Peacemakers

To say that Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize for "nothing," as MFD did on Sat., misses the point somewhat. Obama is the first U.S. president to openly declare a willingness to give up his country's leadership role in the world. This is no small matter and is a pivotal moment in the long process of completely transforming the Euro-American civilization that has existed for centuries. Of course, Obama isn't doing this alone and received help from other U.S. presidents, esp. George W. Bush. Without Bush to ratchet things up, Obama couldn't glide in to knock them down. Czech politicians who supported Bush in his unwinnable wars, including Mirek Topolánek and Karel Schwarzenberg, played their small part as well in creating "Obama the peacemaker." If they want to criticize the Nobel Committee's decision now, they should probably first reevaluate some of their own decisions of the past. [Czech Republic Europe European Union Iraq Afghanistan]