyond what was reasonable and necessary to do its job, and the government kept secret a great deal of information about what it was doing that should have been the subject of public debate before it was permitted to do it. And it's clear that their director perjured himself before Congress, for which he should have been and still should be fired and charged.
Whether in the end what Snowden did was justified is for a jury to decide,whatever the Nobel Committee thinks.
Re:Nice (Score:0, Informative)
And Obama hates America. So ya, you're right.
About that "treason" thing... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Nice (Score:2, Informative)
That depends on your criterion for "largest". By defense spending? Most likely. By active military members, reserve members, paramilitary members or military members per capita, then not even close (although we are a distant #2 for active military).
And what do you consider a "major conflict"? There really hasn't been that many truly major individual conflicts in the last fifty years when compared to the fifty years before that. There's a lot of ambiguous statements there.
Re:Peace Prize (Score:4, Informative)
Actually, Obama got the peace prize for being "not George W. Bush." That's a minor, but important distinction.
Re:Nice (Score:2, Informative)
That depends on your criterion for "largest". By defense spending? Most likely. By active military members, reserve members, paramilitary members or military members per capita, then not even close (although we are a distant #2 for active military).
And what do you consider a "major conflict"? There really hasn't been that many truly major individual conflicts in the last fifty years when compared to the fifty years before that. There's a lot of ambiguous statements there.
a complete list from wikipedia: "1960–1969[edit]
1962 – Thailand. The Third Marine Expeditionary Unit landed on May 17, 1962 to support that country during the threat of Communist pressure from outside; by July 30, the 5,000 marines had been withdrawn.[RL30172]
1962 – Cuba. Cuban Missile Crisis On October 22, President Kennedy instituted a "quarantine" on the shipment of offensive missiles to Cuba from the Soviet Union. He also warned Soviet Union that the launching of any missile from Cuba against nations in the Western Hemisphere would bring about U.S. nuclear retaliation on the Soviet Union. A negotiated settlement was achieved in a few days.[RL30172]
1962–75 – Laos. From October 1962 until 1975, the United States played an important role in military support of anti-Communist forces in Laos.[RL30172]
1964 – Congo (Zaire). The United States sent four transport planes to provide airlift for Congolese troops during a rebellion and to transport Belgian paratroopers to rescue foreigners.[RL30172]
1965 – Invasion of Dominican Republic. Operation Power Pack. The United States intervened to protect lives and property during a Dominican revolt and sent 20,000 U.S. troops as fears grew that the revolutionary forces were coming increasingly under Communist control.[RL30172] A popular rebellion breaks out, promising to reinstall Juan Bosch as the country's elected leader. The revolution is crushed when U.S. Marines land to uphold the military regime by force. The CIA directs everything behind the scenes.
1967 – Israel. The USS Liberty incident, whereupon a United States Navy Technical Research Ship was attacked June 8, 1967 by Israeli armed forces, killing 34 and wounding more than 170 U.S. crew members.
1967 – Congo (Zaire). The United States sent three military transport aircraft with crews to provide the Congo central government with logistical support during a revolt.[RL30172]
1968 – Laos & Cambodia. U.S. starts secret bombing campaign against targets along the Ho Chi Minh trail in the sovereign nations of Cambodia and Laos. The bombings last at least two years. (See Operation Commando Hunt)
1970–1979[edit]
1970 – Cambodian Campaign. U.S. troops were ordered into Cambodia to clean out Communist sanctuaries from which Viet Cong and North Vietnamese attacked U.S. and South Vietnamese forces in Vietnam. The object of this attack, which lasted from April 30 to June 30, was to ensure the continuing safe withdrawal of American forces from South Vietnam and to assist the program of Vietnamization.[RL30172]
1972 - North Vietnam - Christmas bombing Operation Linebacker II (not mentioned in RL30172, but an operation leading to peace negotiations). The operation was conducted from 18–29 December 1972. It was a bombing of the cities Hanoi and Haiphong by B-52 bombers.
1973 – Operation Nickel Grass, a strategic airlift operation conducted by the United States to deliver weapons and supplies to Israel during the Yom Kippur War.
1974 – Evacuation from Cyprus. United States naval forces evacuated U.S. civilians during the Turkish invasion of Cyprus.[RL30172]
1975 – Evacuation from Vietnam. Operation Frequent Wind. On April 3, 1975, President Ford reported U.S. naval vessels, helicopters, and Marines had been sent to assist in evacuation of refugees and US nationals from Vietnam.[RL30172]
1975 – Evacuation from Cambodia. Operation Eagle Pull. On April 12, 1975, President Ford reporte
This is meaningless (Score:5, Informative)
Literally thousands of people are nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize every year. Nominating just means someone has sent in a letter suggesting them. Nomination is not in any way noteworthy.
Re:Nice (Score:5, Informative)
Going to an atheist president won't help either. Officially atheist regimes were some of the biggest killers in the last century.
League of Militant Atheists [wikipedia.org]
The Black Book of Communism [harvard.edu]
The Black Book of Communism - (book review) by Daniel J. Mahoney [harvard.edu]
The Black Book of Communism is one of those rare books that really matters. It is the first systematic and comparative analysis of the "crimes, terror and repression" that accompanied Communism everywhere and that seemed to define its "genetic code." The book's centerpiece is a relentlessly documented narrative of political violence and repression in the Soviet Union under Lenin and Stalin, drawing on extensive archival materials made available to researchers since the collapse of Communist rule in 1991. But The Black Book also contains absorbing accounts of Communist repression in Eastern Europe, Asia, and the Third World.
The Soviet Story (2008) [youtube.com]
Re:no, no it won't (Score:5, Informative)
The Nobel Peace Prize and scientific Nobel prizes are decided on by completely different groups. The only thing they have in common is the word "Nobel". The scientific prizes are decided by the Swedish Academy of Sciences. The Peace prize is decided by an independent body, the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
The Nobel Peace Prize has always been political.
Re:Nice (Score:4, Informative)
I thought so too, but it appears to be wrong :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_by_death_toll [wikipedia.org]
Not really (Score:2, Informative)
I know about the Physics one, not much about the rest:
1) In 2009 it was given to 2 guys from Bell Labs put pressure on Alcatel and prevent them from closing down the labs.
2) in 2008 it was given to 3 people who worked on stuff that was supposed to get tested at the Large Hadron Collider as a last resort to put pressure on politicians and prevent them from shutting it down.
3) In 2004 it was given to 3 guys who again worked on LHC-related stuff. The LHC was supposed to start running that year, but we all know that it went over budget and 5 years late.
So at least one of the science prizes is used simply as a plug for funding holes.
Re:Nice (Score:2, Informative)
The 4.8% are the percentage of black men that are in prison. Your 15% are the percentage of UK prisoners that are black. You can't compare these two numbers directly.
Nominated, not Awarded. (Score:5, Informative)
This really isn't news. It's more comment trolling by slashdot -- and they've been doing a very good job of it lately.
Re:Definitely... (Score:4, Informative)
Once in a long while, common sense takes hold, but only for brief moments.
"Americans always do the right thing, once all other options have been exhausted." --Churchill