“That’s completely unheard of,” Janne Haaland Matlary, a professor with the University of Oslo and a former politician, told public broadcaster NRK. “It’s a total lack of respect for the award, on her part,” she said, calling the act “meaningless” and “pathetic.”
LOL @ the both of them.


Because there were (and still are) real problems in Venezuela. She is a key figure in the opposition, and it’s widely suspected that the opposition party won the last election, but Maduro’s party fucked with the vote.
In a sane world that respects Democracy, it sends a statement that the popular will should be respected, and that the Maduro government was illegitimate. I don’t think the Nobel committee expected their award to precipitate armed intervention, which is the opposite of peace.
It’s even more ironic because it’s not like the will of the Venezuelan people is being honored, even now. Trump is ignoring Machado’s party (even after “accepting” that gift of the medal) and is extorting what is left of the government in Venezuela to funnel oil money into a secret bank account.
Basically, the award makes sense in a pre-Trump world, but he has changed all the rules. That last cheeseburger can’t come fast enough…