Nobel Peace Prize nominations show how ‘hopelessly politicized’ and ‘screwy’ the controversial award has been

Though they are meant to stay secret for 50 years, nominations for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize have leaked.

It happens every year, granting a sheen of virtue even to those whose nominations fail — an odd list that includes Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, Gandhi, Bono and Canada’s own child rights campaigner, Craig Kielburger.

This year, with nominations closed as of this month, fugitive wikileaker Edward Snowden and James Anaya, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples who has been especially critical of Canada, are up for the honour.

Both seem like long shots (as does, say, Uruguayan President José “Pepe” Mujica, nominated this year for legalizing pot), but given past winners — from Henry Kissinger and Al Gore to the entire European Union — anything is possible. This is a problem, critics say, not only because it strays from the intentions of the founder, but because the idea of “peace” it reflects is so broad it is almost meaningless...