# Nobel Peace Prize

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "Nobel Peace Prize," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/nobel-peace-prize/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*The prize a Swedish parliamentarian nominated John Kiriakou for in 2016 — a marker of how far world opinion had swung his way after prison. Kiriakou once believed Obama deserved his; he came to see it as unearned, and he treats Trump's foreign policy as substantially organized around wanting one too — "never underestimate Donald Trump's desire to win a Nobel Peace Prize," a White House friend told him. Netanyahu's nomination of Trump he summarized in a single unprintable phrase.*

- **Kiriakou's nomination:** 2016, by a Swedish parliamentarian
- **On Obama's prize:** Believed in it at first; later judged it undeserved
- **On Trump:** Obsessed with winning one — the lens Kiriakou applies to his dealmaking

The **Nobel Peace Prize** appears in [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)'s story twice over — once as an honor he was himself nominated for, and repeatedly as the explanatory key he applies to presidents.

## Kiriakou's nomination

In 2016, a Swedish parliamentarian nominated Kiriakou for the Nobel Peace Prize — one of the signs, alongside a West Point invitation to lecture the freshman class on ethics in intelligence operations, that opinion had come around after prison.[1][2]

## Obama's prize

Kiriakou stood in the snow for two hours to vote for [Barack Obama](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/barack-obama) and *"really believed... he deserved that Nobel Peace Prize."*[3] The belief didn't survive the record: Obama adopted most of Bush's counterterrorism policies, he says, while Americans *"just bought it"* because a Peace Prize winner was doing it.[4] His later formulation is flat: *"He didn't deserve one, but they gave him one."*[5]

## Trump's obsession

Kiriakou reads much of [Donald Trump](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/donald-trump)'s foreign policy through a single motive. *"I have a friend at the White House who told me to never underestimate Donald Trump's desire to win a Nobel Peace Prize. He's still angry that Barack Obama has a Nobel Peace Prize."* Hence the North Korea talks, the Iran overtures, the promise to end the Ukraine war in a day.[6][5] The endgame he sketches: expand the [Abraham Accords](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/abraham-accords), bring in the Saudis, declare victory, *"and get your Nobel Peace Prize."*[7] When Thailand and Cambodia announced a ceasefire after Trump's weekend phone calls, Kiriakou's explanation was the same: *"I think he wants the Nobel Peace Prize."*[8] Netanyahu's nomination of Trump for the prize he described with a term he declined to define on air: *"circle jerk is the best way to say it, actually."*[9]

## Nixon to China, or Grover Cleveland

Explaining why Trump pressed for a Gaza deal, Kiriakou lists the prize alongside base politics. MAGA is against foreign wars *"and we're in this war up to our necks"*; and *"Donald Trump is obsessed with winning the Nobel Peace Prize. If he can bring peace even indirectly to Gaza with a deal that's acceptable to the Gazans, maybe that gives him a chance."*[10]

He puts the ambition as a fork in the historical record. Trump *"can go down in history as just like Richard Nixon did when he went to China, as this cutting-edge leader in foreign policy. Or he can go down as Grover Cleveland, who was president in the late 19th century, served two non-consecutive terms, and nobody remembers who in the world he is. He wants to be the former."*[11][12]

The same logic produces a prediction about Iran that Kiriakou concedes sounds unhinged: just as Nixon was the only president who could make peace with China in 1972, *"maybe Trump is the only one who can go to Iran"* — not literally, but to Riyadh, at Mohammed bin Salman's invitation, to meet President Pezeshkian. *"Stranger things have happened through history."*[13]

## Why he will not walk away from Ukraine

Asked why [Donald Trump](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/donald-trump) does not simply end American involvement in [Ukraine](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/ukraine-proxy-war), Kiriakou gave three reasons and put the prize third and decisive. It would make him look weak — *"he would go down in history as the president who lost Ukraine."* He is the grand dealmaker. *"And there's a third reason, and we all know what it is. He desperately wants to win the Nobel Peace Prize."*[14][15]

