As you know we have recently been forced to suspend publication of
MID-EAST REALITIES.   We did so very reluctantly and with considerable
regret after trying for many months to find the financial support
needed to continue MER, just a few thousand dollars a month.

One of the additional "realities" about the Middle East that few wish
to openly and honestly discuss is that nearly all of the organizations
and institutes that deal publicly with Middle East affairs are
controlled and manipulated in one way or another by the sources of
funding they continually court or which helped establish them in the
first place.  And these sources of funding are, with very few
exceptions, tied into the U.S. government, organizations and persons
associated with the Israeli/Jewish lobby, or those working in tandem
or under-the-table with the various Arab "client-regimes".

The main reason we have so few organizations and media persons able
and willing to speak up knowledgeable and honestly about what is
happening in the Middle East, and especially about what is happening
in Washington about the Middle East, is this financial predicament.
If one allows oneself to be manipulated and twisted into conformity,
or at minimum to cut many corners, pull many punches, and refrain from
discussing many subjects, funds of various kinds are available.  If
one insists on being independent, honest, and forthright about what is
really happening in our world and in the U.S. capital -- and of course
these are the basic hallmarks of MER which explain our growing
following around the world -- the opposite is the case; and indeed all
kinds of pressures and rumors result to either bring about conformity
or push one under.

Now we all face this situation together.  We have established MER on
the Internet and the weekly half-hour TV program we'd like to also now
put on the Internet, making it possible for all of us come together
and to help all of us know and understand what is really going on --
in the region, and in Washington which increasingly dominates the
region.

Some of you can afford to contribute substantially to this unique and
vital effort, some less so.  Others of you we understand are just
getting by and not able to do so.  We want to keep making MER widely
available to all; we do not want to set up specific subscriptions and
access restrictions.  We want all who are concerned and interested to
be able to continue benefiting from MER -- as the many messages and
calls we keep receiving make so clear.  And if you have any doubts
just read for yourself at: http://www.MiddleEast.Org/commentsx.htm.

But to do these things we have to have the serious help and support of
those of you are able.  Please do not put off any longer doing your
part in this exceptional situation.

It is all of us collectively who in effect publish MER; and that is
why it is so uniquely insightful and valuable.  Not the oil companies
through their grants to such places as the Middle East Institute.  Not
the Arab regimes through their  many means of providing funds to
various Arab American and Muslim "client organizations", among them
the "Arab Network of America" on TV and Zogby's "Arab-American
Institute".  Not the Israel-oriented Jewish organizations that have
set up and infiltrated so many publications and media outlets and now
have their powerful "Washington Institute" constantly propagandizing
everyone, including most of the cooperating Arab regimes.  And not the
U.S. government which now has so many ways of providing funds and
support to so many groups, more and more indirectly and often
covertly, including the U.S Institute for Peace and the various think-
tanks scattered throughout Washington which rely in one way or another
on the Congress, the CIA, or the Pentagon for their support.

                                      WHAT CAN YOU DO?

At this time, since we have already laid the groundwork and set MER in
motion, your financial support is the key.  We need to raise at least
five thousand dollars by the end of the year to make it possible to
keep our web site alive (with all the prior articles and information
we have published to date) and to resume publishing MER.   We very
much want to resume publication of MER on a regular basis, often with
daily articles and expanded analysis and information of the uniquely
insightful kind we have become known for.

So for the next two weeks we will conduct our first intensive fund-
raising drive, at the end of which we will determine what we will be
able to do.  Please send your checks to MER at:

        MER
        POBox 18367
        Washington, D.C. 20036

The year ahead is going to be an exceedingly difficult and historic
one.  The forces of misinformation and disinformation are stronger
than ever and being provided with more funding and capabilities all
the time.  The U.S. and Israeli governments, and the cooperating Arab
"client regimes" are working harder and harder to support those who
will do their bidding, and to undermine those who will not.  In
general you know this depressing situation, and that's why you are
among the many thousands of MER readers all over the world.  Let's
make sure we continue at least to do something about this by at least
revealing what is going on with sophistication, expertise, and
forthrightness.

Indeed, what we really should do in the year ahead is not only resume
publishing of MER, but make MER much better known and useful by using
the unique advantages of today's Internet.

Meanwhile, for the time being, we will try to republish the best of
MER articles and editorials from the past -- especially since many of
you have just joined us in the past few months.

And we urge all of you who have not done so recently to visit our
unique web site which we will continue expanding and improving if your
financial support makes it possible for us to do so:
http://www.MiddleEast.Org.
 

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                  M I D - E A S T   R E A L I T I E S
    News, Information, & Analysis That Governments, Interest Groups,
    and the Corporate Media Don't Want You To Know from Independent
                 Middle East Experts Around the World.
____________________________________________________________________
      MID-EAST REALITIES - POBox 18367 - Washington, DC 20036
(202) 362-5266      Fax: (202) 362-6965     Email: MER@MiddleEast.Org