Don't make travesty of Nobel Peace Prize

US Republican Senator Marco Rubio and Representative Chris Smith, the respective chair and co-chair of the US Congressional-Executive Commission on China, have announced that they would support leaders of the 2014"Umbrella Movement" in Hong Kong Joshua Wong, Nathan Law, and Alex Chow for this year's Nobel Peace Prize. The commission is an independent agency with a mandate from Congress to monitor human rights in China.

There is nothing wrong with nominating people from another part of the world for a prize intended to reward global efforts for peace. The late South African president Nelson Mandela was a fine example, having attracted worldwide admiration for his role in bringing about a peaceful transition to non-racial democracy in his country.

But the leaders of the "Occupy" movement in Hong Kong in 2014 were no Nelson Mandela. They risked very little - only short prison sentences and even those were widely disputed - and their actions were clearly counter-productive. Hong Kong could have had a chief executive elected by universal suffrage now if it hadn't been for the 2014 turmoil. How has this contributed to peace?