Peace Prize, in hope

Of all the Nobel committees, the peace prize panel is the least subtle. It is most visibly given to symbolism and this year the contentment in Oslo must be especially hearty. In the International Atomic Energy Agency and its director general, Mohamed ElBaradei, each one of the criteria that have dictated its past announcements has been wholesomely met. Just count the attributes. The IAEA and ElBaradei have been intimately involved in 2005’s biggest security crisis, Iran’s overt non-compliance with provisions of the NPT, to which it is a signatory. History gives a reason for a loud affirmation of efforts towards nuclear disarmament — this is the 60th anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And honouring the Vienna based team allows the panel to give vent to that other abiding, never-stated obsession — a big snub to that global hegemon, the United States, which has done little to veil its impatience with ElBaradei ever since he refused to certify that weapons of mass destruction could be located in Iraq in the weeks leading to the invasion.

But, as is too often the case, the Nobel Peace Prize seems once again to have been given more in hope than in celebration of tangible achievement. North Korea and Iran’s pursuit of technology required to manufacture nuclear weapons is the most significant challenge to the non-proliferation regime. It bears repetition that both countries appended their signatures to the NPT, though North Korea walked away two years ago. They are dangerously in breach of their own commitments. The way the challenge posed by them is resolved will, most crucially, determine the viability of multilateral agencies like the UN, and of course its nuclear watchdog, the IAEA.

T.S. Eliot once implied that writers must live in dread of being awarded the Nobel, saying that once honoured, no Nobel laureate had managed further work of much significance. It is to be hoped that the Nobel Peace Prize will not carry similar tidings for the IAEA and its mild-mannered chief. The goal for which they have been summoned to the awards night in Oslo is still some way from being achieved.