It’s hard enough to interest outsiders in Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe on a cold and dreary news day. On days when people are excited over whether to jump off the fiscal cliff or climb back upwards via a fraying rope, getting their attention almost requires hypnosis by the writer. So I’m grateful to the Wall Street Journal for running my op-ed on the crisis afflicticting RFERL (and in particular its Russian service, Radio Liberty) on Monday and to my Corner colleague, Kathryn Lopez, for linking to it. That said, you ought to be interested in the topic because U.S. international broadcasting will be an increasingly important arm of American influence in the world as Washington’s power to intervene militarily, diplomatically, or economically gradually shrinks. It’s relatively cheap–less than one billion dollars funds seven broadcasting “entities.” It’s variable in its impact: some stations assist revolutions, others register lightly in the public mind. But it is potentially