{"id":201126,"date":"2021-12-13T12:00:55","date_gmt":"2021-12-13T12:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=201126"},"modified":"2024-05-28T06:54:24","modified_gmt":"2024-05-28T05:54:24","slug":"the-nobel-peace-prize-2021-scandal-how-it-fits-the-cia-and-us-democracy-global-media-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2021\/12\/the-nobel-peace-prize-2021-scandal-how-it-fits-the-cia-and-us-democracy-global-media-war\/","title":{"rendered":"The Nobel Peace Prize 2021 Scandal: How It Fits the CIA and US \u2018Democracy\u2019 Global Media War"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Nobel Peace Prize 2021 Recipients<\/p><\/div>\n

7 Dec 2021 – <\/em>Imagine that the Nobel Prize in Literature is given to a book publisher or papermaker and the official motivation is that publishers or papermakers are preconditions<\/em> for the writer writing and being read.<\/p>\n

Roughly, this is how the Nobel Peace Committee, reasons \u2013 unreasonably. Here\u2019s how it legitimates<\/a> that its 2021 prize goes to Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov<\/em> way outside the letter and spirit of Alfred Nobel\u2019s will:<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout freedom of expression and freedom of the press, it will be difficult to successfully promote fraternity between nations, disarmament and a better world order to succeed in our time. This year\u2019s award of the Nobel Peace Prize is therefore firmly anchored in the provisions of Alfred Nobel\u2019s will.\u201d<\/p>\n

See? \u2013 \u201cwithout papermakers and publishers, it will be difficult to successfully write good literature and be read\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

I believe my readers easily grasp just how far-fetched this argument is in the light of Alfred Nobel\u2019s own text when he states<\/a> that one of the five parts of the capital he leaves behind shall go to:<\/p>\n

\u201cthe person who has done the most or best to advance fellowship among nations, the abolition or reduction of standing armies, and the establishment and promotion of peace congresses.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what Nobel wrote in his will, and it should be pretty clear. It\u2019s focus is anti-military\/ism, disarmament \u2013 reduction of everything military and of war and establishment of the conditions of a more peaceful world.<\/p>\n

However, neither media people nor a large majority of those who discuss the peace prize every year seem to ever having bothered to Nobel\u2019s will. That also applies to the peace people who have been deprived of the most prestigious prize on earth.<\/p>\n

They all seem to think that it is a kind of do-good prize for, in principle, any noble deeds.<\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t. What this signals is the general illiteracy concerning everything called peace in our culture.<\/p>\n

Even presumed experts of peace \u2013 PRIO and SIPRI \u2013 get it wrong \u2026 deliberately<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thus, both the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) \u2013 founded by Johan Galtung in 1959 \u2013 and SIPRI believe that any do-good person or activity shall be OK.<\/p>\n

PRIO\u2019s director, Henrik Urdal, celebrates this year\u2019s prize<\/a> and says that \u201cWe have waited for a media prize for a long time.\u201d Very revaling \u2013 a media<\/em>, not a peace prize, coming from a director of a peace research institute!<\/p>\n

His shortlist of candidates was not accessible on December 7 when I visited PRIO\u2019s homepage, but during all the earlier years, that list has been full of people who could not be candidates based on a serious and even broad interpretation of Nobel\u2019s own words.<\/p>\n

But Uldal is hardly that<\/em> ignorant. Of course<\/em> Uldal knows what the peace prize is for but with PRIO\u2019s decay from a genuine, innovative peace and conflict research institute into a mainstream pro-West international relations outfit with extremely little focus on core themes and values of peace research \u2013 this is what one must now expect.<\/p>\n

Dan Smith, the director of SIPRI \u2013 Stockholm International Peace Research Institute \u2013 also has problems taking his hands down: \u201cThe motivation for the award notes the link between freedom of expression, democracy and peace. This is absolutely right. Research shows that democracies do not go to war with each other and tend to be more stable and internally peaceful. And democracy is impossible without freedom of expression and a free media that seeks and speaks the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tired politico-diplomatic stereotype praising of Western democracy! And no mention of the fact that these democracies gladly go to war against everybody else they don\u2019t think is democratic and with<\/em> that argument. A statement worthy of a Mike Pompeo or a smart CIA operative justifying the harm his agency does 24\/7.<\/p>\n

