Count me among those who think that the Nobel Committee has made a mockery of itself by awarding the Peace Prize to Barack Obama. I say this, incidentally, as someone who supports many of Obama’s foreign policy initiatives. However, even in those cases where Obama’s policies are both well-intentioned and well-conceived (for example, pushing for strategic realignment with Russia, exerting pressure on Israel to give up the settlements in the West Bank, escalating the war in Afghanistan*), the fact is that they have yet to yield tangible results. If Obama manages to solve the Israel-Palestine conflict or has a “Nixon-in-China” moment with Iran, by all means give him the prize then. But to give him the prize just nine months into his presidency, when his only achievement has been to give people a nebulous sense of “hope” that there will be “change”, is absurd.

* Obviously, even if escalation is the correct policy, this is not usually the sort of thing Nobel Peace Prizes are awarded for.