Nobel Peace Prize

Perhaps controversy never eludes award of Nobel Peace Prize almost every year. Last year awarding this prestigious award to Barack Obama with in seven months of his assuming office as the President of USA kicked up a row. This year conferment of Nobel Peace prize to human right activist Liu Xiabobo of China who has been sentenced to 11yrs. imprisonment and is now incarcerated. He co-authored charter ’08 claiming political reforms in China that was published in UN’s universal declaration of human rights. Liu participated in Tiananmen protests way back in 1989.China has naturally taken exception to awarding peace prize to one whom it considers a simple ‘criminal’ and takes it as a calculated move and conspiracy by Nobel Committee to embarrass it and belittle its position in the estimation of other nations. China has now the world’s second largest economy and a very powerful nation. It must react vehemently to this seemingly confrontational attitude of the Norwegian Nobel Committee. Perhaps, any other country under the similar circumstances would have reacted this way. It’s well known unlike other Nobel prizes, peace prize is awarded more or less on political considerations and hence it has been devalued over the years. So it’s to run into adverse criticism on most of the occasions. Nobel Committee could have easily averted such an unpleasant outcome by awarding this prize to some other person nominated for this award.