Dan Calabrese

With the choice of President Obama for the Nobel Peace Prize inspiring such widespread befuddlement, it seems worthwhile to ask, just who are these people who made this choice, and what might their agenda be?

Accompanying news stories on the award were photos of a smiling Thorbjorn Jagland, chairman of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee, admiringly hold a photo of the U.S. president.

Vice president, Socialist International

This is the man who spoke gushingly about the hope Obama has inspired. Who is Thorbjorn Jagland?

Some stories have reported that he is the former prime minister of Norway, and that he was the leader of the Norwegian Labor Party for 10 years. But he recently completed an even more interesting 10-year tenure.

From 1999 through 2008, Jagland was vice president of Socialist International. What’s that? It’s exactly what the name suggests – an international organization of socialist groups who advocate for far left policies. It also boasts of “consultative status” with the United Nations.

Its statement of principles calls for “the internationalisation of the economy” and all sort of other socialist boilerplate. It also rejects the notion of “armed peace” between superpowers, and wants Europe to play a lead role in basically disarming everyone.

Socialist International has member organizations from most countries, including one from the United States, Democratic Socialists of America, which touts its vision of what it calls an “alternative to capitalism.” Its newsletter, The Activist, is filled with articles that sing the praises of folks like Karl Marx and the late socialist radical Michael Harrington.

Jagland also serves as chairman of the board of the Oslo Center, which pursues Jimmy Carter-like interventions into conflicts and tries to mediate peace talks (in fact, the Oslo Center and the Carter Center work together), and came under criticism when he was selected as Oslo Center chairman because he was still president of the Norwegian parliament at the time, and was accepting money for both gigs.

It is no surprise, given his memberships and proclivities, that Jagland would welcome a weakened United States on the international stage. Of course, for one to be a socialist in the European setting is hardly a shocker. Many left-wing political parties in Europe are open about their socialism. They embrace groups like the Oslo Center and the United Nations because these are forums in which the United States is only one voice among many.

For the European socialist who detests the idea of the United States as the world’s pre-eminent power, giving over international decision-making authority to groups like these furthers the goal of a world in which socialist despots have just as much say in the affairs of the world as free, democratic nations.

This does not necessarily prove that President Obama is a socialist. Indeed, the aforementioned Democratic Socialists of America lament on their web site that he is not one of them, and express no end of their frustration in this regard.

But what it does show is the agenda of the people who chose Obama for the Nobel Peace Prize, not to mention the fact that, for whatever reason, they see tremendous hope in him and in what they expect him to do.

What might that be? Stand down in Afghanistan? Give over enforcement of environmental regulations to the UN? Abandon U.S. support of Israel? These are all socialist priorities.

Obama has already sold out Eastern Europe on the question of missile defenses. No wonder Jagland likes him.

The Nobel Peace Prize is regarded as an extremely prestigious award, but when you actually find out who chooses the winners, you realize it is a radical outfit with a decidedly anti-American agenda. The fact that they are so excited about Barack Obama being president of the United States, given their broader agenda for the world, should be the real – and very disturbing – news here.

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