Letter to Dr Geir Lundestad, Director Norwegian Nobel Institute

 

Topic: Letter to Dr Geir Lundestad, Director Norwegian Nobel Institute

Author: Barry Pittard

Email: bpittard@beachaccess.com.au

Sent to:www.exbaba.com , Monday, February 24, 2003

Reference: www.ZENIT.org

 

To: Director, Norwegian Nobel Institute 

Sunday, February 22, 2003

Dear Dr Lundestad,

We have corresponded previously on the matter of Sathya Sai Baba, the South Indian guru, India's most famous religious teacher.  At that time, I referred you to Interpol, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies and foreign ministries, as well as to UNESCO and some other resources which have a considerable wealth of material about Sathya Sai Baba and his accomplices.  These include allegations from many parts of the world accusing him of a vast scale serial homo-paedophilia and other serious crimes.

Indeed, in Norway many have just viewed the shocking revelations about Sathya Sai Baba  from Danish Broadcasting. Øjvind Kyrø's fifty-minute documentary "Seduced" was shown twice on Norwegian national television (NRK 1, Saturday 8/2/02 and NRK 2, Friday 14/2/02).

At the time I wrote to you, leaders in various official Sai Baba centres round the world had told the Sai Baba cult's congregations that he was on a list of candidates to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

You replied that the policy of the Nobel Peace Prize Institute is never to issue any such list, either before or after the winners of the Peace Prize are announced.  The names of Nobel Prize recipients are announced, while the names of failed candidates are not revealed.

However, I request you to read the article below, which would impugn an Institute regarded universally as the acme of integrity, and the pre-eminent cultural flagship of Norway to the world.  I do trust that you will be well able to  refute the press account (see below) and assure that no so-called ‘non-official' or any other sources of the Norwegian Nobel Institute, have leaked to the press the names of any of this year's candidates?   

Your own name (although misspelt) is mentioned as the source of some numerical statistics, but no denial from you of such leaks is reported.    

I shall be glad if you can kindly clarify the matter for me, since I accepted your earlier replies in all good faith. 

Yours faithfully,

 Barry Pittard, Australia

Below is the article in Spanish at www.ZENIT.org  with an admittedly fast translation by a friend of mine.

Juan Pablo II candidato al Nobel de Paz

ROMA, 19 febrero 2003 (ZENIT.org).- Juan Pablo II se encuentra entre los candidatos a recibir el Premio Nobel de la Paz 2003, según fuentes no oficiales del Instituto Nobel noruego.

John Paul II is among the candidates to recive the Nobel Peace Prize 2003, according to non-official sources of the Norwegian Nobel Institute

«Tenemos un total de 150 nominados hasta ahora, de los cuales 21 son organizaciones», reveló este martes el director del Instituto Noruego Nobel, Geir Lundestad, después de haber hecho el recuento de una lista que incluye las propuestas enviadas hasta la fecha límite del 1 de febrero.

"We have a total of 150 nominated up to now, of which 21 are organizations" revealed this past Tuesday the director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute, Geir Lundestag, after counting a list that included the suggestions that were sent up to the deadline of February 1st. (B.Pittard's note:  Please note the misspelling of Dr Lundestad's name).

Según Lundestad la lista definitiva podría alcanzar el récord de 156 candidatos, que registraron las nominaciones para el premio del 2002, pues los cinco miembros del Comité de premiación pueden proponer más nombres cuando se reúnan el 25 de febrero.

According to Lundestad the final list could reach the record high of 156 candidates that were registered nominations for 2002, since the five members of the award committee could make further proposals when they meet on Feb. 25

Si bien no se ha confirmado, en la lista de candidatos, además de Juan Pablo II, en una lista filtrada a la pre nsa de los candidatos se encuentra el disidente cubano Oswaldo Payá, el ex gobernador del estado norteamericano de Illinois, George Ryan, que concedió un indulto a condenados a muerte, y Bono, cantante del grupo irlandés U2.

Although it is not confirmed, on the list of candidates, aside from John Paul II, in a list that leaked to the press appear the Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya, the ex governor of the USA State of Illinois, George Ryan, who pardoned the prisoners who were condemned to death, and Bono, the singer from the Irish group U2.


Dr Geir Lundestad-Barry Pittard Exchange

 

Topic: Dr Geir Lundestad-Barry Pittard Exchange                                                         

Posted: Barry Pittard, Australia 

Email: bpittard@beachaccess.com.au

Sent to: www.exbaba.com

Monday, February 24, 2003      

Reference: Dr Lundestad's email:  Mon, 24 Feb 2003 18:26:22

Note:  Dr Geir Lundestad, Director of the Norwegian Nobel Peace Prize, has replied to my email to him with amazing speed and astounding brevity.            

Here is Dr Lundestad's email:

Barry Pitard, 

I can assure you that if I had leaked the list the names would have been somewhat different from the ones you read in the press.

Geir Lundestad

His reply is delightful, so I shall have to find a delightful way of telling him that no-one says that HE leaked, but would simply query whether there has been a leak, and what may be the "unofficial sources" from within the Nobel Institute that the www.ZENIT.org article refers to. 

The relevant paragraph in my email to him (posted earlier today on www.exbaba.com) that Dr Lundestad so neatly, if so delightfully, sidesteps is:

I request you to read the article below, which would impugn an Institute regarded universally as the acme of integrity, and the pre-eminent cultural flagship of Norway to the world.  I do trust that you will be well able to  refute the press account (see below) and assure that no so-called ‘non-official' or any other sources of the Norwegian Nobel Institute, have leaked to the press the names of any of this year's candidates? 

It is almost unimaginable that Dr Lundestad leaked, unless in a sparkling stream of humor. Who then dunnit?  

If the humor inherent in his note had been applied a couple of years back when he and I exchanged, the rest of us would have been able to deduce that Sathya Sai Baba's name probably wasn't included.

Too bad it is, then - as we may deduce from Dr Lundestad's witty reply to me - for those delightfully likely non-starters: Pope John Paul 11, Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya, ex governor of Illinois, George Ryan, and Bono of U2. (All of whom are probably dying for a leak!).

As for Sathya Sai Baba, if there are any other humorists at the Nobel Institute, then any attempt by the likes of A.B. Vajpayee to put their fuzzy little boy up as a candidate would simply cause a delightful, if discreet, non-leaking, non-official official cackle ...!

Barry Pittard   Email: bpittard@beachaccess.com.au