I will close my comments on this thread by saying that Debian's acceptance of funds from NATO would prolly result in severe upheaval. Not JUST because of NATO's history of atrocities, but because its a non-inclusive political organizations which seeks to advance its member states thru a collusion of military power. An investigation into the requirements for membership make this rather obvious.
With regards to raising funds for this event, perhaps an international sponsorship pool would be suitable? Defray the costs to as many users and supports as possible. I understand the advantages of a single large meeting, but perhaps also attempting to facilitate the organization and execution of smaller, perhaps more frequent meetings with easier logistics would also be helpful. > As to the horrific circumstances in the Balkan states, I do not believe > that any sensible person would take sides. The activities on all sides > were appalling. Yes, but that does not mean we should not act responsbily and attempt to figure out what happened. We should not assume a position of aghast horror and shock lapsing into passivity at the atrocities that our governments perpetrated in our name. Claiming that all sides are equally responsibly does not serve the truth, but only calms our own guilty conscious. When bombs are dropped, it's prolly a good thing to try and figure out why, and "it's everyone's fault" is not really an answer we should accept. Ask the Roma. Sensible persons do indeed investigate these atrocities and attempt to unravel that which our governments may attempt to portray as undecipherable ethnic conflicts in hopes of covering up their own roles in their escalation. I urge you and others to investigate the history of the area, in particular the role of NATO and western nations in the breakup of Yugoslavia, the rise to power of Milosevic, and the escalation of the conflict at Rambuillet into a military operation against civilians. Also, those paying attention to the situation now, after CNN and MSNBC coverage has dropped it, may find the events very telling, like reading bones. > If Debian can turn some of NATOs funds to good purpose - promoting a vast > international project of cooperation - then this would be a great victory > for Peace. Do you think they would give us much more than what it costs them to buy a few thousand rounds of depleted uranium ammo? I think we can be fairly sure that any funds set aside for "peace promotion" are already accounted for and our reception of funds will make no real difference to the budget for their arsenal. One should not forget what a serial killer has done because he helps you carry in the groceries. I've already received another email suggestion that our use of funds form NATO would be a diversion of funds from their war chest. That's just a lame rationalization that is willingly naive about the budgeting practices of such large organizations. Accepting such funds would only legitamize NATO's lip-service to "peace" and to alienate many Debian Developers and users. PS: For the record, I am not a student of Aaron Sloman, but have helped him a bit with the Free Poplog release, contributed a few fixes, and talk with him via email on occasion. I never went to college and work professionally as a software developer, mostly with Free Software. Did you do google search or something to get that impression, or are my poitics that close to his? -- Craig Brozefsky <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Free Scheme/Lisp Software http://www.red-bean.com/~craig "riot shields. voodoo economics. its just business. cattle prods and the IMF." - Radiohead, OK Computer, Electioneering