Myanmar Spring Chronicle – October 10: Scene
(MoeMaKa) October 11, 2025
Venezuelan Opposition Leader Chosen for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize
If there is a political award that draws the world’s keenest attention, it is likely the Nobel Peace Prize selected by Norway’s Nobel Committee. Each year, the laureate’s name is announced on October 10, and the prize is presented on December 10.
One reason interest ran especially high this year is that U.S. President Donald Trump has often claimed—ever since the beginning of his presidency—that he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize, repeating such remarks whenever the committee’s announcement draws near. He frequently asserts that conflicts between pairs of countries—such as Israel and Iran, India and Pakistan, Thailand and Cambodia, or disputes over accepting “terrorist groups”—were halted thanks to his mediation.
However, awarding the prize to someone like Trump—who, from the outset of his presidency, made statements undermining the sovereignty of Canada, Greenland, and Mexico—would inevitably draw criticism from Western countries toward Norway’s Nobel Committee. President Trump has also maintained the Biden-era policy of fully supporting Israel’s military operations in Gaza. He has provided Israel—accused internationally of committing genocide—with full protection in international fora like the United Nations, along with weapons, military intelligence, and financial support.
Although he said he tried to stop the Ukraine war, when that failed he decided to continue selling arms. He also ordered strikes—without consultation or agreement with any country or organization—against targets within the territorial waters and lands of Yemen’s Houthis, Iran, and Venezuela, thereby violating their sovereignty.
Given such a background, it would be impossible for the Nobel Committee to choose someone like President Trump as a laureate. In a world where domestic civil wars, wars between neighboring states, and even proxy wars—where outside powers arm or otherwise back one side—are proliferating, selecting a Nobel Peace Prize winner is becoming ever more difficult.
Myanmar’s pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. Her participation in the country’s 1988 democracy uprising, and the fact that she did not choose an armed path after the 8-8-88 movement, were likely the main reasons she was awarded the prize.
That said, the Nobel Peace Prize—awarded by Norway, a Scandinavian, Western European country—does not judge a laureate’s entire life’s work. It recognizes particular efforts within a given period, and it does not mean the recipient will devote themselves to peace for the rest of their life. For example, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, the 2019 laureate, led government forces in renewed war against an ethnic armed group in the Tigray region just a year after receiving the prize—an embarrassment for the Nobel Committee.
Regarding Myanmar, during the 2017 events in northern Rakhine State, when the military brutally suppressed attacks by ARSA, many in the international community viewed Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, as head of government, as supporting and endorsing the military’s actions.
In short, the Nobel Peace Prize also reflects Western Europe’s political standards and values, and functions as a kind of morale-building or political vote intended to influence international political events.
Thus, not selecting someone like Trump—who is distrustful of democracy, exhibits authoritarian behavior, and uses financial and military might to destabilize societies—deserves support. At the same time, it is difficult to conclude that every laureate is unequivocally a true champion of peace worldwide.