Cambodia PM says he has nominated Donald Trump for Nobel Prize
Hun Manet made the announcement in a Facebook post late on Thursday, accompanied by a letter he said had been sent to the Norwegian Nobel Committee hailing Trump's intervention as an example of his "exceptional achievements in de-escalating tensions in some of the world's most volatile regions".
"This timely intervention, which averted a potentially devastating conflict, was vital in preventing a great loss of lives and paved the way towards the restoration of peace," the Cambodian leader wrote in the letter.
It was a July 26 call by Trump to the leaders of both Thailand and Cambodia that broke the deadlock in efforts to end some of the heaviest fighting between the neighbours in recent history, Reuters has reported.
That led to a ceasefire negotiated in Malaysia on July 28. The two countries agreed on Thursday to ensure no reigniting of hostilities and to allow observers from Southeast Asia.
In total, 43 people were killed and more than 300,000 displaced by a five-day conflict that started with small arms fire and quickly escalated into heavy artillery and rocket fire, then Thailand's deployment hours later of an F-16 fighter jet for air strikes.
The nomination had been expected after Cambodia's deputy prime minister last week announced the plan, while thanking Trump for a tariff of 19% on Cambodian imports by the United States - sharply reduced from the previously threatened 49% that he said would have decimated its vital garment manufacturing sector.
Pakistan said in June that it would recommend Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in helping to resolve a conflict with India, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last month he had nominated Trump for the award.
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On that same day in 1992, Bettman said that he wanted to make hockey, a sport that at the time was seen as violent and retrograde, more 'user-friendly.' And he acknowledged that to do it, he'd need to push some of the older owners into the future. 'It may be that we are going to head in new, progressive directions that will make sense to every one immediately,' Bettman said. 'For some, it may take a little more time.' Maybe the diversity and inclusion stuff doesn't totally make sense to Bettman in 2025 – other North American sports have decided that they don't have the stomach to fight the culture wars under Trump either, and NFL commission Roger Goodell is also on the White House sports council. But Bettman should give the league's diversity policies time to grow, rather than deliberately reversing course, hurting hockey's players and fans, and ultimately jeopardising the future success of the sport for everyone. If that's too much to ask, at the very least, if he's invited to join a club created by a hostile and retrograde president, he should by now have the smarts to just say no.
