BY HARUT SASSOUNIAN
While President Trump is visiting Japan this week, it is the appropriate time to comment about his nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize by Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The nomination was announced by none other than Trump himself, who boasted that Abe had given him “the most beautiful copy of a five-page letter that he sent to the people who give out a thing called the Nobel Prize.”
Japan’s Asahi newspaper reported that Trump had asked Shinzo Abe to nominate him. Abe refused to confirm the nomination, citing a Nobel Committee policy of not disclosing nominees for 50 years after prizes are awarded. When Abe was asked in Parliament if the report was accurate, he responded: “I am not saying it is not true.”
Two Norwegian lawmakers had already nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize in June 2018. Interestingly, in February 2018, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced that two Nobel Peace Prize nominations for Trump were forgeries. In addition, 18 Republican Members of Congress sent a joint letter to the Nobel Committee last year nominating Trump for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize.
Japanese Prime Minister’s nomination of Trump created a major political stir with domestic opposition leaders protesting Shinzo Abe’s move. Junya Ogawa, a lawmaker representing the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, criticized Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris climate accord and the nuclear agreement with Iran, his decision to suspend the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, and his relocation of the American Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. These actions, Ogawa said, should make it “not possible to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize, and it’s shameful for Japan.”
The reason the Japanese Prime Minister nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize is that the leader of Japan had figured out that flattery is the best way to be on Trump’s good side. Apparently, playing countless rounds of golf together was not sufficient. Japan has three requests from Trump:
- To seek Trump’s help in arranging for the Japanese Prime Minister to meet with the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to discuss “unconditional” denuclearization. This is an important request for Japan as recent North Korean missiles have either fallen in or near Japanese territorial waters, or have overflown the Japanese territory panicking the population.
- To dissuade Trump from his repeated threats to impose U.S. tariffs on Japanese imports, mostly cars, which would impact Japan’s economy and undermine Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s re-election.
- To get Trump’s assistance in negotiating the return of Japanese citizens who were abducted by North Korea between 1977 and 1982.
Nevertheless, Shinzo Abe’s nomination of Trump “was unexpected, given Trump’s aggressive ‘America first’ foreign policy and disdain for multilateral international cooperation. After U.S. talks with North Korea collapsed… a Nobel nod seemed wholly unwarranted,” according to the Washington Post.
While the Prime Minister of Japan may have good reasons for nominating Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, the Nobel Committee has better reasons to reject the request in order not to dishonor its prestigious award by presenting it to such a charlatan, liar and cheater, both financially and morally. He has insulted other races and religions, abused minorities and immigrants, and refused to comply with U.S. laws and international treaties.
Just in case some may think that my antagonism to Trump’s nomination stems from partisanship, I need to remind readers that when President Barack Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009 for “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between people,” I wrote an editorial expressing my opposition to his award. The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Obama within the first year of his presidency, way too soon to judge his accomplishments. Trump had criticized Obama for receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, and some say that he wants the same award that Obama received out of jealousy. Trump was quoted saying: “They gave it to Obama. He didn’t even know what he got it for. He was there for about 15 seconds, and he got the Nobel Prize.” In addition to Obama, three other U.S. Presidents were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize: Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and Jimmy Carter.
In Trump’s case, he has already served over two years as President, and it is clear that he does not deserve any kind of an award, let alone the Nobel Peace Prize. In fact, he does not even deserve to be President of the United States. With each passing day, the actions and statements of the self-declared “extremely stable genius” further antagonize more people both in the United States and around the world. As Lord Acton had wisely written: “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely!”
Not surprisingly, Trump continued his controversial behavior by sending a series of tweets during his first morning in Japan. In one of his tweets, Trump committed three errors or improprieties:
- He agreed with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un that the leading Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is “a low IQ individual,” violating the long-held principle of not speaking about domestic divisions while overseas.
- He misspelled Biden’s name as “Bidan.”
- He contradicted the statements of his own National Security Adviser John Bolton and Japan’s Prime Minister that North Korea’s recent missile launches are a violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions.
Finally, Trump admitted that he will probably never get the Nobel Peace Prize. For once, I agree with him!
Why not! Obama was nominated even before he became president! Please go to White House Press Releases and see all the accomplishments that President Trump has achieved, with all the back stabbings from dems!
Rita Gragossian ,I agree with you Trump is an outsider , not a career bs politician that is why he can get things done (if they let him)
I agree with you, if lier Obama was dominated before he became president! why not for President Trump.
IF OBAMA WHO WAS WORSE PRESIDENT IN USA HISTORY, WHY NOT TRUMP???????? BEST ECONOMY! LOWEST UNEMPLOYMENT RATES!!! STRONG MILITARY!!!!
OBAMA MADE BLACKS HATE WHITES. MANY POLICE KILLED BY BLACKS AND IDIOT BLACK LIVES MATTER!!!!!!!!!
OBAMA LIED TO ARMENIANS AND NOT RECOGNIZED GENOCIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Good point Hagop
Of course he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize. North Korea has stopped nuclear testing. It’s also stopped all ballistic missile tests. He’s made the Korean Peninsula much safer because of this. He’s also managed to bring home the remains of all our soldiers and secured the release of our prisoners without any concessions. Please stop repeating the Democrat talking points. On top of that here are some of his other accomplisments.
-Over 5 millions jobs created since his election.
-African-American unemployment has recently achieved the lowest rate ever recorded.
-Hispanic-American unemployment is at the lowest rate ever recorded.
-Women’s unemployment recently reached the lowest rate in 65 years.
-Over 450,000 manufacturing jobs created.
-Biggest Tax Cut
-Passed the First Step Act (prison reform)
Stop repeating liberal lies of Trump being a racist bigot. You’re losing credibility!
Mr. Sassounian, again its amazing, by the other Armenian comments here, that this con man has a fan base. JUST AMAZING!
Probably Russian Trump trolls. They Google search ‘Trump’ and defend him with false statistics (no one checks facts in comments sections). They are everywhere I am not suprised they are here too. I am Turk by the way and eventhough I do NOT agree with your cause I regularly read Asbarez articles as do other Turks. Least we both can agree that Trump (agent orange) is a terrible human being.
Ali
You should comment on your president first, Yeah sure your Turkish president is a wonderful and decent man , lol
Once again Mr. Sassounian you are showing bias in your opinion. We Armenians get emotional and are naïve , and misjudge who our real friends are. Mr. Sassounian if you want to be a credible journalist then you should look at facts:
1. Fact .Obama promised to recognize the Armenian Genocide, and did not . Trump never promised to recognize the Genocide
2.Fact. Obama and his clown Hillary with their idiotic “Arab Spring” ruined Syria, Libya and almost Egypt. Syrian Armenians suffered the most in the Arab Spring and the conspiracy to replace Assad. I lost a cousin in Aleppo because of Obama. Trump is not a hawk he does not want war, and the Syrian war started to wind down when Trump took power.
3. Fact . Globalism is not good for Armenia and Armenians . How would you feel if Armenia was forced to accept a flow of refugees , who are not Armenians, thus threatening its existence. Obama was a globalist who did not believe in boundaries, believed in open borders. Open borders would be disastrous to Armenia.
4. Armenians in general are good and law abiding citizens , and were hurt by the open border policies and illegal immigration embraced by Obama. Obama hated America, and hated white people, which created tension between races in the US
Please stop your emotional and partisan rant and begin to analyze issues fairly and objectively, that is how you will really serve the Armenian cause
I agree.
So far President Trump didn’t start a war.
Yes and when he does launch attacks on Iran it will be blamed on the ‘deep state’ or just simply called ‘fake news’ by Trump supporters. A cult in the making.