For a very long time throughout history some nations at one time or another gained power while others lost it.  This question is not only of a historical interest but is also very important for the understanding of our world as the twenty first century unravels.  For just as the great empires of the past rose and fell will today’s empires rise and fall as well.  This question as addressed in a book called The Rise and Fall of The Great Powers which was written by Dr Paul Kennedy who was professor of history at Yale University.  The book was an immediate success and a real sensation.  The author was trying to explain why sometimes during history certain powers rose to very great heights and then fell.  In the last few chapters of the book the author was asking whether the United States would go through the same cycle that was in 1987, at that time I thought the question was absolutely irrelevant then the United States was at the peak of its economic and military power.  Now, after spending two years in this country I am sure I was mistaken.

Since 1901 the Nobel Prize has been honoring men and women from all corners of the globe for outstanding achievements in Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, Literature and Economics for work in peace.  The foundations of the prize were laid in 1895 when Alfred Nobel wrote his last will leaving 35 Million Swedish Kroner [about $225 million today] for the creation of five annual prizes [to which one in economics was added later] to honor those who bestowed the greatest benefit on mankind in the above mentioned fields.  Each recipient, which Nobel instructed should be the person who has performed the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace conferences, each prize consists of a medal, a certificate and one and a half million US dollars. On the 9th of October 2009 the five member Nobel Prize committee which is appointed by the Norwegian parliament to decide on the year's recipients of the honors decided in its wisdom to give it to the President of the United States, Mr. Barrack Obama.  The granting of the peace prize to the American President was a real surprise, it generated a big storm of criticism which centered on the fact that the president has been in office for only eight months to have been able to do enough to be qualified for the prize and the great honor, it was called premature and a potential liability to the man himself.  One commentator said it was like giving a literature prize for a book not yet written.

During the last few months I was forced to abandon my blog because we in my family were living a new episode of the tragedy, which resulted from the senseless shooting of my son almost five years ago and the disappointments and frustrations with the nature and quality of the care he is receiving here since our arrival in this country.  On top all of this was, what has been happening to my wife for the last eight months who has been in and out of hospitals with a medical problem which we were told in the beginning was a fairly simple problem, but in spite of dozens of tests and investigations the problem is still undiagnosed and she is still in hospital.  The other reason for this update is the debate which is going on here about the state of the health care system which is in a very bad shape, one of the issues candidate Obama made it very clear during the presidential campaign that it is going to be on the top of his priorities if he was elected.