Obama wins 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

US President Barack Obama has been awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. 

The Nobel Committee said he won it for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoples".

The committee highlighted Mr Obama's efforts to support international bodies and promote nuclear disarmament.

Mr Obama's spokesman said the president was "humbled" to have won the prize. He said he woke Mr Obama up when he called with the news early on Friday.

There were a record 205 nominations for this year's peace prize. Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Chinese dissident Hu Jia had been among the favourites.

The laureate – chosen by a five-member committee – wins a gold medal, a diploma and 10m Swedish kronor ($1.4m).

"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," the Norwegian committee said in a statement.

"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."

Asked why the prize had been awarded to Mr Obama less than a year after he took office, Nobel Committee head Thorbjoern Jagland said: "It was because we would like to support what he is trying to achieve".

"It is a clear signal that we want to advocate the same as he has done," he said.

He specifically mentioned Mr Obama's work to strengthen international institutions and work towards a world free of nuclear arms.

'New climate'

Since taking office in January, President Obama has pursued an ambitious international agenda including a push for peace in the Middle East and negotiations over Iran's nuclear programme.

But critics say he has failed to make breakthroughs. Domestically, Mr Obama has been working to tackle an economic crisis and win support for healthcare reform.

Some said they saw the prize as a way of encouraging the US leader early in his presidency.

"It is an award that speaks to the promise of President Obama's message of hope," said Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, a former winner.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the award confirmed "America's return to the hearts of the people of the world".

The statement from the Nobel Committee said Mr Obama had "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," it said.

The committee added that the US was now playing a more constructive role in meeting "the great climatic challenges" facing the world, and that democracy and human rights would be strengthened.

Mr Obama is the first US president to win the prize since former US President Jimmy Carter in 2002. Former vice-president Al Gore shared the prize in 2007.<!-S qboxflr-> HAVE YOUR SAY <!-S qbox->

Among earlier US leaders, Theodore Roosevelt won the prize in 1906 and Woodrow Wilson won it in 1919.

The Nobel prize was invented by the Swedish industrialist and inventor of dynamite Alfred Nobel, and was first awarded in 1901.

He designated the parliament in Norway, which at the time was united with Sweden, to elect the peace prize committee. Swedish academies are responsible for other prizes.

The prize-giving ceremony for the peace award is due to take place on 10 December in the Norwegian capital, Oslo.

Mr. Pmosh He totally deserves the prize.

1. Can you that prove? What had Obama  did for piece in the World?

I gues, he deserve not this price. That is unjust!!! And you wrote the bullshit! Fuck you!

here are some of the nominees who didn't get the award:

• Chinese Human Rights Activist Hu Jia – imprisoned for campaigning for human rights in the PRC, not as worthy as Barack Hussein Obama.
• Wei Jingsheng, who spent 17 years in Chinese prisons for urging reforms of China's communist system. —not as worthy as Barack Hussein Obama. (Not to mention the symbolic value of awarding a Chinese dissident on the 20th Anniversary of the Tianenmen Square Massacre.)
• Greg Mortenson, founder of the Central Asia Institute has built nearly 80 schools, especially for girls, in remote areas of northern Pakistan and Afghanistan over the past 15 years – not as worthy as Barack Hussein Obama.
• Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad, a philosophy professor in Jordan who risks his life by advocating interfaith dialogue between Jews and Muslims, also not as worthy as Barack Hussein Obama.
• Afghan human rights activist Sima Samar. She currently leads the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission and serves as the U.N. special envoy to Darfur and is apparently also not as worthy as Barack Hussein Obama.

Who’s nxt 2 win ths prize?!.....i wndr ,who it is..-Queen Elezabeth….??or may b Osama Bin Laden(4 being so quiet n peaceful 4 soooo lng)

Maybe the members of the committee 2009 are very special…all others German literature Nobel prizes had been well known in Germany before the prize….

but who is Herta Müller who won the literature nobel prize 2009 i guess only insider know  her.

this prize has less money and sure more honor…is called the alternative nobel prize http://www.rightlivelihood.org/

The Right Livelihood Award

2009 Right Livelihood Awards: Wake-up calls to secure our common future

The Right Livelihood Award Jury gave the following motivation for its choice of laureates:

"Despite the scientific warnings about the imminent threat and disastrous impacts of climate change and despite our knowledge about solutions, the global response to this crisis is still painfully slow and largely inadequate. At the same time, the threat from nuclear weapons has by no means diminished, and the treatable diseases of poverty shame our common humanity."

"The 2009 Right Livelihood Award Recipients demonstrate concretely what has to be done in order to tackle climate change, rid the world of nuclear weapons, and provide crucial medical treatment to the poor and marginalised."

The 2009 Right Livelihood Awards go to four recipients: David Suzuki (Honorary Award, Canada) "for his lifetime advocacy of the socially responsible use of science, and for his massive contribution to raising awareness about the perils of climate change and building public support for policies to address it". René Ngongo (Democratic Republic of Congo) is honoured "for his courage in confronting the forces that are destroying the Congo's rainforests and building political support for their conservation and sustainable use". Alyn Ware (New Zealand) is recognised "for his effective and creative advocacy and initiatives over two decades to further peace education and to rid the world of nuclear weapons". Catherine Hamlin (Ethiopia) is awarded "for her fifty years dedicated to treating obstetric fistula patients, thereby restoring the health, hope and dignity of thousands of Africa's poorest women".

@arabhamid:

The word 'sitting president' implies that the Presidents were still in power when they received their prize.

The others may have received theirs after their terms were up.

I'm more surprised than impressed by Nobel Peace Prize for USA President Barack Obama. He has good intentions, he is eloquent, he inspires hope for a more peaceful world, but just wondering if Nobel Peace Prize should be given based on solid accomplishments or based on high exuberant hopes?

Who's next? Hugo Chavez?

He even couldn't finish at least one of the two wars of the USA. He promised to armenians in the USA that he was going to recognize the genocide if armenian voted him, but oops, he forgot!

"Only one other sitting president of the US had been awarded the prize before Obama – Woodrow Wilson in 1919. "

Sorry my friend to tell you that you have to check your information again : 

there were thre presidents, and Obama is the fourth.

Okay, I was half wrong  ;)   I forgot about Roosevelt, but Carter was not in office and I did say sitting presidents.

I think the point is still quite valid, that this award has not at all benn somehow dominated by American presidents.

Santiago, Obama hasn't kept most of his promises.