NOBEL PRIZE, A Peace Journey to lead the World
Let Obama become a most celebrated icon and brand for Peace(Madan Menon Thottasseri / email: tmadan.menon@gmail.com )
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Obama and Nobel:
Is it lack of judiciousness on the part of Nobel committee to picks up U.S President Barack Obama for the prestigious prize...... again demonstrated the US dominion though the award is given by the five member committee headed by the Norwegian Parliament? Being a Nobel Laureate can he rise to the expectations of the global communities as he is adorning the coveted prize too early in his career as President?
His initiative in conducting straight dialogue free of any pre-conditions with Tehran stands alone as something incredible which entails him to be selected for the honour. The Islamic Revolution in 1979 had dismantled the whole of diplomatic relations. No magic of diplomacy were possible once George W Bush lumped Iran together with that of Iraq and North Korea.
Obama have to maintain his style of extraordinary efforts in all his future endeavours for continuous strengthening of International diplomacy and co-operation between people for which the he has won the Nobel. To quote the Nobel Committee citation.... “Only very rarely has a person to same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given its people a better future. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world’s population”. The Iranian President Mohamed Ahemadinejad who was less incredulous about Obama’s task ahead commented then that Iran hopes the Nobel gives U.S President the incentive to walk in the path of bringing justice to the world order”.
Obama is the third sitting U.S President to win the Nobel peace prize. The other two Presidents who won the prize while in office were Theodore Roosevelt in the year 1906 and Woodrow Wilson in the year 1919. His willingness to reach out to the Islamic world and correspondingly tempting all nuclear nations for reduction of arms simultaneously advocating for Nuclear Non-Proliferation were lauded by his admirers. He has already declared the closure of Guantanamo bay prison and cessation of crimes against the civilised conscience.......agreed to take the mantle for global warming......reached out Iran and opened all diplomatic channels.......withdrawal of all troops from Iraq by end 2011 and so on. The honour may sometimes backfire him by raising expectations on him further higher, giving ammunitions to his political rivals.
How can nuclear arsenals be contained?
Probably, at present the nuclear war-head numbers may be comparatively less from the Cold War period. Still an estimated potentially destructive 23,000 war heads in existence and many times powerful than the ones that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. When the nuclear armed states have stock piles of weapons which can be launched within minutes, how will they put forth serious proactive steps to the common commitment for a nuclear weapon-free world?
To my mind the apprehension is on the nuclear disarmaments. How can Obama expect India with so much of threats of all sorts from across the boarders to sign NPT while U.S itself has stockpile of nuclear warheads. The nuclear deal with India and NSG waiver may be a break-through in Indo-US relations. This will no way justify the thrust on the non-proliferation issues aimed to tame a regional power –India. America is still disinclined to recognise India’s demanding eligibility for the permanent membership of the U.N Security Council. Probably these issues will be challenging for Obama to facilitate strengthening of relationship with India.
Nuclear Proliferation Treaty (NPT),1968 premeditated to rein in the spread of nuclear armaments with the sole idea of eliminating them altogether has fundamentally failed while the four key nuclear nations viz. India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea are not parties to it. The down-to-earth answers Obama have to find out will be for these questions- “On what grounds the legal possession of nuclear weapons are being restricted as per the Treaty, are only those countries that tested prior to 1967?On what ethical justification such a distinction is valid? Can’t it be scrapped?”
While opting out of NPT, India has behaved with restraint on the issue of proliferation. For the past 60 years, it has campaigned against the idea of the nuclear weapon itself and has advocated for defusing stock-piles of bombs possessed by nuclear nations in a phased manner. India is one of the countries opted to have the ‘No-first-use doctrine’, a policy pledging for not using nuclear weapons unless attacked by an enemy country by nuclear weapons. Though not signed NPT or CTBT, India has already declared a unilateral moratorium on testing nuclear weapons which is appreciated by a large majority of countries around the globe.
