EU Wins Nobel Peace Prize

Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize before he had done anything. The prize to the EU seems like the opposite: a sort of lifetime achievement award (overlooking a few mishaps such as Srbrenica and Kosovo). Europe may be collapsing, but it's not at war. In this light, the prize, while somewhat pointless, is not absurd. But it must seem a rather bitter pill to everyone but the fatuous José Manuel Barroso, who was crowing about the award this morning. Europe would do better to take care of its problems than to sit on its laurels.