By Garvin Karunaratne, Ph.D.(Michigan State University)

The Norwegian Noble Committee has decidedƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  that the Noble Peace Prize for 2009 be awarded to President Barak Obama. In the words of the Norwegian Noble Committee, The vision of a worldƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  free from nuclear arms has powerfullyƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations. Thanks to ObamaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s initiativeƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  the USA is now playing a more constructive roleƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and Human Rights are to be strengthened.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

President Obama comes from a country that has little regard for Democracy. I have had the occasion to research the two US Presidential Elections of 2000 and 2004 and the manner in which democracy was flouted in both elections made me write and publish two books: The Administrative Bungling that Hijacked the 2000 US Presidential Election ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ and The Electronic Stealing of the 2004 US Presidential Election. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Having studied and worked in the development field in five countries over the past four decades I studied the progress of the US Economy and can make a firm statement that theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  economy of the USA was ruined and President Obama inherited a failed State in severe debt, with crumbling banks, bankrupt financial institutions andƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  high unemployment. In addition BushƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  had attacked Iraq in search of weapons of mass destruction, which he never found and even made a foray into Afghanistan under the pretext that Al Qaeda had taken heels to its mountains. President Obama was hailed as the saviour to save not only the United States of America but also save the entire world economy.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  His election pledge was to stop the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and to put the US economy on a sound footing.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  In my own small and humble manner I too was one of his supporters, writing and getting something published for this cause.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

Two winters and two summers have passed since President Obama ascended the Presidency but in this period though in the myopic eyes of the Noble Peace Parade there has been progress, in actuality there has been no progress whatsoever.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Lech Walesa, the Polish President opined that he(Obama) has no contribution so far.(The TimesOnLine,10/10/09)ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  As far as the US economy is concerned, the financial institutions have kept crumbling, the stimulus packages of finance ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”donatedƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ to the prestigious banks have ended up not in building up the capital starved economy but in the pockets of the bank mandarins in the form of bonuses, the very bureaucrats who craftily mismanaged the finance.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  This week the unemployment level in the USA had reached 9.8%, the highest level in 26 years.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

President Obama has totally failed to sort out the wars wagedƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  on foreign soil in Iraq and Afghanistan. Paul Craig Roberts, the Assistant Secretary of the Treasury during the Reagan AdministrationƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  tells of the Obama Regime and its current modus operandi: When justification for war becomes almost endless- oil, hegemony, womenƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s rights, revenge for 9/11, denying bases to Al Qaeda and protecting against terrorists- war becomes the path to peace. From, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Warmonger wins peace prizeƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚, in SrilankaGuardian, 9/10/2009)ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The World has had the occasion to see President Obama in action. On foreign soil, the Bush foray into Iraq has been a success in terms of the US commanding the oil wealth of Iraq. The people of Iraq are subjected to foreign domination and the USA is establishing a puppet government, controlled by the USA. Though officially only 110,000 civilians perished many estimates state that as much as 655,000 civilians were killed. In December 2007 it was reported that there were 5 million orphans in Iraq due to the war. Daily the people of Iraq are killing the foreigners wherever they can get at them and bomb blasts are frequently reported. President Obama has only continued his predecessorƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s policies, just the opposite of what he preached in the election campaign.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Take Afghanistan. Bush commenced reducing Afghanistan to rubble and a puppet Karzai was enthroned. Instead of pulling out troops- what=2 0President Obama promised, he has had to increase the strength. Worse, last month Karzai was accepted as the President by the USA when Peter Galbraith, their own diplomat who monitored the election reported thatƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  there was rampant fraud in the election. Instead of appreciating Peter GalbraithƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s findings, Galbraith was dismissed from his job for his comments. Galbraith now states that his boss, Kai Eide, the Head of the United Nations Mission in Afghanistan ordered a systematic cover up to conceal the extent of electoral fraud by President KarzaiƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚¦I was ordered not to pursue the issue of fraudƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚¦My staff collected evidence on hundreds of cases of fraud around the country and more importantƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  gathered information on turnoutƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  in key southern provinces where few voters showed up butƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  large numbers of votes were being reported. Eide ordered us not to share this data with anyone including the Electoral Complaints Commission, a UN backed Afghan Institution legally mandated to monitor fraud. (The TimesOnLine5/10/2009)ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  The UN Chief Eide has denied the cover up but the commitment President Obama has for democracy today is reflected in accepting Karzai as the President though under a cloud of fraud.

