Nobel Peace Prize Bribery Scandal Grows

March 15, 2019

The growing bribery scandal around the Nobel Peace Prize shows no sign of quieting down any time soon.  What we have learned so far is that going back for years, candidates have embellished their credentials to earn what many consider to be the world’s elite peace prize. 

NPR discussed the scandal with Henrik Halstrom, who has covered Nobel politics for the Stockholm Post since 2003:

Halstrom: From what I understand, a lot of this dates back to 1994 when a lot of people around the world thought, ‘if they’ll believe that Rabin and Arafat brought peace to the Middle East, they’ll believe anything.’

NPR: Can you give some examples of the types of false accomplishments that have been presented.

Halstrom: Well, it turns out that at least 6 winners in the past 15 years have claimed to have led the successful campaign to banish nuclear weapons.

NPR: 6?  Wouldn’t you think that they committee would have caught on to this?

Halstrom: It is embarrassing, but every year they get so many qualified applications that it is hard to keep up with all the details.

NPR: Okay, they are making this false claims, but where does the bribery come in? 

Halstrom: Well, you can’t just write it down.  The Nobel Committee expects you to provide documentation. So each one of those claims came accompanied by a letter from someone belonging to some agency with ‘nuclear’ it its title that claimed there were no more nuclear weapons thanks to … um … actually, they haven’t provided the names yet of which winners provided false claims.

NPR: So they had to pay for those letters?

Halstrom: At least $50,000.  More if you want a gold-embossed letterhead.

NPR: What other types of false claims have been made?

Halstrom: I am told that one winner in the 1990s claimed to have negotiated an end to the decades long bloody conflict between Fredonia and the Grand Duchy of Fenwick.

NPR: Fredonia?  The Grand Duchy of Fenwick?  But those are fictional countries.

Halstrom: Yes, but the letters from Fredonian and Fenwickian ambassadors to the UN looked very authentic – so I am sure they didn’t come cheap.

NPR: So how can this be changed?

Halstrom: This has been a real eye opener for the Nobel committee.  Up until now they have pretty much depended on the integrity of applicants, but now they realize that they might need to but some more resources into fact-checking – or at least read a newspaper from time to time.

NPR: Of course, the Nobel Committee awards prizes in a wide array of categories.  Is this limited to the peace prize?

Halstrom: So far, this is all we have information on.  But then again, Bob Dylan?