[ Ссылка ]
OSLO, Norway - President Barack Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday in a stunning decision designed to encourage his initiatives to reduce nuclear arms, ease tensions with the Muslim world and stress diplomacy and cooperation rather than unilateralism.
"I am both surprised and deeply humbled," Obama said from the White House Friday morning.
He said he does not "view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments," but rather as a "call to action, a call for all nations to confront the challenges of the 21st century.
"I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many transformative figures that have been honored by this prize," he added.
Nobel observers were shocked by the unexpected choice so early in the Obama presidency, which began less than two weeks before the Feb. 1 nomination deadline.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Obama woke up to the news a little before 6 a.m. ET.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee decided not to inform Obama before the announcement because it didn't want to wake him up, committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland said.
"Waking up a president in the middle of the night, this isn't really something you do," Jagland said.
Later, Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said he had had a conversation with Obama and that the president will travel to Oslo to collect the award, due to be handed out on December 10, the anniversary of the 1896 death of the award's founder, Alfred Nobel.
"Obama said he looked forward to coming to Oslo to receive the prize," a statement from Stoltenberg's office said after the prime minister phoned Obama to congratulate him.
The Nobel Committee lauded the change in global mood wrought by Obama's calls for peace and cooperation but recognized initiatives that have yet to bear fruit: reducing the world stock of nuclear arms, easing American conflicts with Muslim nations and strengthening the U.S. role in combating climate change.
