Obama Set for Oslo Nobel Peace Price Ceremony

[Ab-Titchaz]

US President Barack Obama will collect his Nobel Peace Prize at a ceremony in Norway's capital, Oslo, shortly.
The accolade was awarded to Mr Obama in October for his "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoples".

At a news conference with Norway's PM, Mr Obama said he had no doubt there were other candidates more deserving.

The ceremony comes days after Mr Obama announced he was sending 30,000 extra US soldiers to the war in Afghanistan.

The US president signed the Nobel Prize book of previous laureates after arriving in Oslo with his wife, Michelle, on Thursday morning.

Amid high security throughout the city, he will deliver a speech, meet Norway's royal family, watch a procession and dine at a banquet

But there has been some criticism because he will not have lunch with the king and queen, and is staying in Norway only one day, even though Nobel ceremonies are usually held over three.

At a news conference with Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, Mr Obama said he and his wife wished they could stay in the country longer.
There was a mixed reaction when he was named as the winner of the prize for 2009.

Addressing this, Mr Obama told the news conference: "The goal is not to win a popularity contest or to get an award, even one as prestigious as the Nobel peace prize. The goal has been to advance America's interests.

"If I am successful in those tasks, then hopefully some of the criticism will subside, but that is not really my concern. If I am not successful, then all the praise and the awards in the world won't disguise that fact."

Critics have said it is inappropriate for the prize to go to the commander-in-chief of a country involved in conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

US officials said President Obama was aware of the "juxtaposition" of troop plans and the peace prize, and that he would refer to the wars in his acceptance speech.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Mr Obama "understands and again will also recognise that he doesn't belong in the same discussion as [Nelson] Mandela and Mother Teresa", previous Nobel Peace Prize winners.
Security is high in Oslo for the event and anti-war protesters have gathered outside city hall, where the ceremony will take place.

"We are protesting against him because he is going to have this prize and we don't think he is a man of peace," one protester, Anna Carraro, told AFP news agency.

The Nobel Prizes for chemistry, literature, medicine, physics and economics will also be presented, with each laureate receiving a diploma, a medal and 10m Krona ($1.4m; £865,000), which is shared by joint winners.

Coinciding with the Nobel ceremony, a statue of Mr Obama as a young boy was unveiled in a park in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.

The park is close to where the president lived between 1967 and 1971 and the statue depicts him as a 10-year-old wearing shorts and with a butterfly on his finger.

Central Jakarta Mayor Sylviana Murni said the statue was intended to inspire Indonesian children.

"There is a message through the young Obama statue that any child and anyone from any background can reach their dreams if they fight for it persistently," the Associated Press news agency quoted her as saying.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8405033.stm

 

[Nyani Ngabu]

Huyu jamaa hata haya hana. Ingekuwa mimi ningekataa hiyo tuzo....

 

[Kigogo]

kafanyaje na nyie mtoto wa mwenzenu acheni kumsema

 

[bona]

he does not deserve it and the timing which the secret draft in copenhagen resurface which america under obama have played part in drafting it cant make him anywhere close to get one! if i were obama out of shame i would refuse!

 

[Kibunango]

 

[Nyani Ngabu]

Weka na zile za waandamanaji waliokuwa wanapinga huyo Obama wenu kupewa tuzo ya amani ya nobeli (what a joke)

 

[MaxShimba]

Man of Honor Barack Obama.

 

[ngoshwe]

Obama defends US wars as he accepts peace prize


President Barack Obama entered the pantheon of Nobel Peace Prize winners Thursday with humble words, acknowledging his own few accomplishments while delivering a robust defense of war and promising to use the prestigious award to "reach for the world that ought to be."
A wartime president honored for peace, Obama became the first sitting U.S. president in 90 years and the third ever to win the prize _ some say prematurely. In this damp, chilly Nordic capital to pick it up, he and his wife, Michelle, whirled through a day filled with Nobel pomp and ceremony.
And yet Obama was staying here only about 24 hours and skipping the traditional second day of festivities. This miffed some in Norway but reflects a White House that sees little value in extra pictures of the president, his poll numbers dropping at home, taking an overseas victory lap while thousands of U.S. troops prepare to go off to war and millions of Americans remain jobless.

Just nine days after ordering 30,000 more U.S. troops into battle in Afghanistan, Obama delivered a Nobel acceptance speech that he saw as a treatise on war's use and prevention. He crafted much of the address himself and the scholarly remarks _ at about 4,000 words _ were nearly twice as long as his inaugural address.

In them, Obama refused to renounce war for his nation or under his leadership, saying defiantly that "I face the world as it is" and that he is obliged to protect and defend the United States.

"A nonviolent movement could not have halted Hitler's armies. Negotiations cannot convince al-Qaida's leaders to lay down their arms," Obama said. "To say that force is sometimes necessary is not a call to cynicism, it is a recognition of history."

The president laid out the circumstances where war is justified _ in self-defense, to come to the aid of an invaded nation and on humanitarian grounds, such as when civilians are slaughtered by their own government or a civil war threatens to engulf an entire region.
"

The belief that peace is desirable is rarely enough to achieve it," he said.
He also spoke bluntly of the cost of war, saying of the Afghanistan buildup he just ordered that "some will kill, some will be killed."
"No matter how justified, war promises human tragedy," he said.

