The 2013 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons -- a little-known outfit that's just starting to locate and destroy Syria's chemical weapons arsenal.  It will be many months before any conclusions can be reached about the success or failure of its work.  But, in a pattern that's become all too familiar, the Nobel Peace Prize panel made a decision based on a hope and a prayer -- not on firm accomplishments of lasting importance and value. There was a time when the award of the Nobel Peace Prize went to winners with scintillating records of having advanced the cause of peace and human rights. Going back to the 1980s, one thinks of Lech Walesa, who helped topple the Soviet empire.  Or Desmond Tutu, who helped demolish apartheid in South Africa.  Or Elie Wiesel, whose call to bear witness to the Holocaust still resonates today.  Or such towering individuals as the Dalai Lama,...(Read Full Post)