I'm Glad India didn't Boycott the Nobel Peace Prize Award Ceremony

So China persuaded a bunch of countries to boycott the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to dissident Liu Xiaobo.

And what a bunch of countries they are!

• Afghanistan
• Algeria
• China
• Colombia
  
• Cuba
• Egypt
• Iraq
• Iran
• Kazakhstan
• Morocco
• Pakistan
• the Philippines
  
• Russia
• Saudi Arabia
• Sri Lanka
• Sudan
• Tunisia
• Venezuela
• Vietnam

(There are 19 countries in this list but the news reports say 16 countries boycotted the ceremony, so I don't know which of these actually attended. Certainly Serbia changed its mind under EU pressure and decided to attend after all. I hope the Philippines and Sri Lanka attended. They shouldn't belong to this bunch.)

I wouldn't want to live in any one of these countries. They've selected themselves well.

I'm glad India dissociated itself from this bunch and decided to attend. Lord Meghnad Desai feels the same!

[Perhaps India wants to send China a message that its sensibilities aren't to be trifled with. China issues "stapled visas" to Indians from the state of Jammu & Kashmir, while it issues regular visas to Indians from other states. It denied a visa to an army general because his area of command included Jammu & Kashmir. These are pretty pointed statements that it doesn't recognise Indian sovereignty over Kashmir. And it insists that the state of Arunachal Pradesh is actually South Tibet and thus belongs to China.

Well, what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. When the very legitimacy of the Tibet annexation is in question, how can "South Tibet" be part of China? I think the world should start to question the Tibet annexation, and also threaten to recognise Taiwan as an independent nation.]

China needs to be asked hard questions, and other countries should have the spine to stand up to its bullying. I'm glad India showed some spine, for a change.

Nobel Peace Prize for Obama - A Bit Premature?

I was very surprised to read the news of President Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize. So surprised that I at first thought it was an elaborate April Fool's joke (of course it's October, but still).

Now readers of my blog know that I greatly respect and admire the man, so I don't grudge him the prize at all. I believe that by the time he completes his two terms (which he should if all goes well), he would have achieved enough to deserve the award twice or thrice over.

However, he hasn't really achieved anything yet. All we have so far is hope, because he has made a good start on many fronts. He has adopted a more conciliatory, less arrogant tone in public discourse. He treats even his adversaries with respect and tries to win bipartisan support for his initiatives. US foreign policy has suddenly begun to appear almost benign after decades of being a bag of dirty tricks for the rest of the world. And his personal style is magnetic and charming. No one but the most die-hard Republican/Conservative can fail to be impressed. But it's still only a good start. The results aren't in yet.

I think the Nobel Prize Committee jumped the gun. They really should have waited. This year's prize should have gone to the various relief agencies that pitched in to help victims of natural disasters around the globe. That would have been a more timely recognition of valuable work going on right now. What will the committee do after a few years, when Obama actually achieves some tangible outcomes? Award him a second prize?

In short, I don't think Obama's Nobel is undeserved, just premature.

[The Taliban have criticised the award to Obama. That settles it for me. Now I'm fully convinced he deserves it :-).]