But he also stressed the need to fight war according to "rules of conduct" that reject torture and other methods. And he emphasized the need to exhaust alternatives to violence, using diplomatic outreach and sanctions with teeth to confront nations such as Iran or North Korea that defy international demands to halt their nuclear programs or those such as Sudan, Congo or Burma that brutalize their citizens.
"Let us reach for the world that ought to be," Obama said. "We can understand that there will be war, and still strive for peace."
In awarding the prize to Obama, the Nobel panel cited his call for a world free of nuclear weapons, for a more engaged U.S. role in combating global warming, for his support of the United Nations and multilateral diplomacy and for broadly capturing the attention of the world and giving its people "hope."

But the Nobel committee made its announcement in October when he wasn't even nine months on the job, recognizing his aspirations more than his achievements.

Echoing the surprise that seemed the most common reaction to his win, Obama started his 36-minute speech by saying that others who have done more and suffered more may better deserve the honor.

"I am at the beginning, and not the end, of my labors on the world stage," the president said. "Compared to some of the giants of history who have received this prize ... my accomplishments are slight."

The list of Nobel peace laureates over the last 100 years includes transformative figures and giants of the world stage. They include heroes of the president, such as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela and others he has long admired, like George Marshall, who launched a postwar recovery plan for Europe.

Earlier, Obama had said that the criticism might recede if he advances some of his goals. But, he added, proving doubters wrong is "not really my concern."
"If I'm not successful, then all the praise in the world won't disguise that fact," he said.

The timing of the award ceremonies, coming so soon after Obama's Afghanistan announcement, lent inspiration to peace activists.

The president's motorcade arrived at Oslo's high-rise government complex for Obama's meeting with Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg as a few dozen anti-war protesters gathered behind wire fences nearby. Dressed in black hoods and waving banners, the demonstrators banged drums and chanted anti-war slogans. "The Afghan people are paying the price," some shouted.

Greenpeace and anti-war activists planned larger demonstrations later that were expected to draw several thousand people. Protesters have plastered posters around the city, featuring an Obama campaign poster altered with skepticism to say, "Change?"

The debate at home over his Afghanistan decision also followed the president here. He told reporters that that the July 2011 date he set for the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan to begin will not slip _ but that the pace of the full drawdown will be gradual and conditions-based.
"We're not going to see some sharp cliff, some precipitous drawdown," Obama said.

Obama's first stop in Oslo was the Norwegian Nobel Institute, where the Nobel committee meets to make its decisions. After signing the guest book, Obama told reporters he had penned thanks to the committee and noted the pictures of former winners filling the wall, many of whom gave "voice to the voiceless."

In the evening, Obama is expected to wave to a torchlight procession from his hotel balcony and stroll with Norwegian royalty to a dinner banquet. He will offer comments a second time there and cap his brisk jaunt to Europe.

The president and his wife, Michelle, arrived here in the morning, coming off Air Force One holding hands and smiling. Having left Washington Wednesday night, Obama was due back by midday Friday.

The Nobel honor comes with a $1.4 million prize. The White House says Obama will give that to charities but has not yet decided which ones.
__
Source: AP

 

[Ndahani]

That is US with their guided security priorites no matter what

 

[Kwame Nkrumah]

Oslo, Norway (CNN) -- President Obama accepted the Nobel Peace Prize Thursday by talking about war and the limits of non-violence.
But he also praised the peacemakers of the past, and said the world can and should still strive for peace.
"Let us reach for the world that ought to be," he told the 1,000-member audience at Oslo City Hall. "Clear-eyed, we can understand that there will be war, and still strive for peace."
The Nobel committee's choice of Obama as this year's laureate sparked controversy, in part because he is a president waging two wars abroad. Obama said force is sometimes necessary, but said that is simply "a recognition of history, the imperfections of man, and the limits of reason."
Read a transcript of Obama's acceptance speech
"Whatever mistakes we have made, the plain fact is this: The United States of America has helped underwrite global security for more than six decades with the blood of our citizens and the strength of our arms," he said. "The service of our men and women in uniform has promoted peace and prosperity from Germany to Korea, and enabled democracy to take hold in places like the Balkans."
Waging war is not a way of imposing the will of the United States on the world, he said, but a way of seeking a better future for its people.
"The instruments of war do have a role to play in preserving the peace," he said.
Preserving the peace in Oslo Thursday came with a price -- $60 million worth of security preparations. Norwegian police said they had more than 2,000 officers on the streets, along with snipers, canine patrols, and helicopters in the air, in the biggest security operation they have ever mounted for a single person.
Force can be justified on humanitarian grounds, Obama said, because inaction can tear at the world's conscience and lead to more costly intervention later.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/12/10/obama.peace.prize/index.html


My take: Wow !!!

 

[Ab-Titchaz]

https://www.jamiiforums.com/jamii-photos/46810-the-obamas-in-oslo-new-post.html