Vladimir Putin: Nobel Peace Prize?

You knew it had to happen.  Vladimir Putin has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize – again.  (Yes, last year was the first time.)

A peaceful settlement can be found in a dead troublemaker

This nomination for the author of the invasion of Crimea (or the re-establishing of 'proper borders', if you are on that side of the equation) reinforces the farce that is the Nobel Peace Prize committee, a group of five Norwegian politicians from one of the most left-wing countries of the world.  (One member is from the Norwegian Conservative Party [Høyre], fiscally conservative but socially liberal.)

The committee was most recently discredited by the award of the prize to Barack Obama, "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples," with a nomination coming only a matter of two weeks into his presidency, when he had accomplished exactly nothing.  The ensuing seven months up to the time when he had the chutzpah to actually accept the prize saw him make an equal contribution to the claim.

Some of the more enlightened examples of recipients include Al Gore for the increasingly discredited claim of the global warming industry, and Yasser Arafat for his efforts toward "peace in the Middle East."  Last year's recipient is the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons which has overseen the stalled Syrian transfer of its chemical weapons stockpile.

The nomination process has seen some far worse, including Joseph Stalin – twice.  One of the worst for Americans in recent history was for Stanley "Tookie" Williams, founder of the Crips and convicted murderer (which only introduces the number and variety of his capital offenses), because he "co-wrote" children's books and proclaimed that he was reformed, although he refused to give evidence against gang members.

Whenever one hears someone praised because he is nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, consider the nomination criteria, that he be nominated by someone in the following categories:

Members of national assemblies and governments of states

Members of international courts

University rectors; professors of social sciences, history, philosophy, law, and theology; directors of peace research institutes and foreign policy institutes

Persons who have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize

Board members of organisations that have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize

Active and former members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee

Former advisors to the Norwegian Nobel Committee

Did you catch that (emphasis mine)?  Out of that purportedly august collection, any social science professor can nominate anyone.  It was Cicero who perhaps first observed, as many others after him, that "there is nothing so absurd that it has not been said by some philosopher."

Somewhat deflating, wouldn't you think?

The nomination for Putin in this case comes from the International Academy of Spiritual Unity and Cooperation Among the Nations of the World for his role in the "averting of an air strike on Syria after the gas attacks in August 2013." The academy, not surprisingly, is headed by a Russian member of parliament and singer named Iosof Kobzon.

Being the leader of one of the leading nations of the world, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin makes efforts to maintain peace and tranquility not only on the territory of his own country but also actively promotes settlement of all conflicts arising on the planet.

Yes, the nomination actually says that.  So Putin saved Syria's Assad, one of the major customers of Putin's arms shipments, after the use of chemical warfare agents against his own people, based on a CW system set up for them by the Russians, and prevented an air strike so as to permit Assad to continue to slaughter the Syrian people.

Putin joins fellow nominees Edward Snowden and Bradley ("call me Chelsea") Manning.

You just can't make this stuff up.