The intellectual and political decay of this institute is obvious<\/a> under the leadership of Smith and one of Sweden\u2019s foremost and most media-used diplomats, Jan Eliasson, who has also never been heard uttering any criticism of US\/NATO warfare.<\/p>\n

And what could you otherwise expect of a peace institute that proudly invites<\/a> former US Secretary of State, Dr. Madeleine Albright, as it annual speaker in 2021? She is a non-convicted war criminal of the Clinton administration \u2013 Yugoslavia, Iraq, Sudan and all that \u2013 and known for her statement<\/a> that half a million dead women and children in Iraq as a consequence of economic sanctions was \u2013 well, \u201cworth it\u201d. But invitations like that, of course<\/em>, has nothing to do with intellectual or ethical qualities; they please the world\u2019s leading military power that Sweden doesn\u2019t want to have a conflict with.<\/p>\n

Of course<\/em>, SIPRI\u2019s leadership knows what the Nobel peace prize is for. And of course<\/em>, it celebrates that it is repeatedly being awarded pro-West people and not West\/US\/NATO-critical people. And of course<\/em>, they would not have celebrated it if Julian Assange, Chelsey Manning, Edward Snowden, Daniel Ellsberg, Richard Falk, or Johan Galtung had received the prize \u2013 the latter two, if so, would be the first scholars<\/em> to ever receive the peace prize.<\/p>\n

They know how to be politically correct \u2013 however anti-intellectual and however short-sighted it is. And will be seen as having been in the eyes of the future.<\/p>\n

The politicised Nobel Peace Prize<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are many reasons that the Nobel Peace Prize has been politicised in the extreme:<\/p>\n

\u2022 The general discourse about peace in media, politics and research has been cancelled over the last couple of decades, particularly post-9\/11.<\/p>\n

\n
Interesting too?<\/span>\u00a0 Den frie presses sk\u00e6bne bliver snart afgjort<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u2022 This prize has always been an important element of Norwegian foreign policy and can, in principle, be given to any candidate, no matter her\/his qualifications if politically correct; awarding it to someone who is manifestly critical of the most militarist and warlike civilisation, NATO in particular, is completely out of bounds today.<\/p>\n

\u2022 The Committee has no particular expertise on peace. It is appointed by the Norwegian parliament, Stortinget, and includes retired members of Norwegian political parties. Imagine such a group would be asked to select candidates for the prize in medicine or literature! But when it comes to peace, anyone is a born expert. It is also a gross misinterpretation of the text of Nobel\u2019s will which states that the Norwegian parliament shall appoint<\/em> the committee but nowhere states that it shall consist of or include Norwegian parliamentarians.<\/p>\n

\u2022 The West is declining in power and relevance. A new multi-polar world order is emerging. The time when the West could dominate and tell what other countries and cultures should do and how they ought to think is, as a matter of fact, long gone. In that perspective, the Nobel Peace Prize Committee clings to its tables and chairs aboard Titanic.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Neither the peace movement nor the general public seem to bother about the fact that the world\u2019s most pristigeous prize \u2013 for the noble goal of peace and de-militarisation \u2013 has been hijacked to serve non-peace purposes and even pro-militarist concepts and policies.<\/p>\n

If freedom of expression, free media and<\/em> peace then<\/em> Julian Assange<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now, imagine that a \u201cmedia\u201d prize perhaps could be an innovative idea within the framework of Nobel\u2019s will. The Nobel Committee would then reward someone who practices peace journalism<\/em> (positive peace) or to a person who has taken action for transparency, the right to publish \u2013 and reveal \u2013 war crimes and bring hidden information to the attention of the larger public that finances the people who commit crimes. If the activity had at least something<\/em> to do with the clear intention of Nobel. Imagine further that the Committee did not want to reward spying but the freedom of media to publish<\/em> what has been presented to them. If so, one obvious candidate would have been Julian Assange.<\/p>\n

