Panel's peace prize nod to the EU was a noble gesture
However, despite its symbolic choice, much remains to be done in Europe
The Nobel prize jury wants to save the European Union from destruction – the biggest failure in the post-World War II era. It is a good thought worthy of praise. After more than six decades of development, the EU is now risking collapse due to its mounting financial burden that the organisation has to bear. The divergence of national interests of late has started to dilute the once powerful collective spirit.
Like the 2010 Peace Prize awarded to US President Barack Obama, the committee indeed wants to save the world from global wars and destruction.
Again, that was a noble cause, true to the intentions of Alfred Nobel. After all, the US has the firepower that no country in the world can match. American troops have been featured in all major conflicts throughout the world in the name of peace and democracy.
So it was nice to have a US president recognised as a peace dove while in power – one who is decent and conscious of not letting the world’s most powerful country go to one war after another. Of course, there is no guarantee that such a message would appeal to the average Dick and Jane.
It is true the EU has been good primarily for its own members, promoting peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights. The enlargement that included former communist European countries should be commended, as half of Europe was brought into the mainstream. Other countries are waiting in the wings but it will take some years for their turn. However, to demonstrate the virtue of the Nobel Peace Prize, the EU should admit Turkey as soon as possible. There are no more excuses.
The EU sometimes is also seen as arrogant in believing that its values should be the only norm in the world, bar the US, which represents the other half of the West. No more. The EU like the US is on the decline. The rise of East Asia, especially China, has stoked fears in the Western world about the threats posed by Orientalism.
Other parts of the world especially Latin America and Africa are making and shaping their own destiny. The EU will have less say now than before. Therefore, it would take the combined extraordinary minds of the West, which are lacking these days, to understand and appreciate the New World in the making elsewhere. The BRIC leaders have shown more insight than them.
It is obvious the Nobel is a forwarding-looking prize, particular the peace prize. It is a good preventive measure that still needs time to bear fruit. The global mindset is still begetting dichotomies. The world will be a better place if global leaders are guided by a conscience like Alfred Nobel’s. How can one explain that even a US president who won the prize was often ridiculed by his own people?
