Milosevic took the papers and asked, “What will happen if I do not sign?” In answer, “Ahtisaari made a gesture on the table,” and then moved aside the flower centerpiece. Then Ahtisaari said, “Belgrade will be like this table. We will immediately begin carpet-bombing Belgrade.” Repeating the gesture of sweeping the table, Ahtisaari threatened, “This is what we will do to Belgrade.” A moment of silence passed, and then he added, “There will be half a million dead within a week.” Chernomyrdin’s silence confirmed that the Russian government would do nothing to discourage carpet-bombing.
The ‘Ahtisaari’ that Gregory Elich refers to in this wonderful article for Counterpunch is Martii Ahtisaari. Does the name ring any bells?
Ahtisaari- the charming individual who threatened the carpet bombing of Belgrade in 1999- and the killing of a half a million civilians in the former Yugoslavia was the Finnish politician who last week- to a chorus of approval in the western media- was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Not only was Ahtisaari on the side of the warmongers in 1999, he also lined up alongside the Shock and Awe brigade four years later. He strongly defended the US-led aggression against Iraq, saying that he would have supported the military action regardless of the WMD arguments: "Since I know that about a million people have been killed by the government of Iraq, I do not need much those weapons of mass destruction".
By honouring a warmonger like Ahtisaari- a man who despite acting as an UN special envoy has shown contempt for the UN Charter- and international law- by backing the blatantly illegal wars of aggression against Yugoslavia and Iraq- the Nobel Committee have lost all credibility.
A Nobel Peace prize for Martii Ahtisaari? What will the Nobel Committee come up with next year I wonder? - a Peace Prize for Tony Blair?
6 comments:
You laugh at the idea of Tony Blair receiving the Peace Prize, but I can really imagine this. In 20 years time, many people will - as always - have forgotten. Just think about how he is being honoured left, right, and centre already. It should always be our job to remind people of how deceitful these warmongers are.
Your article is important, because Ahtisaari has always been portrayed as someone who strove for peace in the face of adversity.
Little was made of his countless scandals, such as stabbing the Namibian freedom movement (SWAPO) he had been seemingly supporting in the back.
Neither was any real mention made of his scandalous involvement with the Indonesian environmental ministry (or whatever it was called), as he praised them (what for?) despite irrefutable evidence that they had been chopping down ancient and important rainforest. They did so by commissioning a company who was itself at the forefront of human rights' abuses. Some peace envoy, our Ahtisaari.
I also notice the 'controversy and criticism' section on his wikipedia article has miraculously disappeared since he was awarded the Nobel War, er, I mean Peace Prize on Friday.
What else do you expect from a old, fat right-winger?
P.S.: Neil, if you want to hear about the latest fiasco on Comment is Free read this tragedy. Yep, it involves Nick Cohen and the virtual end of Olching on CiF.
All best!
Aha! a famous Finn, or rather an infamous one. Isn't Finland the country where The Moomins came from? Looks to me as if they'd have been better off giving the Nobel Prize to them.....
I too think it's a pretty fair bet that Blair will get the Nobel; also sainthood is a distinct possibility. Future generations will envy us for living in the time of such a man. Ho Ho.
I take the Nobel Prizes in the physical sciences much more seriously than the prizes in the other categories.
And while I disagree with almost every word Paul Krugman writes for the New York Times these days, I've heard he was a very good economist when he did the work for which he received the Nobel Prize in Economics.
I had never heard of Ahtisaari before he was awarded the Nobel Prize. I suppose it just goes to show my education is incomplete.
This is not a surprise.
This prize was given to Menachem Begin the leader of Argon gangs which commetted massacres against palestinians, including the bombing of King David Hotel in Jerusalem.
http://nobelprizes.com/nobel/peace/1978b.html
The list of winners also include Shemon Perez, the Israeli prisident who is responsible of the Qana massacre in south lebanon killing about 106 Lebanese civilians taking refuge in a UN compound.
Pictures of the massacre can be found here:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14137.htm
In order for the US to send a man on the moon, innumerable mathematical calculations must have been made, also innumerable experiments to experiment how to launch th erocker, how to deviate the rocket to get it precisely in an angle that would allow orbiting around themoon but then gently landing... I mean, thousands of mathematicians, space science experts on radiation, gravitation, electro-magnetic fields, etc... must have contributed to make it all possible to achieve the BIGGEST exploration of mankind... yet, not ONE single of these men have been awarded a NOBEL prize... did they really land on the moon or was it just as fake as the Ahtisaari "peace efforts"?
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