Senator Clinton Proposes Ukrainian and Georgian Presidents Nobel Peace Prize Nomination.

international | miscellaneous | news report Monday February 21, 2005 18:36 by Maria

Nobel Peace Prize "Outstanding Nominees"

Hilary Clinton and John McCain put forward a proposal to award the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize to Georgian and Ukrainian presidents Mikhail Saakashvili and Viktor Yushchenko for “their historical role and adherence to peace” in their countries.

According to the official webpage of Senator Clinton "In leading freedom movements in their respective countries, [these two presidents] have won popular support for the universal values of democracy, individual liberty, and civil rights."
The Clinton / McCain proposal has been especially welcomed in Ukraine where the country’s Academic Society formed an “initiative group” to push forward the President’s nomination. According to RIA News (Russian News Agency) it encouraged everyone supporting the proposal to send letters to the Nobel Committee. “The whole world witnessed how totalitarian regime has been overthrown with democratic means. He [Viktor Yushchenko] showed us how to solve political and social crises: without bloodshed, violence and hatred”, stated Academic Society of Ukraine.
These nominations do not contradict the Nobel Institute charter since according to changes introduced in 2003 criteria for Nobel Peace Prize nominees have significantly widened. Members of governments and legislative structures among other professions are now entitled to being nominated. The only limiting condition is that individuals putting forward candidate proposals are not allowed to make these proposals public.
The Nobel Peace Prize is usually awarded for feasible efforts / achievements with long-term effect. In case of Mikhail Saakashvili and Viktor Yushchenko, both of these proposed nominees have only recently got under public spotlight and it would be too prompt to talk about their actual achievements, especially in Ukraine.
Regarding Georgia, Mr. Saakashvili Nobel Peace Prize ‘nomination’ is more of an encouragement for quicker NATO membership. It seems to be working. Georgia is doing everything possible to let American and English troops in on permanent basis. Mr. Saakashvili has even become strongly determined to get rid of Russian soldiers who are, by the way, entitled to be stationed on the territory of Georgia indefinitely.
Should Mikhail Saakashvili and Viktor Yushchenko nominations be approved their so-called contribution to the world peace would get a step closer to be considered equal to the achievements of such organizations as Amnesty International and The International Committee of the Red Cross and such great individuals like Martin Luther King Jr. and Mikhail Gorbachev.
If the Nobel Committee of Five cannot distinguish between a street gathering and a revolution, there is no need in such a Peace Prize.