The Nobel Peace Prize 2010

This year the Nobel Peace Prize was given to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo. An empty chair was there in the ceremony held in Oslo.

I'm not saying he is not a brave individual as speaking out in China carries great risk, he has been in prison for the last 11 years and his family is under house arrest. But the Committee said that because he was not here, it was more than enough reason to award him the prize.

The question is, is he the right person to be awarded it. Is the prize well awarded or is it now becoming more of a political stick to try and influence countries?

Is there any recorded instance of the Prize going to anybody who actually, you know, made the world more peaceful?

Looking at the list, I would say:

Doctors without Borders

The International Campaign to Ban Landmines.

But it does look like it's frequently a political stick, as CIAS says. See: the Dalai Lama, Aung San Suu Kyi, etc.

What about Theodore Roosevelt? He ended a war oddly enough.

After last year I've given up trying to make sense of the Peace Prize. If the criteria is "you're not George Bush," then I should get it, too.

I'm just waiting for the Nobel Peace Prize to pull a Time Person of the Year.

"The winner of this year's Peace Prize is YOU. YOU have made the world a better place."

Well...haven't I?