Can U.S.A and Russia come together and reduce their nuclear arsenals dramatically and drive the implementation of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT)? If U.S takes the initiative to declare the ‘no-first–use doctrine’, will other NATO members follow suit? Why America is still reluctant, off-track and plainly callous on the subject?
India has no avowed desire for parity with China in respect of nuclear capabilities and will not think of counter-weighing the neighbor. No nuclear or non-nuclear nation will suspect the integrity of India as they know that India always gives a thrust for positive negotiation and disintegration of any pressure even at the verge of a war and is desirous of peace in the region. At the same time few find it hard to believe this reality while imagining that India nurses an ostensible aspiration for nuclear weapons’ Capability to show off regional superiority or just to maintain the bargaining power!
The International Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament (ICNND)Regional Meeting at New Delhi in October, 2009 discussed the NPT pursuing nuclear disarmament preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and the simultaneous usage of nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, mainly for growing energy demands. The regional security dynamics were also analyzed in the context of scope for CBMs (confidence building measures).Since there prevail mounting tensions in certain international boarders and in the absence of progress in resolving the same, the big question still remains unanswered…… how can the nuclear arsenals could be contained? It is very comprehensible that there are regional challenges to be primarily addressed to create conducive state of affairs to move forward the nuclear non-proliferation. The global effort must be synchronized by addressing regional challenges.
In India as we get opinions from all sources without any hassle and will naturally create a mystification upon reading host of views about conferring the honour to the U.S President currently in the office. He embodies a new spirit of dialogue and engagement on the world’s biggest problems: climate change, nuclear disarmament and a wide range of peace and security challenges. Still the big question is that..... Can he deliver things ?The President has to take many decisions in support of a series of “pressure” due to the track record of American diplomacy in intervention in issues plainly unconnected with America but for American interests and even proxy wars !
The people of U.S are aware of indignities their nation inflicted on the world has diminished the stature of America. The humiliations the people of U.S endure are irreconcilable with lives of dignity and signify institutional failure. The U.S presidency have to address the indignities that manifest as corruption, unemployment, recession, racism, subversion of democracy etc.
President Obama may be the herald of dignitarian politics, not simply libertarian nor egalitarian! 20th century witnessed politics wherein these two ideologies were also locking horns with each other. Dignitarian Politics representing a novel synthesis of these two battle-scarred and exhausted ideologies aimed for both domestic and global politics is being used by Obama for the first time to meet the challenges of the new century.
A politician of his stature could only experiment an alternative that can muster support for America and its domination in disguise! The Nobel Prize act as an expression of hope of millions of peace loving human beings who look at an American initiative for world peace. He must be aware that the mission for dignity has to be accommodatingly conceived of, in terms of surmounting rankism - the abuse of power to dehumanise others with less or no power.
Obama gave the first hint of a change in London in April,2009, let it be before the presidential elections, introducing a softer and gentler American which is willing to listen, engage and talk to others while the biggest democracy is positioning a multilateral world view. He only made it possible for India and China to join the G 20 upon expanding from G 7.
Obama must have got Nobel with less than nine months into the high position and the coveted Prize may be too early for him. I pray that we in India should not look down up on him and the honour. Let us ignore that Nobel committee inadvertently elevated him by over looking the fundamental nature of what makes a man frail. But now he should not think of anything else other than winning here afterwards, as he has already won the Nobel!
In a statement on Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary on 2nd Octber, 2009. Obama, the ardent fan of Mahatma Gandhi hailed our father of nation ‘as a great soul’ whose teaching and ideals transformed American society through the civil rights movement. Referring how Mahatma Gandhi’s teaching and ideals, shared with Martin Luther (Jr) King’s pilgrimage to India, transformed American society through their civil rights movement, he called Mahatma the ‘real hero of mine’.
