A Russian educational foundation has suggested nominating President Vladimir Putin for Nobel Peace Prize for averting war on Syria.
“Vladimir Putin has proved his adherence to the cause of peace,” said Sergei Komkov, President of the All-Russia Foundation for Education, in his letter to the Norwegian Nobel Committee. “As the head of one of the leading countries of the world, he has made every effort to maintain peace and tranquility in his own state and has actively contributed to peaceful settlement of any conflicts arising on the planet.”
The letter is not formal nomination as Mr. Komkov does not qualify to nominate candidates for the prize, an official of the Foundation explained. It is merely a request.
The idea appears to be fast catching on, winning a surprising support from the U.S. conservative Fox News, a patently anti-Russian outlet. “The world knows that Vladimir Putin is the one who really deserves that Nobel Peace Prize,” said Kathleen Troia McFarland, a Fox News national security analyst who had served in national security posts in the Nixon, Ford and Reagan administrations. She lauded Mr. Putin’s “give peace a chance” proposal to avert U.S. strikes against Syria.
“Russian President Putin Deserves Nobel Peace Prize,” agreed author Michael Collins Piper of the American Free Press weekly.
The Russian proposal to safeguard Syria’s chemical weapons “validates the great power status of Russia — and might even win Vladimir Putin a Nobel Peace Prize,” opined the Chicago Tribune . A petition posted on the White House “We the People” website urged U.S. President Barack Obama to hand over his Nobel Peace Prize to Mr. Putin.
“Whereas Mr. Obama made a sincere commitment to starting a war with Syria, engaging our military in unwanted conflict, and doing so without the support of his people we resolve that Mr. Obama should deliver the Nobel Peace prize given to him in 2009 to a man of Peace, the President of Russia, Mr. Putin,” said the petition posted on Wednesday.
Another petition has been launched in France to strip Mr. Obama of his prize and award it to Mr. Putin, who “has been able to promote a diplomatic solution [in Syria] with his proposal to control the Syrian chemical arsenal.”
Published - September 13, 2013 01:02 am IST