Kiriakou enumerates the deals already banked toward it — India and Pakistan, Congo and Rwanda, Thailand and Cambodia — and says a Russian–Ukrainian settlement is the one Trump believes would make him competitive. He adds the grievance he thinks drives it: *"he's furious that [Barack Obama](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/barack-obama) won the Nobel Peace Prize without deserving it."*[15][16]

## See also

- [Barack Obama](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/barack-obama)
- [Donald Trump](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/donald-trump)
- [Abraham Accords](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/abraham-accords)

## Sources

1. Ex-CIA Spy John Kiriakou: Hunting Terrorists, Torture, Guantanamo Bay......and Going to JAIL (2025-01-19), at 1:15:28. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RkpK67B9mQ&t=4528s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-01-19-eyes-wide-open-i-conor-ryan-ex-cia-spy-john-kiriakou-hunting-terroris/
2. CIA EXPOSED: Whistleblower Reveals Torture Secrets with Jo (2024-07-30), at 42:37. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jnq27oguBTQ&t=2557s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2024-07-30-spartan-leadership-podcast/
3. RT Interview with CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou (2013-02-13), at 12:00. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FQPANN0LUo&t=720s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2013-02-13-jayargonaut-rt-interview-with-cia-whistleblower-john-kiri/
4. RT Interview with CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou (2013-02-13), at 06:49. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FQPANN0LUo&t=409s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2013-02-13-jayargonaut-rt-interview-with-cia-whistleblower-john-kiri/
5. Who Really Controls U.S. Intelligence? (2025-06-05), at 27:44. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEnVwfMlgWQ&t=1664s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-06-05-unfiltered-with-s-a-m-who-really-controls-u-s-intelligence/
6. Ex-CIA Agent John Kiriakou On Israel, Iran, Mossad, Middle East & More (2025-06-17), at 49:33. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eY3jQXeV0Tw&t=2973s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-06-17-mario-nawfal-ex-cia-agent-john-kiriakou-on-israel-iran-mossad-middle-/
7. CIA Spy Breaks Silence on Epstein Cover-Up, Mossad & Trump (2025-07-14), at 52:33. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HStqERfZbPw&t=3153s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-07-14-danny-jones/
8. DeProgram Show with Ted Ra (2025-07-28), at 31:24. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39xICxfs1Xg&t=1884s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-07-28-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra/
9. Useful Idiots (2025-07-15), at 10:25. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pxXzKfr28g&t=625s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-07-15-useful-idiots-useful-idiots/
10. Charlie Kirk's Story Crumbles — Iran (2025-10-11), at 26:16. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4V5GlZ4IodQ&t=1576s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-10-11-dialogue-works-charlie-kirk-s-story-crumbles-iran/
11. Charlie Kirk's Story Crumbles — Iran (2025-10-11), at 26:49. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4V5GlZ4IodQ&t=1609s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-10-11-dialogue-works-charlie-kirk-s-story-crumbles-iran/
12. Charlie Kirk's Story Crumbles — Iran (2025-10-11), at 27:22. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4V5GlZ4IodQ&t=1642s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-10-11-dialogue-works-charlie-kirk-s-story-crumbles-iran/
13. Charlie Kirk's Story Crumbles — Iran (2025-10-11), at 27:53. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4V5GlZ4IodQ&t=1673s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-10-11-dialogue-works-charlie-kirk-s-story-crumbles-iran/
14. What's Really Happening In Israel: Mossad (2025-08-30), at 15:12. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hohHB8bGCxM&t=912s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-08-30-jamarl-thomas-what-s-really-happening-in-israel-mossad/
15. What's Really Happening In Israel: Mossad (2025-08-30), at 15:42. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hohHB8bGCxM&t=942s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-08-30-jamarl-thomas-what-s-really-happening-in-israel-mossad/
16. What's Really Happening In Israel: Mossad (2025-08-30), at 16:13. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hohHB8bGCxM&t=973s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-08-30-jamarl-thomas-what-s-really-happening-in-israel-mossad/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/nobel-peace-prize/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt