November 29, 2010

Bombing Iran, Part 2

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David Frum asks a question (in a series of 140-character chunks):

What do we learn from Wikileaks re Iran?

1) Many more govts than you might think back a US military strike.

2) It’s now public knowledge that Iran and North Korea are exchanging deadly military technology.

3) Whole world can see that US has gone every extra mile to reach a negotiated outcome with Iran

4) Nevertheless Iran has pursued nuclear ambitions all-out.

Seems to me the combined effect of this information would be to make US military action more politically acceptable….Both inside US and outside.

Discuss.

Also for discussion: all governments have a legitimate need for a certain amount of secrecy. In particular, embassy officials need to be able to report candidly to their superiors about what’s going on in their sphere of responsibility. So what’s the most likely consequence of the WikiLeaks document dump? That governments around the world realize the error of their ways and become more open about their dealings with the rest of the world? Or that governments around the world — and in particular the United States government — clamp down hard on classified information and restrict its distribution even more than they have in the past?

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

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And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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