PORTENTS OF THE EU NOBEL PEACE PRIZE: At PJM, Claudia Rosett writes:

With the EU enterprise lurching from one crisis to the next, with the Greeks and Spanish rioting over austerity, with the French and Germans bickering over bailouts (and with American power, perhaps not so coincidentally, in decline), much of the reaction to this prize defaulted to the rationale that the Nobel Committee was trying to give the EU a nudge away from the precipice. Or, as the the New York Times summed it up: ”The decision sounded at times like a plea to support the endangered institution at a difficult hour.”

Does that bode well for the EU?

Not if things work out the same way for the EU as some of the more disastrous picks by the Nobel committee have, as Claudia goes on to note.

(For some background on how the Nobel Prize came to be, and additional details of some of their more ignominious moments, I interviewed Jay Nordlinger of National Review, and author of the recent book, Peace, They Say: A History of the Nobel Peace Prize, the Most Famous and Controversial Prize in the World a few months ago. Click here to listen.)

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