Brain Trust - Jay Nordlinger

Jay Nordlinger, a Senior Editor at National Review, joined the Brain Trust today to discuss his to-be-released book on the Nobel Peace Prize, Peace, They Say. Below are the "CliffsNotes" of his interview.

You call the Nobel Peace Prize the most famous and controversial prize in the world. True?

I imagine the Oscars are as famous, so probably they're tied. In fact, in one year, Al Gore won both.

But I definitely think the Nobel is certainly the most controversial, because of the nature of peace. People disagree about what peace is, and what adds to it and subtracts from it.

What has been the theme of the last few prizes?

I think we've had two very good Nobel Peace Prizes in a row, which has to be some kind of record.

In 2010 they gave it to Chinese dissenter Liu Xiaobo, although he wasn't allowed out to receive the prize. That was last year.

And this year they've given it to three campaigners for women's rights and human rights in general. Two are from Nigeria, and one is from Yemen.

I think this is a good prize. What I remind my readers, and frankly remind myself, is that women's rights are old hat here, but in other countries they are very new hat or even no hat at all.

Of the Nigerian women, one is a woman named Leymah Gbowee. During the second civil war there in Nigeria, she organized a Christian women's peace movement to appeal to the dictator. Later other women of other faiths joined this peace effort.

The other is the woman who became president after the civil war. She's a very canny politician.

If they keep giving out meritorious peace prizes, I'm going to have to change my tune.