Now the South Asian arena is seeing the USA making forays into Pakistan. President Musharaff once agreed to allow airspace and facilities for the US forces to attack Afghanistan because he was firmly told that his country would be reduced to rubble if he did not agree. That was when the US was under President Bush. Now under President Obama the USA is attacking Pakistan under the pretext that Osama Bin Laden is in hiding in the mountains of Pakistan. The people of Pakistan have taken up arms against this foreign domination and against the Government of Pakistan which has now become a puppet of the USA. Today the USA is compelling Zadari the President of Pakistan to agree to the Kerry Lugar Agreement, by which Pakistan will be given $ 1.5 billion annually for five years in Aid if Pakistan agrees to what the USA wants.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  This Kerry Lugar Agreement was passed by the US Congress. This Agreement has been dubbed asƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  an Insult to Pakistan. The Agreement states that the USA has the right to monitor nuclear installations in Pakistan, and has access to officials working in the field. This is an affront to the sovereignty of Pakistan. Zadari likes to sign the agreement but it has been=2 0opposed by the people of Pakiustan and has not been passed by its Parliament. Pakistan will end up in total disaster like SomaliaƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  very soon due to the machinations of the USA , all under the rule of President Obama.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ As far as a world free from nuclear arms is concerned President Obama appears to be continuing the task of his predecessors to ensure that nuclear arms will be limited to the Superpowers and their allies only.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Where was President Obama when Israel was attacking the Palestinians in the Gaza strip and raining white phosphorous on its people.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Even today and in the past month Israeli forces are dragging East Palestinians out of their hearth and home at gun point, taking over their homes- homes for which they hold documented deeds . The homes are then bulldozed and new Israeli settlements are built and Jews settled on them. This episode was documented on UK Television where I saw the people thrown out seated on their mattresses on the roads and they were watching their homes ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” the homes in which they have slept for years being destroyed. TheyƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  were held at gun point by Israeli soldiers and I saw a journalist/photographer who documented this episodeƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  being chased away by the armed forces of Israel. There was not an utterance from President Obama to this pillage that was going on in East Palestine.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  The USA was silent about the Human Rights of the East Palestinians. One word from him- if he could dare to tell Israel that the Aid that the USA is giving annually to Israel would be stopped, Israel would stop forthwith. But President Obama kept silent. The drones and wails of the dispossesed people do not worry him any more. It is sad that Human Rights doƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  not permeate the white walls of White House!.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Take Sri Lanka. For the past=2 0three decades the LTTE has tried to establish a rebel government in the Noirth and the East in land that totally belonged to Sri Lanka. I know this for certain because I worked in these areas as an administrator and have been traveling all alone in these areas at all godforsaken hours for my development tasks. There were Muslim and Sinhala villages scattered among Tamil villages. Firstly the Muslims and Sinhala people were thrown out at gun point- many were killed which made the rest flee. Then the LTTE mountedƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  attacks in Colombo and in many other parts of the island- in some like the attack on the Central Bank over a hundred were killed. At ArantalawaƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  over a fifty monks were gunned down. At Anuradhapura they attacked pilgrims at the Sacred Bodhi Tree- the most venerated sacred site of the Buddhists and the death toll was over three hundred pilgrims.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  It came to a point where no one was safe anywhere and in families the husband and wife never traveled together for fear of their childrenƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  becoming orphans if both got blasted together. Even the armed forces were killed in the hundreds. This was the true situationƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  till President Mahinda Rajapaksa took charge. It did not take long for him to find out that negotiations did not take him anywhere. All previous Presidents were taken for a ride and President Premadasa20who even donated weapons to them was murdered by them. President RajapaksaƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  took the rebels head on and brought them to their knees. Then the LTTE was finally routed out and captured. Today there is peace in a land that was torn with bomb blasts byƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  suicide bombers, by air and sea attacks.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Mahinda Rajapaksa has upheld democracy again and again by holding democratic elections, even under difficult conditions,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  and has never tried to act in an undemocratic manner like what President Obama did by accepting Karzai as the President of Afghanistan in the face of fraud done in the election.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ If the Noble Peacenicks who want to find anyone from the world that has really brought about peace then the choice has to be no other than Mahinda Raj apaksa, the President of Sri Lanka. Here is a personage who has within three years translated words and pledges to bring about peace into action.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ He did deliver peace and ensured the Human Rights of the total population of close to twenty million and delivered them from the jaws of deathƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  in the hands of the most ruthless terroirist organization in the World.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ I am certain that Presoident Obama has good intentions. Having listened to almost all his speeches on the election platform I stand convinced that he was genuine- he was a person speaking with a conscience- with a zeal to achieve what other have failed. As an administratorƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  at times I have run into the problem where though as the chief administrator I am trying to achieve somethin g, there are saboteurs dragging the earth from beneath my feet. This has happened to me again and again and this is what has happened to President Obama today. That will explain what is happening in Iraq, Afghanistan and even in Sri Lanka where Presidents ObamaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s lieutenants are trying to set back the clock and to allow the LTTE to rise again.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ By any standards it is President Rajapaksa of Sri LankaƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  that could have a rightful claim for the Noble Prize if a proper and righteousƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  decision is ever made.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Garvin Karunaratne,

October 10, 2009

Author of How the IMF Ruined Sri Lanka and Alternative Programs of Success, (Godages, Colombo)