[The big chief in Washington DC, The Magic Boy, The US President Barrack Hussein] Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize to mixed reviews
OSLO, Oct 9 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for giving the world "hope for a better future" and striving for nuclear disarmament, in a surprise award that drew both warm praise and sharp criticism.
The decision to bestow one of the world's top accolades on a president less than nine months into his first term, who has yet to score a major foreign policy success, was greeted with gasps of astonishment from journalists at the announcement in Oslo.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee praised Obama for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples". But critics -- especially in parts of the Arab and Muslim world -- called its decision premature.
Obama's press secretary woke him with the news before dawn and the president felt "humbled" by the award, a senior administration official said.
When told in an email from Reuters that many people around the world were stunned by the announcement, Obama's senior adviser, David Axelrod, responded: "As are we."
The first African-American to hold his country's highest office, Obama, 48, has called for disarmament and worked to restart the stalled Middle East peace process since taking office in January.
"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 committee said in a citation.
While the decision won praise from statesmen like Nelson Mandela and Mikhail Gorbachev, both former Nobel laureates, it was also attacked in some quarters as hasty and undeserved.
The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip and opposes a peace treaty with Israel, said the award was premature at best.
"Obama has a long way to go still and lots of work to do before he can deserve a reward," said Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri. "Obama only made promises and did not contribute any substance to world peace. And he has not done anything to ensure justice for the sake of Arab and Muslim causes."
"EMBARRASSING JOKE"
Issam al-Khazraji, a day labourer in Baghdad, said: "He doesn't deserve this prize. All these problems -- Iraq, Afghanistan -- have not been solved...The man of 'change' hasn't changed anything yet."
Liaqat Baluch, a senior leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami, a conservative religious party in Pakistan, called the award an embarrassing "joke".
But the chief Palestinian peace negotiator, Saeb Erekat, welcomed it and expressed hope that Obama "will be able to achieve peace in the Middle East".
Nobel Committee Chairman Thorbjoern Jagland rejected suggestions from journalists that Obama was getting the prize too early, saying it recognised what he had already done over the past year.
"We hope this can contribute a little bit to enhance what he is trying to do," he told a news conference.
The committee said it attached "special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons", saying he had "created a new climate in international politics".
Without naming Obama's predecessor George W. Bush, it highlighted the differences in America's engagement with the rest of the world since the change of administration in January.
"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," it said, and the United States was playing a more constructive role in tackling climate change.
Obama laid out his vision on eliminating nuclear arms in a speech in Prague in April. But he was not the first American president to set that goal, and acknowledged it might not be reached in his lifetime.
He is negotiating arms cuts with Russia, and last month dropped plans to base elements of a U.S. anti-missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic. Moscow had seen the scheme as a threat, despite U.S. assurances it was directed against Iran.
On other pressing issues, Obama is deliberating whether to send more troops to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan, and is still searching for breakthroughs on Iran's disputed nuclear programme and on Middle East peace.
Israel's foreign minister said on Thursday there was no chance of a peace deal for many years. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters: "The Nobel prize for peace? Obama should have won 'the Nobel Prize for escalating violence and killing civilians'."
At home, Obama's popularity is flagging under the pressure of rising unemployment and a divisive, sometimes bitter debate over his healthcare reform plans.
Abroad, he is still widely seen around the world as an inspirational figure.
Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who had been tipped as a favourite for the prize, told Reuters that Obama was a deserving candidate and an "extraordinary example".
Obama's uncle Said Obama told Reuters by telephone from the president's ancestral village of Kogelo in western Kenya: "It is humbling for us as a family and we share in Barack's honour... we congratulate him."
Obama is the third senior U.S. Democrat to win the prize this decade after former Vice President Al Gore won in 2007 along with the U.N. climate panel and Jimmy Carter in 2002.
The prize worth 10 million Swedish crowns ($1.4 million) will be handed over in Oslo on Dec. 10.
