This prize has a price
Does Obama deserve the Nobel Peace Prize?
Barack Obama has been awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize for his "extraordinary" diplomatic efforts. But after less than a year in office does the US president deserve the award? Is the decision a clever political move by the Nobel committee? Will it help or hinder Obama's presidency?
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Barack Obama, the US president, has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009, less than a year after taking office. The announcement was made on Friday in Oslo, the Norwegian capital, recognising Obama's attempts to foster international peace and create a world without nuclear weapons. A White House official said the US president felt "humbled" by the award. The Nobel Committee said that Obama had made "extraordinary efforts in international diplomacy and co-operation between peoples".
Obama, 48, wins the award while still being the commander-in-chief of US-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. "Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future," Thorbjoern Jagland, the head of the Nobel committee, said. "His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population. "Obama has as president created a new climate in international politics. "Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play." Surprise choice The prize is worth $1.4m, which will be handed over on December 10. The only US presidents to have won the award while in office were Theodore Roosevelt in 1906 and Woodrow Wilson in 1919. Kristian Berg Harpviken, from the International Peace Research Institute, told Al Jazeera: "I was very surprised ... On the other hand what I did expect this year was a daring prize. "I mean by daring is a prize that went to somebody who is not only rewarded for past achievements but who actually stands in the midst of a historical engagement. "In other words, I was expecting the committee to want to use the political weight of the prize to make a difference in the world. To award it to somebody who could take that political capital and run with it." Harpviken said that Obama is yet to achieve any of his major objectives on the global stage but added "what Obama has done is to give a breath of fresh air to international diplomacy and to multilateral collaboration." "He has done that but he has yet to prove that he can deliver. And on many of the concrete issues where he has made tall commitments and has high ambitions it is clear that the wind is not blowing his way and that it is going to be very difficult." Taliban criticism Governments and world players began reacting to the announcement of the award on Friday.
However, Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, congratulated Obama, calling the announcement "appropriate". An aide to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, said the award should prompt Obama to begin to end injustice in the world. "We hope that this gives him the incentive to walk in the path of bringing justice to the world order," Ali Akbar Javanfekr, Ahmadinejad's media aide, said. "We are not upset and we hope that by receiving this prize he will start taking practical steps to remove injustice in the world." Mohamed ElBaradei, the International Atomic Agency nuclear watchdog chief, said that he was "absolutely delighted" that Obama had won. "In less than a year in office, he has transformed the way we look at ourselves and the world we live in and rekindled hope for a world at peace with itself," he said in a statement. "I cannot think of anyone today more deserving of this honour." | ||||||||
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Skynews
Obama 'Humbled' To Win Nobel Peace Prize
1:32pm UK, Friday October 09, 2009
Barack Obama has said he is "humbled" after being announced as a surprise winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.
Obama has called for a reduction in the world's stockpile of nuclear weapons
The Norwegian Nobel Committee selecting him for the honour despite the US president being in office for less than a year.
The actual announcement in Oslo even drew audible gasps from some onlookers.
The committee praised Obama's "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples".
Obama has called for disarmament and worked to restart the stalled Middle East peace process since taking office in January.
The committee said: "Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future.
Sky's foreign affairs editor Tim MarshallThere will be people who will say this is a marvellous, inspired, award. But next year let's give it to Miss World
"His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population."
The committee said it attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work towards a world without nuclear weapons.
The choice makes Obama the third sitting US president to win the peace prize and his administration officials said he was "humbled".
While his name had been mentioned in speculation before the award, many Nobel watchers believed it was too early to reward him.
Karzai: Obama 'appropriate' winner
The Taliban condemned the decision, saying Obama had "not taken a single step towards peace in Afghanistan".
Although Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai said Obama was the "appropriate" person to win the prize.
Sky's foreign affairs editor Tim Marshall said: "There will be people who will say this is a marvellous, inspired, award.
"But next year let's give it to Miss World. Every year Miss World comes on and says I want world peace and the world free of nuclear weapons. It's a hope, an aspiration.
"The deadline for nominations for the peace prize was February 1, so someone nominated the President of America for his achievements 11 days into his presidency.
Barroso: 'Safer world'
"This is a Nobel Peace Prize for not being George Bush. And I think it has been devalued."
Nonetheless, European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said it would encourage people hoping to build a safer world.
And the UN's nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei said he was "absolutely delighted".
Sky's Middle East correspondent Dominic Waghorn said there was a sense of disbelief among the people he had spoken to about the award.
"Some have said you shouldn't win awards for trying," he explained.
"He hasn't achieved anything yet, at least in the Middle East, which is central to his philosophy of trying to bring America and the Muslim world back together.
"He has tried but a lot of people here believe he's made matters worse."
The prize, worth $1.4m (£880,000), will be handed over in Oslo on December 10.
Sky NEWS READERS VIEW
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exactly wot haz obama achieved that he got the noble peace prize for,all that he has done is cause more tension in the east between pakistan and afghanistan where innocent lives are lost daily as they are trying to control a situation that is out of control,and will not get better by sending in more troops.he is all talk and no action,i feel that it should have gone to someone more worthy of this prize,not to someone that has jus come on the scene
Posted By :SHAHIDA BEGUM -
Why would you ask the Taliban for their reaction on who won the Nobel Peace prize?! I find that utterly perplexing. Why don't you ask former winners, who's opinions would be much more valid. As yet, Obama has not initiated one process which has saved even one life. I agree that Morgan Tsvangirai is more deserving.
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Barack Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize
Published 09 October 2009 New Statesman
US president awarded prize after just nine months in office
U.S. President Barack Obama has won 2009's Nobel Peace Prize after just nine months in office, it has been announced.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded Obama the prize "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between people".
The committee commended his vision for a world without nuclear weapons, saying: "The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations."
Obama - America's first black president - was elected last December, assuming office on 20 January, succeeding George W Bush. Nominations for the prize closed less than two weeks later, on 1 February.
Although it has been less than a year since he took office, the committee said that Obama had created a new climate in international politics, returning the US to multilateral diplomacy.
The citation said: "Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations.
"Thanks to Obama's initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened."
There were a record 205 nominations for the peace prize this year, including Zimbabwean prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai, Colombian senator Piedad Cordoba, Chinese dissident Hu Jia, French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt and Afghan women's rights activist Simi Samar.
The citation continued: "Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future."
In his 1895 will, Alfred Nobel stipulated that the peace prize should go "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations and the abolition or reduction of standing armies and the formation and spreading of peace congresses."
This has moved beyond peace mediation, to include work against poverty, disease, and climate change. The committee has famously made symbolic gestures intended to influence the world agenda. In the wake of the 1989 Tiananmen massacre, the Dalai Lama was awarded the prize