nobel prize roundup
The Nobel Peace Prize went to former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari. He’ll be receiving the prize without much fanfare, because he’s not quite audacious enough—he isn’t accusing a people trying to not-be-bombed of apartheid, and he isn’t cooking up AIDS conspiracy theories or starting a new religion. Ahtisaari—who grew up during the Finno-Russian Winter War, during which the Molotov Cocktail was invented—has only been spending his life trying to bring an end to warfare. In all seriousness, you can read his rather impressive resume here.
Meanwhile, former economist Paul Krugman won a Nobel (well, not technically) for his earlier work as a real economist. It’s actually an honorable body of work—it (along, of course, with the work of many others) considerably changed our understanding of the dynamics of free trade. The only problem is that giving Krugman the prize today is akin to rewarding a dog for an earlier trick while he defecates on your carpet.