2009 Nobel Peace Prize global level and global peace make him the appropriate recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize," said Siamak Hirai, a spokesman for Karzai. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the decision was ridiculous, saying, "The Nobel prize for peace? Obama should have won the 'Nobel Prize for escalating violence and killing civilians." Indonesia's, Masdar Mas'udi, deputy head of the Islamic organisation Nahdlatul Ulama, praised Obama's policy towards his country as confirmation of his worthiness as a Nobel laureate. "I think it's appropriate because he is the only American president who has reached out to us in peace," he said. "On the issues
2012 Nobel Peace Prize respondents agreed with the decision to award the European Union the prize, while 37% opposed it and a further 37% had no opinion. The director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute, Geir Lundestad described the results of the poll as "... more positive than he had expected" on the background of the "... negative attitude to the EU" in Norway. Lundestad stated that the award was not about Norwegian membership in the EU, but a "wider perspective". On 30 November 2012, Nobel Peace Prize winners Desmond Tutu, Mairead Maguire and Adolfo Pérez Esquivel publicly opposed the awarding of the prize to