Where We Are

NATO SECRETARY GENERAL ANDERS FOGH RASMUSSEN
I warmly congratulate President Obama on winning the Nobel Peace Prize. President Obama has made extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoples.
He has also demonstrated his strong commitment to help build peace and defend fundamental human rights, including through the atlantic alliance. This honour is well deserved.

FRENCH PRESIDENT NICOLAS SARKOZY
It confirms, finally, America's return to the hearts of the people of the world... you can count on my resolute support and that of France.

SOUHAYR BELHASSEN, PRESIDENT OF INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
Awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to Obama is a way of encouraging him to not renege on the universal principles that he has championed.

ALI AKABR JAVANFEKR, AIDE TO IRANIAN PRESIDENT MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD
We hope that this gives him the incentive to walk in the path of bringing justice to the world order.
We are not upset and we hope that by receiving this prize he will start taking practical steps to remove injustice in the world.

SIAMAK HIRAI, SPOKESMAN FOR AFGHAN PRESIDENT HAMID KARZAI
We congratulate Obama for winning the Nobel. His hard work and his new vision on global relations, his will and efforts for creating friendly and good relations at global level and global peace make him the appropriate recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.

MIKHAIL GORBACHEV, FORMER SOVIET LEADER AND NOBEL PRIZE WINNER
I am happy. What Obama did during his presidency is a big signal, he gave hope. In these hard times, people who are capable of taking responsibility, who have a vision, commitment and political will should be supported.

JAN OBERG, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE TRANSNATIONAL FOUNDATION FOR PEACE AND FUTURE RESEARCH
I am concerned at the drift of the prize that is invariably going to politicians who have been, or who are still, involved in warfare.
Obama has not left Iraq, he has stepped it up in Afghanistan. It is somewhat paradoxical to give it to a president who presides over the largest military arsenal in world history.

MOHAMED ELBARADEI, HEAD OF THE INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY
There is nobody today in my view who is more deserving of that peace prize than Barack Obama. In less than a year he brought a radical change in the way we look at ourselves, in the way we look at our world. He is restoring the basic core values that every one of us should live by - dialogue, respect, democracy, due process, human rights, a security system that does not depend on nuclear weapons. His dedication to these values rekindles hope that, finally, we could have a world at peace with itself.

TALIBAN SPOKESMAN ZABIHULLAH MUJAHID
We have seen no change in his strategy for peace. He has done nothing for peace in Afghanistan. He has not taken a single step for peace in Afghanistan or to make this country stable.
We condemn the award of the Nobel Peace Prize for Obama. We condemn the institute's awarding him the peace prize. We condemn this year's peace prize as unjust.

ANGELA MERKEL, GERMAN CHANCELLOR
I would like to congratulate President Obama on the award of the Nobel Peace Prize. In a short time he has established a new tone, creating a willingness for dialogue and I think we all should support him to make peace in this world possible. There is a lot do but a window of opportunity has been opened. His advocacy of a world free of nuclear arms is an aim we all need to make real in the next few years.

JODY WILLIAMS, FORMER NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WINNER FOR CAMPAIGN TO BAN LANDMINES
I think that it is kind of foolish to think that the Nobel Prize isn't politicised - it's not a humanitarian prize, it's a prize in recognition of change in the world to contribute to peace, sometimes its a recognitions of visions for peace. He is facing huge contradictions as well - he is going to be sending 40,000 new American troops into Afghanistan just as he receives the Nobel Peace Prize? I think that is a contradiction that needs to be seriously looked at.

YUKIO HATOYAMA, JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER
I am really pleased. I want to congratulate him from my heart. I've seen the world changing since President Obama took office. It was outstanding when he made the speech in Prague calling for a nuclear-free world.

KHALED AL-BATSH, AN ISLAMIC JIHAD LEADER
Obama's winning the peace prize shows these prizes are political, not governed by the principles of credibility, values and morals.
Why should Obama be given a peace prize while his country owns the largest nuclear arsenal on Earth and his soldiers continue to shed innocent blood in Iraq and Afghanistan?

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER
You have already inspired so many people around the world, and I know that this award also expresses the hope that your presidency will usher in a new era of peace and reconciliation. Nowhere is such a peace needed more than in the Middle East, a region that has been long marked by terror and bloodshed.
I look forward to working closely with you in the years ahead to advance peace and to give hope to the peoples of our region who deserve to live in peace, security and dignity.

SOUTH AFRICAN ARCHBISHOP DESMOND TUTU
He's not even finished a year in his first term of office of a relatively young president. It's an award that anticipates an even greater contribution towards making our world a safer place for all.

This is our award.

The world community is thanking the American People for asserting, last November, that we once again wish to be a responsible member of the Global Village.

We need to remember that.

And we need to keep reminding him about it too.