It was none other than Mahatma Gandhi who inspired Martin Luther King Jr, the Tibetan Spiritual Leader Dalai Lama and the Pro-democracy leader of Myanmar Aung San Kyi to be eligible for the Nobel Prize earlier. When more admirers of Mahatma are added to the list of Nobel Laureates, indirectly we Indians are also inspired for dignitarianism and universal brotherhood.
Obama’s Foreign Trips to muster World Support and its relevance on India:
Barack Obama travelled widely through-out the world, which will be a record in the history of U.S Presidents in their first year at Office. He made a real presence and impressed politicians, diplomats and the common people where ever he visited; in Russia, European countries and Asia including China and Japan.
Let me high-light certain happenings connected with Obama’s Asian Trip, after the declaration of the Nobel on him.
Recently Obama had been to China during November 15-18 as apart of his 9 days’ Asian Trip which took him to Japan, Singapore and South Korea as well. Of course his agenda in China was planned to be on climate change, trade imbalances etc. as programmed earlier. It will certainly be beneficial to both countries while Obama visited Beijing and Shanghai for the first time, for revitalizing the three decades’ long Sino-U.S relationship.
U.S. depends on China’s enormous savings to finance its escalating budget deficits and China too correspondingly depends on the American export market to fuel the highflying and burgeoning industrial growth, though currently U.S. is very much under the grip of global recession. U.S. will never have the apprehension that China will unload investments in U.S Treasuries. It is possible that many facilities for export oriented production projects in China that were technically and financially assisted by U.S.A with buy-back arrangements were entwined against Chinese investments!
Chinese Investments are there in U.S Treasuries and sway the U.S economy to import more from China. What ever be the political divergence between the two, business between them have to be ‘mutually exclusive’ wherein China has to enduringly enjoy the status of MFN (Most Favored Nation) to sustain FX earnings from the World’s biggest consumer economy.
Unfortunately, U.S is adversely affected by the soaring budget deficit to an annual record of precisely around USD 1.42 trillion! China is of help to United States but is worried on the depreciation of Dollar threatening its value of holdings. At the same time the manufacturers in U.S blame China’s low currency value contributing loss of 5 million jobs during the past decade. Naturally the Trade gap of U.S is getting escalated.
China occupied Tibet in early 1950 and Dalai Lama, the Spiritual leader fled to neighbouring India and lead the campaign for the freedom of the tiny Himalayan realm back to the ethnic community. China kept on accusing Dalai Lama for leading the movement for splitting the Himalayan region from the rest of the world. “We did note that while we recognize that Tibet is part of People’s Republic of China, United States supports an early resumption of dialogue between Dalai Lama’s representatives and China”. Obama said this after his meeting with Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao in Beijing. Obama’s comments on Tibet would have found place in his agenda as he has come to know on the sentences of the founder of a web site promoting the Tibetan language and a Tibetan blogger.
It is to be noted that the Hollywood Actor Richard Gere’s letter submitted on behalf of the Board of International Campaign For Tibet to President Obama highlighting that Tibetans are alarmed and disappointed when he did not meet Dalai Lama during the latter’s Washington visit in October,2009 captured headlines in U.S.
China has always tactically played a good game on the Tibet issue. Whenever a foreign leader high-light the issue in any meetings or whenever they call on Dalai Lama, China will just upgrade its position on such interactions to an attack on ‘China’s Core interests’! It is a fact, for a foreign leader, the meetings with Dalai Lama often becomes symbolic just to please their domestic vote bank. While on a China visit, in a bid to avoid confrontation with China, they are tend to make concessions scripted by Chinese regime. Finally they will accept the Chinese sovereignty over Tibet. Even after half a century after the occupation by China, the future of Tibet is unknown.
U.S needed China’s influence to apply pressure on Iran to go slow on its nuclear weapon programme. It is to be noted that when Iran did a U-turn on its deal to remove most of its nuclear stockpile to overseas in return for materials for its medical research reactors, China obliged to listen the advice of National Security Advisor of U.S for supporting the IAEA resolution against Iran on November 27, 2009. White House Chief of Staff - Rahm Emanuel had stated that China’s participation with U.S in the nuclear issue of Iran and its decision ‘to set a climate change goal’ showed the achievement of President’s trip to Beijing.
