- As you are aware, history is replete with innumerable individuals coveting power, region, land, kingdom, authority, position, acknowledgement, recognition, and the list can be endless. Since time immemorial, humankind has regularly witnessed one or the other craving for universal recognition, which would be displayed as a medal, certificate, or citation, depicting an achievement. Mind you, some or worthy of receiving the much-vaunted recognition on the back of path-breaking and/or epochal achievement that would remain permanently etched in the collective psyche of humankind. In the same vein, some individuals desperately wish to garner recognition, despite not deserving it at a considerable distance.
PC: The Globe and Mail
- Donald Trump perfectly fits into this category, desperately wanting to be felicitated with no less than a Nobel Peace Prize. Mind you, he isn’t the first strange candidate who’s so keen on this prize. Trump has wanted a peace Nobel for the longest time, but never as much as now. Just over a week ago, Trump said if he doesn’t get it this time, on October 10 – for the uninitiated, he’s been nominated four times before – it would be a big insult to America as a country. Knowing him, Trump never says that lightly. Last time was in 2020, when he said if Biden’s running mate Kamala Harris ever became president, that would be an insult to America. Why Trump wants the peace Nobel is a mystery. Winners are in dubious company, you see.
PC: The Economist
- Mahatma Gandhi’s soul would be ever so grateful for being spared an honour that the likes of Henry Kissinger and Aung Suu Kyi earned in later years. Kissinger, who prolonged the Vietnam War, and had a hand in the bombing of Cambodia and Laos, and Suu Kyi, who defended her military’s persecution of the Rohingya. Maybe Trump wants it only because Obama got it. In the words of a veteran Republican: “Obama has been living in Trump’s head rent-free for the last two decades”. But Obama got the Nobel as a nudge for shunning the militarism of his predecessor, Bush, and ignored it. Can’t blame the Nobel committee if they won’t trust another US president. Nonetheless, one must give it to Trump for trying forcefully. What are Trump’s achievements?
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PC: UNILAD
- Trump claims to have stopped seven wars already, including Operation Sindoor. While India’s factual denials have left him sore, Pakistan has rubbed salve with praise and a Nobel nomination. Unfortunately, Pakistan’s and Israel’s nominations came months after this year’s cutoff date of Jan 31, but they’ll keep Trump in the running in 2026. He might have deals in Gaza and Ukraine by then. Bear in mind that lobbying doesn’t always work with the Nobel Committee. It didn’t for Bill Clinton, despite his photo-ops in Vietnam and Ireland, and with Yasser Arafat. And it didn’t for the Iranian poet who set 18 crates of pistachios for a lit Nobel – only to get disqualified. Trump should try being subtle. And if he doesn’t win, shouldn’t ban other Americans from accepting Nobels.
