For Neda, for Aung San Suu Kyi, for the American Soldier

To build on Aaron’s post, the most important — and resonant — portion of the president’s remarks on winning the Nobel Peace Prize came when he said who he shared it with.

This award must be shared with everyone who strives for justice and dignity — for the young woman who marches silently in the streets on behalf of her right to be heard even in the face of beatings and bullets; for the leader imprisoned in her own home because she refuses to abandon her commitment to democracy; for the soldier who sacrificed through tour after tour of duty on behalf of someone half a world away; and for all those men and women across the world who sacrifice their safety and their freedom and sometime their lives for the cause of peace.

That has always been the cause of America.  That’s why the world has always looked to America.  And that’s why I believe America will continue to lead.

I don’t think it’s a stretch to say Obama was referencing Neda Agha Soltan, the martyr of the Iranian dissident movement; Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the Burmese democracy movement; and the American soldier. At a forum like this, the remarks are sure to be clearly understood in Iran and Burma.