Vladimir Putin Nominated For Nobel Peace Prize Because He Was Awesome With Syria

You’ll never believe who was “Putin” the Nobel Peace Prize nominations this cycle.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is up for a Nobel after he prevented the U.S. from dumping a payload of bombs on Syria over the summer, itself a response to UN intel that Bashar al-Assad’s regime had used chemical weapons on its own people, killing more than 1000 civilians.

Yeah, it’s a mouthful. But it’s good enough for a Nobel even though, as The Independent points out, Russia is the main supplier of weapons to Assad’s regime anyway, they imprison citizens for speaking their minds, and homosexuals are treated less like second-class citizens and more like sociopathic animals over there.

Anyway, we should note that the Nobel community hasn’t selected Putin for a nomination just yet. His name was merely submitted by an advocacy group that argues Putin “actively promotes settlement of all conflicts arising on the planet.” Still, the group is on the list of those approved to make Nobel Peace Prize nominations. It’s not just some random Putin fan club.

“Being the leader of one of the leading nations of the world, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin makes efforts to maintain peace and tranquillity not only on the territory of his own country but also actively promotes settlement of all conflicts arising on the planet,” read the International Academy of Spiritual Unity and Cooperation of Peoples of the World’s (another mouthful) letter to Nobel.

Of course, the letter makes no mention of Russian armed conflicts in Chechnya and Georgia, waged personally by Putin. In fact, the Syria situation is pretty much the only thing they put on his resume.

Now, of course, the Nobel Peace Prize has left itself vulnerable to criticism over the last several years. We all remember the row caused by President Obama’s win in 2008. At that point, critics argued, Obama had accomplished virtually nothing to warrant such recognition.

It’s funny that you should mention President Obama, actually. Russian singer and MP Iosif Kobzon implied that Putin is actually more deserving of a Nobel than the POTUS.

“Barack Obama is the man who has initiated and approved the United States’ aggressive actions in Iraq and Afghanistan – now he is preparing for an invasion into Syria. He bears this title nevertheless,” he told Interfax news agency.

“Our president, who tries to stop the bloodshed and who tries to help the conflict situation with political dialogue, is more worthy of this high title.”

Putin himself has not commented on his Nobel Peace Prize nomination. Kobzon says that this is because he’s “a modest person.” We’ve seen some photographs that suggest otherwise.