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No death knell for the market

Good, solid planning can minimize discomfort during Roanoke's City Market renovations.

Let Iran continue its nuclear program

Paul Zweifel

Zweifel, of Radford, is a university distinguished professor emeritus of physics and nuclear engineering at Virginia Tech.

Although I have not worked in the weapons field for many years, I feel that my past experience there is enough to give me a reasonable idea of what is going on in Iran, vis-a-vis its nuclear programs. It is indeed possible that Iran might soon be able to construct a limited number of nuclear weapons (perhaps one a year beginning a few years in the future). But is this any cause for alarm? What could Iran hope to do with such a small number of fission (kiloton) weapons?

Read more.

Wednesday, we'll laud Virginia Tech for its management of an international resource management project that won a Nobel for one of its researchers, and applaud the university's success in winning a multimillion-dollar federal grant for the university's bioinformatics institute. Both are pointed reminders of the important role research has to play in the lives of ordinary people, and the wisdom of investing in it.

You may have heard about this on the radio on the way into work, like I did. The 2009 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to President Obama this morning.

We'll be discussing this at today's editorial board meeting, I'm sure. My initial reaction was: "Wha?"

A little premature, isn't it, guys? Obama's got noble goals and aspirations, to be sure, but give him a little time to put them into action and show some results before you actually give him the Nobel. Giving it to Obama so early in his administration only reinforces critics who see the prize committee as poilitically tainted. It devalues the prize, and does Obama no favors either.

That's my very initial reaction, anyway.

Update: We are writing an editorial for Monday in which we will call this award ridiculous. (editorial board)

In the name of humanity and justice

Glen Martin

Martin is a professor of philosophy and religious studies, chairman for the Program in Peace Studies and president of the RU Chapter American Association of University Professors at Radford University.

Sept. 27 was the final day of important meetings, with global implications, that The Roanoke Times failed to report to the people of Southwest Virginia. During the previous days Pittsburgh hosted meetings of representatives of the world's 20 largest economies. Leaders of the G-20 nations (formerly G-8) meet every year or two in consultation with banking and corporate elites to determine the economic fate of the world, including the fate of other the 173 nations that have no voice in these deliberations.

Read more.

Tuesday, we'll write about Sen. Jim Webb's private mission to Myanmar, where he met with the leader of the country's military regime and secured the release of an American it had sentenced last week to seven years in prison. It's unclear whether Webb gained any ground toward his larger objective, to advance democratic reforms by acting as a bridge between that country and the U.S. Critics fear his trip did more harm than good for the cause of democracy; but then, as Webb argues, years of sanctions have succeeded only in isolating Myanmar from the West and increasing its economic ties to China.

You almost have to feel sorry for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.  Will the Bill-induced headaches never end?

There she was, heading off on her first big trip to Africa. She's visiting nations with real problems and looking for ways America can help.  We've never had a very good approach to Africa, so her challenge was great.

Then, almost as she's landing for her first stop, her husband, the former president, lands in North Korea, meets with its leader, Kim Jong Il, and secures the release of two American journalists.

It sort of overshadows an Africa visit.  Africa, after all, is never particularly high in most Americans' consciousness, but North Korea? They've got nukes.

So it's little wonder that Hillary was a little touchy when a Congolese students asked her at a town hall meeting what her husband thought about a financial matter.

"My husband is not secretary of state, I am," an obviously annoyed Clinton said sharply. "If you want my opinion, I will tell you my opinion. I am not going to be channeling my husband."

The AP reports.

If these sworn affidavits are true, Blackwater's founder, Eric Prince "may have murdered or facilitated the murder of individuals who were cooperating with federal authorities investigating the company," according to The Nation.

The affidavits, part of a lawsuit against Blackwater brought by Iraqi civilians, allege that "Prince 'views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe,' and that Prince's companies 'encouraged and rewarded the destruction of Iraqi life.' "

One of the affidavits says:

To that end, Mr. Prince intentionally deployed to Iraq certain men who shared his vision of Christian supremacy, knowing and wanting these men to take every available opportunity to murder Iraqis. Many of these men used call signs based on the Knights of the Templar, the warriors who fought the Crusades.

Mr. Prince operated his companies in a manner that encouraged and rewarded the destruction of Iraqi life. For example, Mr. Prince's executives would openly speak about going over to Iraq to "lay Hajiis out on cardboard." Going to Iraq to shoot and kill Iraqis was viewed as a sport or game. Mr. Prince's employees openly and consistently used racist and derogatory terms for Iraqis and other Arabs, such as "ragheads" or "hajiis."

Like other commentators, I'm very unclear exactly what Rep. Eric Cantor meant when he told the Christians United for Israel conference that America needed a  "Judeo-Christian" foreign policy (somehow, I doubt he meant we need to learn to turn the other cheek; I'm pretty sure he wasn't advocating that America slaughter men, women and children, as suggested in Deuteronomy).

Anyway, here's the full quote by Cantor: "Reaching out to the Muslim world may help in creating an environment for peace in the Middle East, but we must insist as Americans that our policies be firmly grounded in the beliefs of the Judeo-Christian tradition upon which this country was founded." Can anyone else make sense of it?

Former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, the man who more than any other American became identified with the Vietnam War, died today. The New York Times has an excellent obit by Tim Weiner that is more than a retrospective on McNamara's life. It recalls an era that can provide context for this one. A taste:

"As early as April 1964, Senator Wayne Morse, Democrat of Oregon, called Vietnam 'McNamara’s War.' Mr. McNamara did not object. 'I am pleased to be identified with it,' he said, 'and do whatever I can to win it.'

"Half a million American soldiers went to war on his watch. More than 16,000 died; 42,000 more would fall in the seven years to come.

"The war became his personal nightmare. Nothing he did, none of the tools at his command — the power of American weapons, the forces of technology and logic or the strength of American soldiers — could stop the armies of North Vietnam. He concluded well before leaving the Pentagon that the war was futile, but he did not share that insight with the public until late in life."