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<H2 class=title>Foreign Newspapers on Obama’s Nobel Prize Victory</H2>
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<DIV>October 10th, 2009 | By: <A title="Posts by Michael van der Galien" href="http://www.poligazette.com/author/michael-van-der-galien/" rel=nofollow target=_blank><FONT color=#225588>Michael van der Galien</FONT></A></DIV>
<DIV>Tags: <A href="http://www.poligazette.com/tag/barack-obama/" rel=nofollow target=_blank><FONT color=#225588>Barack Obama</FONT></A>, <A href="http://www.poligazette.com/tag/news/" rel=nofollow target=_blank><FONT color=#225588>News</FONT></A>, <A href="http://www.poligazette.com/tag/nobel-peace-prize/" rel=nofollow target=_blank><FONT color=#225588>Nobel Peace Prize</FONT></A>, <A href="http://www.poligazette.com/tag/poligazette/" rel=nofollow target=_blank><FONT color=#225588>PoliGazette</FONT></A>, <A href="http://www.poligazette.com/tag/politics/" rel=nofollow target=_blank><FONT color=#225588>Politics</FONT></A></DIV>
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<DIV><IMG class=alignleft alt="obama nobel peace prize" src="http://image.examiner.com/images/blog/wysiwyg/image/obama_wins.jpg" width=180 height=142></DIV>
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<DIV>The left-wing <A href="http://weblogs.nrc.nl/commentaar/2009/10/09/bedwelmd-door-hoop/" rel=nofollow target=_blank><FONT color=#225588>NRC Handelsblad</FONT></A> (Netherlands): ”What got into the committee to award this prize to a man who has yet to live up to the high expectations? <STRONG><FONT color=#ff0000 size=5>Were they drunk?”</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
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<DIV>Center-left to center <A href="http://extra.volkskrant.nl/opinie/commentaar" rel=nofollow target=_blank><FONT color=#225588>Volkskrant</FONT></A> (Netherlands): ”It’s clear that Obama has increasingly more difficulty meeting expectations. His inspiring words about peace and deproliferation have yet to be supported by any concrete results. What is meant to be a reward [for great achievements], could very well end up being tremendous burden for Obama.”</DIV>
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<DIV>The right-of-center <A href="http://telegraaf-i.telegraaf.nl/daily/2009/10/10/TE/TE_2S_20091010_3/articles/artikel_TE_2S_20091010_3_172.php" rel=nofollow target=_blank><FONT color=#225588>Telegraaf</FONT></A> (Netherlands): “This isn’t the first mistake of the Committee, but it is the biggest. The value of the Nobel Peace Prize has been diminished.”</DIV>
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<DIV>Benedict Brogan, writing for the British newspaper the <A href="http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/benedictbrogan/100013071/nobel-prize-for-president-obama-is-a-shocker-he-should-turn-it-down/" rel=nofollow target=_blank><FONT color=#225588>Telegraph</FONT></A>: “To reward him for a blank results sheet, to inflate him when he has no achievements to his name, makes a mockery of what, let’s face it, is an already fairly discredited process (remember Rigoberta Menchu in 1992? Ha!). That’s not the point. What this does is accelerate the elevation of President Obama to a comedy confection, which he does not deserve, and gives his critics yet another bat to whack him with. Shame on the Swedes Norwegians*. He should turn it down, even if he does look great in white tie and tails.”</DIV>
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<DIV>The <A href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6867711.ece" rel=nofollow target=_blank><FONT color=#225588>Times of London</FONT></A>: “Rarely has an award had such an obvious political and partisan intent. It was clearly seen by the Norwegian Nobel committee as a way of expressing European gratitude for an end to the Bush Administration, approval for the election of America’s first black president and hope that Washington will honour its promise to re-engage with the world.</DIV>
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<DIV>“Instead, the prize risks looking preposterous in its claims, patronising in its intentions and demeaning in its attempt to build up a man who has barely begun his period in office, let alone achieved any tangible outcome for peace.”</DIV>
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<DIV>Left-wing rag the <A href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/09/barack-obama-nobel-prize-why" rel=nofollow target=_blank><FONT color=#225588>Guardian</FONT></A>: “Indeed, the reasoning behind the awarding of the prize to previous American presidents has been easier to discern. Teddy Roosevelt opened the court of arbitration in the Hague and helped mediate a peace treaty between Russia and Japan; Woodrow Wilson was the founder of the League of Nations. Jimmy Carter won his prize for his “untiring efforts to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts”.</DIV>
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<DIV>“Which is what makes the awarding of this year’s prize to a president who has been in office for a mere nine months an odd departure. It is as if the prize committee had been persuaded to give the award on the future delivery of promises.”</DIV>
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<DIV>The <A href="http://www.smh.com.au/world/they-think-he-can-obama-wins-nobel-peace-prize-20091009-gqwu.html" rel=nofollow target=_blank><FONT color=#225588>Sydney Morning Herald</FONT></A>: “YES, surprisingly, he could. Barack Obama, is the shock choice for the Nobel Peace Prize, less than a year after his election as U.S. President.”</DIV>
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<DIV><A href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/10/09/international-media-reactions-obama-peace-prize/" rel=nofollow target=_blank><FONT color=#225588>Il Giornale</FONT></A> (Italy): “Let me be clear: the discourse on Islam in Cairo was beautiful, tall, and it opens up new horizons, but did not lead to anything. And on the other matter, as pointed out repeatedly in this blog, Obama has been evasive or inconclusive, starting with Iran and Afghanistan. Nor can he boast the merits of rapprochement with North Korea, which was brought about by Bill Clinton. He kept only one real promise: the gradual withdrawal from Iraq. Enough to deserve the Nobel Prize?”</DIV>
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<DIV>Center-left the<A href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,654251,00.html" rel=nofollow target=_blank><FONT color=#225588> Spiegel</FONT></A> (Germany): “The Nobel Peace Prize has come too early for Barack Obama. The US president cannot point to any real diplomatic successes to date and there are few prospects of any to come.”</DIV>
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<DIV><A href="http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2009/10/09/jonathan-kay-giving-barack-obama-the-nobel-peace-prize-is-ridiculous.aspx" rel=nofollow target=_blank><FONT color=#225588>National Post</FONT></A> (Canada): “Obama is being given his award for mere words — for striking fashionable poses in favour of multilateralism, for making a nice speech in Cairo, for offering “hope.” Months after Americans learned to dismiss Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign slogans as the meaningless bromides they were, Scandinavians are still drinking his Kool-aid.”<BR><BR></DIV></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #c0ff80"><FONT color=#ff0000>"</FONT><STRONG><U><FONT color=#ff0000>most of those bankrupted by medical problems had health insurance"</FONT></U></STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><U><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #c0ff80" color=#ff0000>"Two-thirds were homeowners and three-fifths had gone to college."</FONT></U></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><U><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #c0ff80" color=#ff0000>"Often illness led to job loss, and with it the loss of health insurance."</FONT></U></STRONG></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT color=#ff0000><STRONG>Medical problems contributed to nearly two-thirds (62.1 percent) of all bankruptcies in 2007</STRONG>,</FONT> according to a study in the August issue of the American Journal of Medicine that was published today online. The data were collected prior to the current economic downturn and hence likely understate the current burden of financial suffering. Between 2001 and 2007, the proportion of all bankruptcies attributable to medical problems rose by 49.6 percent. The authors’ previous 2001 findings have been widely cited by policy leaders, including President Obama.</DIV>
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<DIV><STRONG><U><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #80ff00" color=#ff0000>Surprisingly, most of those bankrupted by medical problems had health insurance. More than three-quarters (77.9 percent) were insured at the start of the bankrupting illness,</FONT></U></STRONG> including 60.3 percent who had private coverage. Most of the medically bankrupt were solidly middle class before financial disaster hit. <STRONG><U><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #80ff00" color=#ff0000>Two-thirds were homeowners and three-fifths had gone to college.</FONT></U></STRONG> In many cases, high medical bills coincided with a loss of income as illness forced breadwinners to lose time from work. <STRONG><U><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #80ff00" color=#ff0000>Often illness led to job loss, and with it the loss of health insurance.</FONT></U></STRONG></DIV>
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<DIV>From: <A href="http://discuss.epluribusmedia.net/content/more-medical-bankruptcy-have-insurance-go-bankrupt" rel=nofollow target=_blank>http://discuss.epluribusmedia.net/content/more-medical-bankruptcy-have-insurance-go-bankrupt</A><BR></DIV></FONT></FONT></SPAN></DIV><BR><BR>
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<DIV> </DIV><SPAN style="COLOR: blue"><FONT size=2><FONT face=Arial>
<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #c0ff80"><FONT color=#ff0000>"</FONT><STRONG><U><FONT color=#ff0000>most of those bankrupted by medical problems had health insurance"</FONT></U></STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><U><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #c0ff80" color=#ff0000>"Two-thirds were homeowners and three-fifths had gone to college."</FONT></U></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><U><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #c0ff80" color=#ff0000>"Often illness led to job loss, and with it the loss of health insurance."</FONT></U></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#ff0000><STRONG>Medical problems contributed to nearly two-thirds (62.1 percent) of all bankruptcies in 2007</STRONG>,</FONT> according to a study in the August issue of the American Journal of Medicine that was published today online. The data were collected prior to the current economic downturn and hence likely understate the current burden of financial suffering. Between 2001 and 2007, the proportion of all bankruptcies attributable to medical problems rose by 49.6 percent. The authors’ previous 2001 findings have been widely cited by policy leaders, including President Obama.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><U><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #80ff00" color=#ff0000>Surprisingly, most of those bankrupted by medical problems had health insurance. More than three-quarters (77.9 percent) were insured at the start of the bankrupting illness,</FONT></U></STRONG> including 60.3 percent who had private coverage. Most of the medically bankrupt were solidly middle class before financial disaster hit. <STRONG><U><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #80ff00" color=#ff0000>Two-thirds were homeowners and three-fifths had gone to college.</FONT></U></STRONG> In many cases, high medical bills coincided with a loss of income as illness forced breadwinners to lose time from work. <STRONG><U><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #80ff00" color=#ff0000>Often illness led to job loss, and with it the loss of health insurance.</FONT></U></STRONG></DIV>
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<DIV>From: <A href="http://discuss.epluribusmedia.net/content/more-medical-bankruptcy-have-insurance-go-bankrupt" rel=nofollow target=_blank>http://discuss.epluribusmedia.net/content/more-medical-bankruptcy-have-insurance-go-bankrupt</A><BR></DIV></FONT></FONT></SPAN>
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