Obama reiterated that North Korea poised for nuclear weapons have to abide by the process of six party (5 +1) talks, to be restarted as early as possible. Hu Jintao supported Obama by stating that both nations are committed to dialogue and consultation in resolving the Korean peninsula nuclear issue and he remarked that “they will continue to have consultations on an equal footing to properly resolve economic and trade frictions.”
Any time Beijing will clamour for the unification of Taiwan with the main land China and trigger missiles positioned towards the island. It is ironical that Taiwan has geared up its defense with the arms supplied by U.S.A! There no much of discussion on the Taiwan issue during Obama’s deliberations at China.
As stated earlier, the Chinese regime wanted U.S to respect for its ‘core interests’ – to stop supports to Taiwan and Dalai Lama’s exiled government.
Let U.S.A elevate China by taking more global issues to the centre of U.S-China relationship. It is high time that China understands issues like Climate Change and initiate action for more active participation in the global climate summit to be held in December, 2009 at Copenhagen. Obama said that both U.S and China want climate change deliberations to be held in Copenhagen in December, 2009 to result in a global deal that has ‘immediate operational effect’. China is also one of the larger emitters like U.S and thus its participation in the global summit is very important. Also, being world’s two larger producers and consumers of energy, both nations have to play a key role in negotiating an agreement.
It is a fact that headway was made on climate change. The two leaders committed their countries, biggest emitters of the heat-trapping gases causing global warming to backing a detailed agreement to be held at climate-change conference in Copenhagen. In their formula, rich countries would commit to reduction targets while developing ones would agree to meet softer goals that would be monitored. This is to be really appreciated.
U.S and China signed a joint-statement after Obama’s meeting with Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao at the Ornate Great Hall of People in Beijing, for their efforts to combat terrorism so as to maintain stability and achieve sustainable economic stability.
On what propriety the reference to the CBMs between Indian and Pakistan appeared in the U.S - China joint declarations mentioning that China has to play the role of a mediator? An obscurity looms around the corner!
U.S is very much aware of the perennial security issue India is entangled into with Pakistan, the epic-centre of the terrorism in the world. No tactics of international politics and diplomacy can win the terrorists mushrooming out of Pakistan soil when the terror kingpins are privileged to get security cover and even honoured by the Political democracy which is under the mercy of joint consortiums of military and mafia.
Unfortunately, Pakistan never intensified actions against certain terrorist groups as the intelligence agencies even see them as their ‘future strategic assets’ against India! Recently there were news reports on the collaboration of the terror network in Afghanistan with local insurgent groups in Pakistan boarder and housing training camps which are grown conveniently smaller and more mobile. Reports on these camps captured news headlines in recent months as the U.S investigation Officers probed the accused New York terror suspect Najibullah Zazi. The Afghan expatriate reportedly flew to Pakistan in the last year and camped at Peshawar in the North-West frontier where he underwent training on weapons and explosives.
Currently, the terror-episode of plotters David Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana who were in Pakistan and India in various cities on different occasions when there was terror attacks at both countries, is revealing more conspiracies. All nuclear installations in India are put on high alert after the investigations which proved that the David Headley purportedly visited places with close proximity to some of these highly vulnerable nuclear locations.
China had settled its boarder disputes with Vietnam and Russia as commented by Chinese media itself. Quite strange, the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson Qin gang, after the return of U.S President back to U.S had stated that the so called dispute with India will be a ‘more pronounced’ one, as if he is unaware of any incidence of similar boarder disputes china had with other neighbours.
It would have been laudable for Obama the Nobel Laureate, if he had prevailed on China to dismiss any high-handed adventures planned for in it’s boarders with India!
Let me mention about Obama’s Japan trip too.
