Norway on Edge as Trump’s Nobel Hopes Stir Anxiety

Darwin, 10 October—

As the Nobel Peace Prize winner for 2025 is set to be announced on Friday (October 10), anticipation — and anxiety — are mounting in Norway. The reason? U.S. President Donald Trump’s growing insistence that he deserves the Nobel Prize this year.

Trump has publicly declared that he “should receive the Nobel Peace Prize” for his global efforts, but Norwegian officials fear his reaction if he doesn’t win. The Nobel Committee, which decides and announces the winner, is based in Norway, though it operates independently from the Norwegian government.

Expressing deep concern, the foreign policy spokesperson for Norway’s Socialist Left Party said, “We must be ready for anything.”

He added, “Donald Trump is pushing the United States toward extremism. He’s attacking freedom of speech, deploying masked Secret Service agents to abduct citizens, and suppressing courts and institutions. When a U.S. president behaves like a dictator, we must be prepared for any consequence.”

The spokesperson emphasized that the Nobel Committee is an independent body and not linked to the Norwegian government in any way — but questioned whether Trump even understands that distinction. “We must be ready for any kind of reaction from him,” he warned.

Meanwhile, Kristian Berg Harpviken, Director of the Nobel Committee, told AFP that the 2025 Peace Prize winner had already been decided on Monday — well before the end of the Hamas-Israel conflict. As such, the committee did not take the ceasefire into account in its decision.

Analysts have also dismissed the possibility of Trump winning the prize this year, noting that the committee’s decision predates the recent developments in the Middle East.

In recent days, Trump has repeatedly claimed that he “stopped seven wars worldwide” and therefore deserves the Nobel Peace Prize. He has reportedly been nominated by several countries, including Pakistan, Israel, and Algeria.

Source: The Guardian