War is peace, freedom is slavery and ignorance is strength

Now that Obama has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, we can say that the American President has been given a chance at success, a privilege rarely awarded to several former American Presidents. But can Obama live up to the expectations of the Nobel Prize Committee and convert his grand vision of world peace and harmony into a reality?

The answer could perhaps lie in the affirmative if we broadly define the meaning of peace in the twentieth century.


In the present age, peace is not merely the absence of war and conflict. It encompasses industrial peace and market stability as well. If millions have to be slaughtered to attain market stability, then one must be ready to pay such a price. Corporate peace is an added twist to this definition i.e. alignment of world order with the policy objectives of the reigning corporate superpower with a long history of violence: United States.

Ironically, when the same prize had been awarded to Al Gore in the year 2007, it symbolized an anti-Bush stance, representing a critique of US foreign policy. The same prize is being employed today to endorse a similar policy of imperialist domination under Obama’s rule. It serves to undermine popular opposition, domestic and international, to the wars being waged under the Obama administration. Hence one can aptly quote George Orwell’s famous satirical phrase: “war is peace, freedom is slavery and ignorance is strength.” (1984)
Aspiring for peace by a country marked by genocide, dispossession, and marginalization of its original inhabitants, a state whose economy was largely built on slavery and expansion of war with its neighbouring countries, in spite of never apologizing for these grave crimes, seems rather dubious.
Barack Obama is the fourth president to preside over a never-ending series of conflicts around the globe. However, he is pursing the same policies as George Bush. Tools used by him to attain peace and cooperation are militaristic, an age old symptom of US foreign policy. Torture remains the official US policy. The”Global War on Terror” has simply been renamed “Overseas Contingency Operation”. Muslims are still number one on his hit list as he pursues a global jihad against human rights and civil liberties. Permanent wars and unilateral invasion of territory continue, expenditure on military forces has been enhanced. The Obama-led administration is still supplying weapons and munitions to dangerous states. He has simply reinforced America’s hegemonic pursuit of global dominance.
Although Obama has publicly committed himself towards a world free of nuclear weapons, the timescale for achieving this has been extended to “perhaps not in my lifetime”. It is important to note that America has the world's largest, most dangerous arsenal of nuclear weapons and global delivery systems.
“Besides Israel, it's the only major power with a first-strike nuclear policy against any country perceived as a threat. Its drawdown plans will replace old weapons with better new ones, and the so-called "missile defense" is solely for offense.” (Stephen Lendman-A research associate and the centre for globalization)
India has developed nuclear weapons outside of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and now receives preferential treatment from the U.S. government. Later, Pakistan developed nuclear weapons, outside the NPT, and now is suffering mounting covert action, increased direct action, and political manipulation within the broader scope of the AfPak war. All this has led to threaten the sovereignty of other countries.
Obama’s selective plan for nuclear disarmament is only meant to further America’s strategic objectives. By strengthening the NPT, Obama actually aims at suborning it so as to prevent countries like Iran from develop¬ing the capability for a complete nuclear fuel cycle. Obama falsely accused North Korea of breaking rules when it actually had not, since it withdrew from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) before carrying out a bomb test and has as much right as India or any other country to conduct missile test flights. The obvious objective of holding a Global Summit on Nuclear Security in 2010 is to obtain multilateral legitimization of US production of nuclear weapons that would strengthen its global dominance.
Apart from mere speeches, Obama has done nothing about the Israel-Palestine conflict. His advisors are mostly pro-Israeli with regard to the acquisition of land and settlements. He has said nothing about the separation wall in Gaza, deemed illegal by the International Court of Justice, nor has he uttered a word about Israel’s nuclear arsenal or threats against Iran. While Obama simply talks big, the Israelis continue to occupy Palestine, build settlements and suppress Palestinian civil society.
Unless Obama stands up to his own advisors and opposes the entrenched Washington perspective on geopolitics, not a whole lot can change in the world.