In 2009 President Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. According to Thorbjorn Jagland, the head of the committee, the reasons were to reward the President for improving the climate of relations with Muslim nations and to use the prestige of the award to “contribute to what he is trying to do”. In effect it was given partly to help advance Obama’s agenda.

The first reason given was to reward President Obama for improving the climate of foreign relations. Under President Obama the relations between Russia and the US have reached an all time low. In Syria the US has been given the same status as ISIS in the current peace treaty brokered by Russia. Obama recently removed 35 Russian diplomats and closed down 2 Russian sites in America. The international diplomatic community fully expected Russia to retaliate accordingly.

Due to President-Elect Trump’s efforts in furthering US-Russian relations Russia has already said it would welcome the US into the Syrian peace treaty right after the new president is inaugurated. In a move that stunned experts in diplomacy Putin has also declared that he would not seek any retaliation to the actions of President Obama and would instead wait till President Trump took office. In terms of tangible results this shows that President-Elect Trump has already achieved more than President Obama at the time he was given the prize.

The second reason given was to “contribute to what President Obama was trying to do”. Let us compare Russia and the Muslim world first. Russia is the home of half of the world’s nuclear arsenal, while the Muslim world may have some it is nowhere near that amount. Russia has significant aerial and land forces so much so that the western European countries are worried about invasion, while the Muslim countries have forces that can really only threaten each other. If war with Russia breaks out with America it is very likely that China would come to its aid. If war with a Muslim country breaks out it is very likely to be limited to that specific country. In summary peace with Russia is a global concern whereas peace with the Muslim nations would largely be a regional one in the Middle East.

As we can see there is no comparison to building better relations with Islam and building better relations with Russia. In fact given the geographical reach of Russia building better relations with them would lead to better relations with the middle east. Building better relations with Russia makes the entire world a more stable place there is no valid reason for using the nobel peace prize to support a regional peace initiative but withholding your support for a worldwide one

As we can see President-Elect Trump has already achieved more for peace than President Obama has at the point he was given the award and in a more critical part of the world. According to their website anyone can be nominated for the prize by any member of a “national assembly or national government”. If you believe President Elect Trump should get a nobel peace prize contact your local representative, senator or congressman, and have them nominate President Elect Trump.