By ARTHUR I. CYR, Scripps Howard News Service

Warren Buffett has just closed the largest deal of his spectacular career with an agreement to purchase the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad for $26.3 billion. Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway already owned 23 percent of the railroad, and paid a 31 percent premium over the stock price to secure the rest.

What's in a name? Plenty, and the same goes for a nation's flag.

The national flag remains a potent emotional symbol, demonstrated this month by intense -- and underreported -- conflict among Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan. The flag flap has important bearing on international relations, especially U.S. foreign policy.

October is the scary month, and not just because of Halloween. During this month in 1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis crowded out most other news as Washington and Moscow sparred on the very edge of nuclear war.

The annual conference of the British Conservative Party, just held in Manchester England, bears directly on politics and foreign policy in the United States. Given the many problems afflicting Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the governing Labour Party, the Conservatives are the heavy favorites to win the general election, which must be held by next year.

President Barack Obama, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and administration associates deserve commendation for making the right call concerning deployment of anti-missile weapons in Europe. The Bush administration plan to place radar and missile installations in the Czech Republic and Poland has been canceled. Instead, the U.S.

High-level global financial policy gatherings grind on. On Sept. 4 and 5, finance ministers of the Group of 20 (G-20), the principal industrial economies of the world, met in London. Later this month, the heads of the same governments will meet in Pittsburgh.

Afghanistan developments are grim. On September 2, a Taliban suicide bomber killed the nation's deputy chief of intelligence, Abdullah Laghmani, and more than twenty others.

Regarding aggressive intelligence gathering, the Obama administration is now clearly at war -- with the Obama administration. Very soon after assuming office, President Obama opted not to pursue prosecution of intelligence professionals who may have gone beyond the law during the Bush administration.

Former President Kim Dae-jung of South Korea died this week at the age of 85. His extraordinary career demonstrates the triumph of discipline and determination over tremendous barriers. He also personifies the long-term value of tolerance and forgiveness.

The release of Euna Lee and Laura Ling, the two journalists held by North Korea, has been a highly emotional media moment. Beneath the headlines, however, the event reinforces important leverage for change in Pyongyang. North Korea's aging, inbred and isolated ruling clique confronts very extreme poverty, stagnation and global isolation.