That would also have alerted people to the fact that democratic societies such as Sweden, the UK, the US and Equador without hesitance marginalise lawful processes and play their games in support of militarism (see Nils Melzer\u2019s path- and also heart-breaking revelations in his book, The Case of Julian Assange. A History Of Persecution<\/em>, to be published early 2022)<\/p>\n

I do not want this article to end up with a discussion about Assange \u2013 pro et contra. I am merely saying that if freedom of expression and of the media was the genuine purpose, it could have done otherwise: Rewarded media work that would lead<\/em> to increased awareness about the crimes and madness of militarism, warfare, illegal killings etc.<\/p>\n

My readers will understand by now why the Nobel Peace Committee would never have taken such a decision which would likely cause the US and other NATO members (as well as Sweden with its political victimization of Julian Assange ten years ago as natural consequence of its ever closer relations with the US) to convey their dissatisfaction with the Committee\u2019s choice \u2013 with Norway as an ally.<\/p>\n

So much for civil courage and and honest commitment to peace in general and Nobel\u2019s peace vision in particular.<\/p>\n

I have made no analysis of the long-term work of Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov. What I ague in this article has nothing to do with their work for freedom of the press, human rights or whatever. Both of them have received numerous prizes before and they are far from unsung heros. I\u2019m not in doubt that they have done remarkable and courageous things, all I am saying is that they\u2019ve done nothing for peace and nothing that qualifies to this particular prize.<\/p>\n

That said, what do you find about them if you do what any professional media person would do \u2013 namely a little research on the Internet \u2013 instead of just reading press releases and replicating US news bureaus on the Nobel Peace Prize?<\/p>\n

Maria Ressa has received funds from the CIA<\/strong> and<\/strong> Dmitry Muratov from the Dutch government<\/strong><\/p>\n

Maria Ressa<\/a> is a Filipino-American journalist who has been educated and taught in the US, has been writing for and served as CNN\u2019s bureau chief in Manila for nearly 20 years as well as worked for other US media including Wall Street Journal. And she is the co-founder and CEO of Rappler<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 2017, Maria Ressa received the National Democratic Institute\u2019s Democracy Award<\/a> (as you\u2019ll see also a Madeleine Albright-led event because she is its chair). You\u2019ll see here what type of Institute it is<\/a> \u2013 closely related to NED, the National Endowment for Democracy<\/a> which, according to itself, is a front for the CIA. On Wikipedia you read that<\/a> \u201cIn 1986, NED\u2019s President Carl Gershman said that the NED was created because \u201cIt would be terrible for democratic groups around the world to be seen as subsidized by the CIA. We saw that in the 1960\u2019s and that\u2019s why it has been discontinued.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both Institutes receive funds from the US Congress and are, thus, near<\/em>-governmental organisations; they are right-wing, pro-military (the opposite of Nobel\u2019s intentions), close to State Department and Pentagon and supported by the usual types of people, think tanks and foundations that are also close to, or part of, the US Military-Industrial-Media-Academic Complex (MIMAC).<\/p>\n

\n
Interesting too?<\/span>\u00a0 The world must end Washington\u2019s illegal economic war<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Maria Rassa has received funds from NED at least two times in recent years. See documentation here<\/a> on NED\u2019s own database. And she is featured here on NED\u2019s homepage<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So, no known work that in the slightest make Maria Rassa \u201cthe most or best to advance fellowship among nations, the abolition or reduction of standing armies, and the establishment and promotion of peace congresses.\u201d And she is, at least partly, funded by clearly militarist circles in Washington.<\/p>\n

