If Nixon Were Alive

Looking for other stuff in Nixon Project papers some years ago, I came across an order from the president to (I paraphrase) "cut off everything we do with Sweden!" This because of open criticism by the Swedish government of his Vietnam policies. He might want something similar today for all of Scandinavia, because the Swedes and Norwegians who issue the various Nobel prizes, but especially the Peace, Literature, and Economics awards, seem to have taken it upon themselves to voice anti-American sentiments shared by many on this side of the Atlantic. If not outright anti-Americanism, then certainly anti-Bush-Americanism. See the Peace Nobels for people like Jimmy Carter and Al Gore; see also what a member of the committee for the literary award said about U.S. authors (they won't win, essentially, because U.S. literary culture is too insular); and see now Paul Krugman's award. Aside from being a not too predictable columnist who is almost always worth reading, Krugman is a serious and very reputable scholar. Still, it's interesting how the BBC today identifies him primarily as a fierce critic of the Bush administration, and it can't perhaps be ruled out that this has played a part in the Nobel committee's evaluations. It's their award money, and they can do with it what they want (and they often to admirable things with it), but it bears repeating perhaps that especially these Nobel awards for non-exact fields tend to be a reflection of the political preferences of a small, Scandinavian elite. Of course, Bush could still be wrong, and it can't be ruled out that Nixon was wrong about a few things too.