Translated material
Faith in miracles
Barack Obama as the last hope
Perhaps, for the first time the verdict of the Norwegian Nobel Committee is met with such a reaction as this year. Protests and objections were heard more than once, but there was never such bewilderment as what caused the decision to reward Barack Obama.Never before has a politician been awarded a Nobel not for his actions, but solely for his intentions. Alfred Nobel's will states that the Peace Prize is awarded to “whoever makes a significant contribution to the unity of peoples, the abolition of slavery, the reduction of the size of existing armies and the promotion of peace agreements.” It is clear that the formulation of a program, a certain philosophy of international relations that influenced the situation in the world, can be considered a similar contribution. But such prizes, as a rule, are awarded to intellectuals or human rights activists (the most striking example is Andrei Sakharov). When it comes to political figures, especially those invested with such colossal power as Obama, it is customary to celebrate real achievements.
The decisions of the Nobel Committee are criticized very often, and at times it is really unclear what caused this or that verdict. But, as a rule, the basic principle is observed - to encourage processes that the jury considers important. The last paragraph of the announcement of the award to Obama says: “For 108 years, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has sought to stimulate precisely the international policies and approaches of which Obama is the most prominent exponent in the world today.”
The Nobel Prize, with all its inevitable flaws, is a fairly accurate indicator of the state of affairs in the world. Let's take a turning point: the end of the 1980s - the beginning of the 1990s. The laureates are the Dalai Lama, Mikhail Gorbachev, Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and Guatemalan human rights activist Rigoberta Menchú. Everything is consistent: a time of hope that totalitarian and dictatorial regimes from Asia to Latin America are fading into oblivion, opening the way to a completely different world.
The 1990s and early 2000s were an attempt to formalize this very world. Six awards for resolving chronic conflicts. The abolition of apartheid in South Africa, the Israel-Palestine peace process, the bloodless separation of East Timor from Indonesia, a settlement in Ulster, the beginning of reconciliation on the Korean Peninsula, mediation efforts in various regions.
Four more awards of that time were awarded to transnational institutions designed to symbolize progressive thinking in the spirit of change: the anti-nuclear Pugwash Conference, the movement to ban landmines, Doctors Without Borders, the UN.
Finally, the period after 2003. The decline of the never-coming “new world order.” The only organization awarded the prize was the IAEA, a clear attempt to prop up the crumbling nonproliferation regime. The rest of the laureates are private individuals who single-handedly strive to do what degrading institutions cannot cope with. Iranian human rights activist Shirin Ebadi, Kenyan "green" Wangari Maathai, inventor of the microcredit system for the poor Mohammad Yunus from Bangladesh, Al Gore, a man - a symbol of the fight against climate change. The keynote is that since it is not possible to create peace and prosperity from above, at least support those who are trying to promote this from below.
Last year's award is evidence of the deep crisis of the international system. Martti Ahtisaari, the author of the plan for resolving the Kosovo problem, was noted, which not only was not implemented, but also led to an illegal decision on the status of Kosovo, which had negative international consequences (the Caucasian war).
Awarding Barack Obama is both a gesture of despair and a symbol of faith in a miracle. In the 20 years that have passed since the Cold War, it has not been possible to create a world order. Neither institutions nor individuals can stop the gradual structural destabilization. Of the conflicts for which resolutions were awarded in the 1990s, only the one in Ulster can be considered resolved, and in some (the Middle East), the situation has sharply worsened. International organizations have not regained influence, and most authoritarian regimes feel confident.
And here comes a man who represents change for his own nation and millions of people on the planet. He is charming and eloquent, he says only the right things and calls for wonderful goals. Everyone really wants to believe that he is capable of not only talking, but also doing what he says. Because if he can’t, then it’s not clear what to count on.
At the same time, the laureate himself found himself in a rather awkward position, having received a huge obligatory advance for which he did not ask. And the Nobel Committee took a serious risk, making its own reputation dependent on the policy pursued by the president of a superpower that is currently involved in two major armed conflicts and is always ready to use force. But the committee members apparently could not resist the temptation. Because belief in miracle workers is characteristic of human nature.