Ressa\u2019s Rappler<\/em> has an interesting startup history that you can read here<\/a> but not on Rappler\u2019s own homepage. There is \u2013 one had almost said \u201cof course\u201d<\/em> again \u2013 big corporate funds behind, particularly related to Marcus Brauchli<\/a> who also happens to be related to the most prestigious US mainstream media.<\/p>\n

And what about Dmitry Muratov<\/a>?<\/p>\n

He is a Russian journalist, television presenter and editor-in-chief of the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta<\/a><\/em> which focuses on human rights, corruption and the abuse of power in Russia. The first you come to think of in relation to him and the newspaper is reporting on the Chechen War, that journalist and human rights activist Anna Politkovskaya<\/a> who was tragically murdered in 2006 published most of reports and analyses in this newspaper, that Gorbachev supported it with some of the funds from her wife\u2019s book (not his Nobel Peace Prize money), and that Muratov has stated to the New York Times<\/a> that if he had decided the Prize, Alexei Navalny<\/em> would have been his choice. In addition, we also know from Wikipedia that he has been awarded lots of prizes before including the highest French order of merit, the Legion of Honour \u2013 and, of course, several media prizes.<\/p>\n

To say that the Nobel Peace Prize committee has made an innovative choice to support less known people\u2019s peace work with Ressa and Muratov would be to pull a joke.<\/p>\n

What fewer may know is that Novaya Gazeta was partly founded and funded in the early days by the Dutch government. Here is a (deficient) translation in RusLetter<\/a> of an article in Izvest<\/a>ia<\/a>. Like the US, the Dutch government supports<\/a> foreign media particularly those that are under pressure, and the Dutch embassy in Moscow is active in that. Novaya Gazeta also sems to have received funding from George Soros\u2019 foundation.<\/p>\n

One must also mention the peculiar coincidence note that both Maria Rassa and Dmitry participated in President Biden\u2019s \u201cDemocracy Summit\u201d<\/a> on Day Zero, December 8, 2021 and that The Netherlands co-hosts it.<\/p>\n

Conclusion: The Nobel Peace Prize firmly in ideological hands and in support of the US\/NATO Media<\/strong> Cold War<\/strong><\/p>\n

It almost<\/em> looks like a coordinated action: first, the Nobel Peace Prize, then championing and strengthening US democracy at a seminar where neither Russia nor China (but Taiwan) are invited \u2013 a crystal clear component in the US ideology warfare.<\/p>\n

The suspicion grows when one sees that the new global media initiative by the Biden Administration announced on that first Summit day by Secretary of State, Antony Blinken \u2013 The International Fund for Public Interest Media<\/a> which incidentally is also co-founded by NED (see above) \u2013 has Maria Ressa as Board co-chair. This means that she is now a US government employee whose task it will be to aggressively promote US values and the US-promoted and heavily financed media ideological Cold War.<\/p>\n

And, finally, on a meta level and as part of our \u201cZeitgeist\u201d \u2013 it is incredible that a Nobel Peace Prize is given in support of freedom of the media at a time when that particular freedom in Western<\/em> mainstream media is at its lowest since 1945 and when fake<\/em> (narratives, marketed stories, PSYOPS and outright lies) as well as omission<\/em> (of perspectives, alternative expertise, investigative research, source checking, non-Western news bureaus and of US\/NATO critical and peace stuff) has accumulated exponentially the last 2-3 decades.<\/p>\n

__________________________________________<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> Prof. Jan Oberg, Ph.D. is director of the Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research, TFF<\/a> and a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment<\/a>. CV: https:\/\/transnational.live\/jan-oberg<\/a><\/em>
\nhttps:\/\/transnational.live<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 transnational.live<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

7 Dec 2021 – Imagine that the Nobel Prize in Literature is given to a book publisher or papermaker and the official motivation is that publishers or papermakers are preconditions for the writer writing and being read. Roughly, this is how the Nobel Peace Committee reasons \u2013 unreasonably.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":201128,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[105],"tags":[1074],"class_list":["post-201126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nobel-laureates","tag-nobel-peace-prize"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201126"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201126\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":263214,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201126\/revisions\/263214"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}