Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Skeet Shipman who wrote (51123)	10/11/2002 12:22:48 PM
From: Karen Lawrence	Respond to of 281500

Who says good guys finish last...a proud day for America and one of its finest citizens. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter wins Nobel Peace Prize Fri Oct 11, 6:27 AM ET By DOUG MELLGREN, Associated Press Writer OSLO, Norway - Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for his peace mediation efforts and promotion of human rights in what the awards committee said was a criticism of current U.S. policy and "a kick in the leg" to those following the same line. The Norwegian Nobel Committee cited the 78-year-old Carter's "decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development." The award — worth 10 million Swedish kronor (US$1 million) — singled out Carter's "vital contribution" to the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt and his efforts in conflict resolution on several continents and the promotion of human rights after his presidency. Carter, the 39th U.S. president, welcomed the award, saying the Nobel Prize "encourages people to think about peace and human rights." He said his most significant work has been through the Carter Center, the ambitious, Atlanta-based think tank and activist policy center he and wife Rosalynn founded in 1982. "When I was at the White House I was a fairly young man and I realized I would have maybe 25 more years of active life," Carter told the Cable News Network. He decided to "capitalize on the influence I had as the former president of the greatest nation of the world and decided to fill vacuums." The secretive, five-member committee made its decision last week after months of deliberations as it sought the right message for a world still dazed by the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, the war on terrorism that followed and concern about a possible U.S. military strike against Iraq. "It should be interpreted as a criticism of the line that the current administration has taken," Gunnar Berge, chairman of the Nobel committee, said in Norwegian. "It's a kick in the leg to all that follow the same line as the United States." Carter, who was president from 1977-1981, brokered the 1978 agreements that were signed by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin at the U.S. presidential retreat Camp David. But while Sadat and Begin shared the 1978 Peace Prize for their efforts, the Nobel committee said Carter was left out due to a technicality — he was not nominated in time. Carter, a Democrat and former Georgia governor, rose from life as a small-town peanut farmer to become president in 1976 after a campaign that stressed honesty in the wake of the Watergate controversy. But he returned home after a landslide loss to Republican Ronald Reagan (news - web sites) in 1980 after a presidency undermined by double-digit inflation, an energy crunch that forced Americans to wait in line for gasoline, and the 444-day hostage crisis in Iran. Carter overcame the voter repudiation and has doggedly pursued a role on the world stage as a peacemaker and champion of democracy and human rights. He helped defuse growing nuclear tensions in Korea, then helped narrowly avert a U.S. invasion of Haiti in 1994, as well as leading conflict mediation and elections monitoring efforts around the world. "In a situation currently marked by threats of the use of power, Carter has stood by the principles that conflicts must as far as possible be resolved through mediation and international co-operation based on international law, respect for human rights, and economic development," the citation said. Last year's award was shared by the United Nations (news - web sites) and its secretary-general, Kofi Annan (news - web sites). The Norwegian Nobel committee received a record 156 nominations — 117 individuals and 39 groups — by the Feb. 1 deadline. The list remains secret for 50 years, but those who nominate sometimes announce their choice. The first Nobel Peace Prize, in 1901, honored Jean Henry Dunant, the Swiss founder of the Red Cross. The prizes were created by Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel in his will and always are presented on Dec. 10, the anniversary of his 1896 death. The week began with the naming of medicine prize winners American H. Robert Horvitz and Britons Sydney Brenner and John E. Sulston for groundbreaking research into organ growth and cell death — work that has opened new avenues for treating cancer, stroke and other diseases. The physics award went Tuesday to Masatoshi Koshiba of Japan and Americans Riccardo Giacconi and Raymond Davis Jr. for using some of the most obscure particles and waves in nature to increase understanding of the universe. On Wednesday, the economics prize went to Americans Daniel Kahneman and Vernon L. Smith for pioneering the use of psychological and experimental economics in decision-making. That same day, American John B. Fenn, Koichi Tanaka of Japan and Kurt Wuethrich of Switzerland were given the chemistry prize for making two existing lab techniques work for big molecules like proteins. Imre Kertesz, a Hungarian who survived Auschwitz as a teenager, won the literature prize Thursday for writing that "upholds the fragile experience of the individual against the barbaric arbitrariness of history," the Swedish Academy said. ___ On the Net: