Over a decade after former President Barack Obama was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for doing nothing, President Donald Trump has been nominated for his role in the historic Israel-UAE peace agreement.
Last month Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Crown Prince of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the United Arab Emirates Armed Forces Mohammed Bin Zayed (quite the title) released a joint statement agreeing to normalize Israel-UAE relations. The deal is popular, with 76% of those who say they follow the news closely saying they believe the new agreement is likely to facilitate peace in the Middle East.
According to Fox News:
The nomination submitted by Christian Tybring-Gjedde, a member of the Norwegian Parliament, lauded Trump for his efforts toward resolving protracted conflicts worldwide.
“For his merit, I think he has done more trying to create peace between nations than most other Peace Prize nominees,” Tybring-Gjedde, a four-term member of Parliament who also serves as chairman of the Norwegian delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, told Fox News in an exclusive interview.
Tybring-Gjedde, in his nomination letter to the Nobel Committee, said the Trump administration has played a key role in the establishment of relations between Israel and the UAE. “As it is expected other Middle Eastern countries will follow in the footsteps of the UAE, this agreement could be a game changer that will turn the Middle East into a region of cooperation and prosperity,” he wrote.
Also cited in the letter was the president’s “key role in facilitating contact between conflicting parties and … creating new dynamics in other protracted conflicts, such as the Kashmir border dispute between India and Pakistan, and the conflict between North and South Korea, as well as dealing with the nuclear capabilities of North Korea.”
President Trump has said that he deserves a Nobel long before the UAE-Israel deal that got him nominated for one today.
Last year he said he deserved one after claiming that millions of people living in Syria’s rebel held territory of Idlib had been saved after he warned Russia, Iran, and the Syrian government against a planned offensive they had.
Trump was also nominated for a Nobel last year by Japan’s president Shinzo Abe, who credited him with opening talks with and soothing tensions with North Korea.. South Korean President Moon Jae-in seconded the motion, and said that Trump deserved a Nobel for his efforts to negotiate an end to North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.
Trump did express pessimism about receiving one though. “They gave it to Obama. He didn’t even know what he got it for. He was there for about 15 seconds and he got the Nobel Prize… With me, I probably will never get it.”
The justified pessimism aside, his odds aren’t zero. According to OddsChecker, a site that aggregates statistics from betting markets:
Donald Trump was a massive +10000 to win the Nobel Peace Prize just hours ago, but those odds are a thing of the past. Trump is now as short as +1400 to win the converted award. This implies his chances of winning the prize have leapt from 1% to 6.7%. Online bettors have been quick to jump on the back of the announcement as well. In the hours since the news broke, a dominant 92% of all bets have been placed on Trump winning.
Oddschecker spokesperson Pete Watt adds: “Plenty of observers will instinctively turn their noses up at such a prospect, but Trump has broken a 39 year long streak of US Presidents leading the nation into a new war.”
If Obama received a Nobel for doing nothing, I’d say it’s fair for Trump to receive one for actually accomplishing something.
