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The Nobel Peace Prize



Allow me to get in my own two cents (and yes, I realize I'm rather late to this party) about the EU's receipt of the Peace Prize.

The Peace Prize is awarded by a committee that is selected by Norway's Parliament.  Follow that link for some particulars.

It is fitting, then (nay, it is pragmatically compelling) to observe that Norway isn't a member of the EU.

Norway has twice held referenda to determine whether it would join, and in both cases the go-it-alone faction prevailed: 1972 and 1994.

The Peace Prize is apparently justified this year by a simple and seemingly pragmatic tie: Europe hasn't gone to war since the nations thereof became a single economic unit.

That is pretty clearly a post hoc ergo propter hoc argument, and thus a fallacy. Heck, the US hasn't had a civil war since the EU was created either, but even the Nobel Committee doesn't seem to draw that connection. I'll only note as a counter that Norway itself has managed to stay at Peace even without the dubious benefits of membership.

Here is a website put up by the No-to-the-EU forces within Norway. (The English language version thereof.)

Welcome to No

And here is their view on the Nobel Peace Prize this year.

Predictable though it is.

What is going on exactly? My uninformed outsider's guess is that the political elites of Norway want their country to join the club the cool kids are all in, but haven't been able to get the broader populace to go along. This Award may be part of an effort to do so.

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