In fact his first leg of nine-day Asian tour was to Japan. Unfortunately it had landed into a major set-back, as he and the Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama failed to resolve the disagreement on the issue of U.S armed forces in the Japanese soil. Though both leaders agreed to co-operate to promote nuclear disarmament and also pledged for participating in the movement for global warming, they agreed to put off to straighten-out one of their pending disagreements, a million dollar deal to move out U.S Maries from Japan and relocation of a Military Base.
It is high time that U.S withdraw troops from Japan when it has bases at Guam and Midway in the Pacific region. It will be disappointing from a President if Obama doesn’t rise to the level and use his executive power to correct a misguided decades-old policy. China is certainly not going to gobble down Japan and make it pay for its world-war crimes against Chinese people.
Can we expect that the presence of 40,000 U.S troops is the only thing that will stop North Korea from embarking on a suicidal war? Can Obama break the quid-pro-quo between the top political analysts that U.S have a pre-emptive right on Japanese bases to support Middle East Operations and the Japan need to continue gaining from the perceived security to manage threats of any sorts! Obama have to know the reality that there is no reason for U.S military bases in Japan. Neither Obama nor Hatoyama gracefully attempted to comprehend the ground realities as they are in no mood to renounce their inhibitions attached with their pedestals of political anarchy.
It will be evident that Hatoyama’s new government had pledged to steer the diplomatic course less dependence on the decades-long allies and protector for creating closer ties with Asian countries. The previous proposal of shifting the U.S Air Base at Futenma to the less densely populated Okinawa is to be reviewed with a view to moving the Air base outside the Okinawa island or even from outside the country itself. Because the key promise to Japanese electorate by the Prime Minister that chronicled an overwhelming victory election in August,2009 was the relocation of the around half of U.S troops in Japan which are concentrated at the city of Okinawa, an overcrowded southern island. Okinawa is the only part of Japan that saw a battle in the world-war II.
By opting to deviate from the promise, Hatoyama would have exasperated the people of Japan, particularly the residents Okinawa Island. The big presence of U.S Marines at Okinawa was source of lingering resentments on the crime, pollution and cultural shocks caused by U.S troops on the local community.
India too will certainly be in favour of moving U.S military bases out of Japan.
Peace Prize: an impetus to broadly shared aspirations?
Now, Obama has to redefine his vision on Peace for which he has to devote more time to keenly watch the atrocities and unfairness happening throughout the world and consolidate strength to identify solutions acceptable to all so as to display the power he gets by winning the Nobel! He cannot just be rhetoric but have to transform into a world leader capable of translating words into action and ultimately win the world. May be that the Nobel Committee preferred him “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between people” and not for any accomplishments as on the day the Nobel was declared.
Obama must have got Nobel with less than nine months into the high position and the coveted Prize may be too early for him. I pray that we in India should not look down up on him and the honour. Let us ignore that Nobel committee inadvertently elevated him by over looking the fundamental nature of what makes a man frail. But now he should not think of anything else other than winning here afterwards, as he has already won the Nobel!
It was fine that he unassumingly commended “I will accept this award as a call to action- a call for all nations to confront the common challenges of the 21st century.”A surprised and deeply humbled Obama said that he has viewed the Peace Prize as a way to give impetus to broadly shared aspirations.
White House had finally declared that President Obama will attend the Climate Change Summit at Copenhagen ending the week-long uncertainty over the same. His intended presence at Copenhagen and commitments are very much welcomed in Europe after lobbying by various governments. His earlier itinerary was attend the said summit on 9th December and then to fly from Copenhagen to Oslo, to receive the Nobel Prize on 10th December, 2009.
The white house declared the amended itinerary stating that Obama is attending the Climate Change summit on December 18,2009 the last day of the summit only. Thus he will be going to Oslo directly for the Prize.
It will be the beginning of a new peace journey for the powerful democracy he represents. Let him become a most celebrated icon and brand for Peace. The entire world has to rejoice the event.
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