Obama embodies ‘spirit of dialogue’: UN chief
UNITED NATONS: UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Friday congratulated President Obama on winning the Nobel Peace Prize, saying he embodies “the new spirit of dialogue and engagement” in tackling world issues. “The Secretary General wholeheartedly congratulates US President Barack Obama on winning the Nobel Peace Prize,” a United Nations statement said. “President Obama embodies the new spirit of dialogue and engagement on the world’s biggest problems: climate change, nuclear disarmament and a wide range of peace and security challenges,” it added.
Republican chief says Obama win ‘unfortunate’
WASHINGTON: The head of the US Republican Party on Friday said it was “unfortunate” that President Barack Obama had won the Nobel Peace Prize, saying he has celebrity status but no “real achievements.” “The real question Americans are asking is, ‘What has President Obama actually accomplished?’” RNC Chairman Michael Steele said in a statement. “It is unfortunate that the president’s star power has outshined tireless advocates who have made real achievements working towards peace and human rights,” Steele said. “One thing is certain - President Obama won’t be receiving any awards from Americans for job creation, fiscal responsibility, or backing up rhetoric with concrete action.”
Reuters. Published 09 Oct 2009
With two little words, Obama thrilled the Muslim World
With two little words, Barack Hussein Obama thrilled the Muslim world.
“Salaam aleikum,” he said, offering the traditional Arabic greeting “Peace be upon you” at the start of his Cairo speech last year.
The address of the first American president with Muslim roots was a bravura attempt to leech out the poison between the Islamic and Western worlds, and revive the moribund Middle East peace talks. But now, many disillusioned Muslims are echoing the all-talk, no-action refrain first popularized by the woman who became secretary of state.
“He said all the right words in his speech,” said Prince Saud al-Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister. “But the implementation took traditional roads.”
Maureen Dowd, The New York Times, Published: March 6, 2010
What will Gates & Bloomberg be doing to fight tobacco epidemic
Washington - New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates announced that they would be joining forces against the global tobacco epidemic, but what will be done to actually fight it?
Bill Gates and Michael Bloomberg have pledged nearly $500 million to help fight the global tobacco epidemic.
They are not simply throwing money around though, as there is a definite plane in place to what to do about tobacco problems around the world.
According to the World Health Organization, over 5 million people are killed by tobacco each and every year, the hope is they can cut down on that number.
The money put forth by Gates and Bloomberg will be going towards helping reduce tobacco use in developing countries, with locations such as India and China getting the most attention.
This is not new territory for Bill Gates, as he has donated over $2 billion to AIDS programs around the world, as well as over $1 billion to fight malaria.
The new campaign, called Mpower, combines the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use, along with the World Lung Foundation, WHO, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, CDC, and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
The campaign will push for bans on cigarette smoking in public places, among other things.
dbTechno July 25, 2008
Gordon Brown and Iraq: Every answer bar the big one
……In short, Mr Brown had an answer for all questions except the one that really mattered. Why on earth did someone so historically and politically aware, so proud of his sense of right and wrong, so sensitive to the government's standing and so sceptical about Mr Blair's leadership not take a stand against the war? Everyone in British politics in 2003 knew that if Mr Brown had opposed the Iraq war it would not have happened. Yesterday was never going to be the defining Iraq moment for Mr Brown. That moment was in March 2003 and he flunked it.
Guardian Saturday 6 March 2010
Circles within Circles around the taliban
……...Karzai may outline a five-year reconciliation plan. Evidently, the London conference will only set the ball rolling in an engrossing game that promises to stretch to the final lap of Obama's second term, should he get that far. Yardsticks of success and failure do not apply to a cliffhanger. Brown may be the only winner at the present stage.
Asia Times January 28 2010
David Cameron: We will offer the radical new direction the country is crying out for
……… So this week in Manchester you will see that far from playing it safe, the Conservative Party has a radical agenda for returning power and responsibility to people. It will mean massive change in the way we run this country, how we live our lives, and what we expect from government and each other. In the words of Martin Luther King, "when you're right, you can't be too radical"
Telegraph Published: 7:00AM BST 04 Oct 2009
