When I heard that Maria Corina Machado had won the Nobel Peace Prize, I burst out laughing. Donald Trump had been proclaiming that he should be given the Nobel Peace Prize, and it seems that the Nobel Peace Prize Committee was in agreement with President Trump. Last year, the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organisations won the prize, but this is the ultimate spectacle that completely destroys that honour. The selection committee should be ashamed of themselves. I just have to carry on with my usual routine of work, reading and working out, so the world seems utterly ridiculous and it really saps my motivation.
@Si_chan I'm not sure I understand this - how is this prize for Trump? This woman has been fighting the regime in Venezuela for a long time and that's as much of an uphill battle as anything. Is it because of Trumps attacks on (alleged) drug smugglers, which by at least some accounts she doesn't completely hate? Or is there some other collusion here I'm not aware of? The White House sure seemed annoyed enough with the award..
Si_chan
The narrative that Venezuela has been fighting a dictatorship is a Western narrative. It's just anti-communist ideology, the same as the Cuba issue. Venezuela's poor economic state is also due to Western economic sanctions. Nicolás Maduro is a legitimately elected leftist representative. In the 2024 election, local newspaper exit polls also showed Maduro leading. However, right-wing forces, including Machado, used polling companies to spread false claims that the opposition was ahead. They are now using these false claims to claim the election was fraudulent. This is the exact same structure as Trump's 2021 Capitol riot. Fundamentally, in Venezuela's election, nine opposition candidates ran, and four of them have acknowledged Maduro's victory.
@Si_chan I don't have the brain space to go into a detailed response here, just want to state that I disagree with your assessment. If nothing else because Russia and China largely echo the same version. That is rarely a good sign for a given version of the story.
Maduro is a fundamentally corrupt, autocratic leader exactly like his predecessor. The elections have been anything but fair for the last decades. I'm not glorifying the opposition but the laureate is certainly likely to be better than the alternative.
Knowing how the committee works, I'll also point out that they have a long established tradition and track record of not letting themselves be bullied or pressured one way or another. Which this country (Norway) has paid dearly for on several occasions in very recent times.
And *of course* she's playing the same game as everyone else: flatter Trump to make sure he doesn't backstab you. It means nothing (much).