BL—How Sensitive is cross-cultural psychology to the difference between capitalist and socialist societies in dealing with acculturation?
How incisive is cross-cultural psychology in perceiving the attempts of capitalist’s colonial and imperialistic tendencies to justify forcing people to move under the adverse conditions it creates? How perceptive is cross-cultural psychology to the fact that most people are not immigrants, but refugees or even slaves? How good is it in revealing how prominent it is that native people being invaded is more common than exceptional, with the plight of Palestinians being the worst case. How discerning is cross-cultural psychology to the class basis of acculturation? Is it conscious that the acculturation process will be easier for upper-middle class people and middle class acculturates than working class folks?

PE—In imperial systems such as we have become, people are defined by their ruling beast, and Americans are seen around the world as facsimiles of the vile animalcule that runs roughshod over our Congressional bordello and putrified Supreme Court, so that his infantile pratfalls are taken as ours along with his sordid crimes.

If the damage to what is left of our decaying nation were only a matter of his infantile tantrum follies it would be derided and ridiculed by an incredulous world but might be soon forgotten.

If limited to absurdities such as renaming the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Ontario, building a gilt White House ballroom, or a gigantic triumphal arch with no triumph, painting the Reflecting Pool, or renaming the Kennedy Center for himself, such jejune idiocies might be awkwardly explained as products of a diseased mind.

His real disasters, though, are likely irreversible, and perhaps fatal to the nation.

GG—Naza is directed by Israeli filmmakers Yuval Abrahamand Rachel Szor. It features anonymous interviews with IDF soldiers who confess to committing various war crimes during the conflict, driven by their own experiences with guilt and PTSD.

The Controversy: Despite receiving rave reviews, the film has faced sharp criticism from some pro-Palestinian activists. Critics, such as Ali Abunimahand Muhammad Shahada, argue that the film centers Israeli perspectives instead of Palestinian voices and question the morality of giving a platform to those who perpetrated the violence.
Greenwald acknowledges the frustration that Palestinian testimonies are often dismissed while Israeli admissions are treated as more credible. However, he argues that in the current political climate, such admissions from IDF soldiers serve as a powerful tool to change minds and build evidence against genocide deniers, regardless of the inherent biases involved.

DW—Marandi is clear that Washington’s course is likely to end in disaster for all parties concerned, not merely in the Middle East, with enormous destruction in the region, as Iran retaliates for the US/Israeli bloc’s assaults, but globally, as the world economy goes into a tailspin of inflation and networked crises, due to critical scarcities of energy, especially diesel. “If Trump attacks Iran’s infrastructure (esp. its electricity networks), we enter the final phase, warns Marandi, as Iran is liable to wipe out the Gulf statelets’ desalination plants and other essential resources causing an unsustainable situation throughout the region.

TGP—Pape is right that this would be absolutely catastrophic for Iran—and would lead to drastic blowback. We’ve heard this talk before, of course, and it didn’t come to pass. Why not? Probably because it couldn’t be done effectively without extensive air operations within Iranian airspace—not simply via standoff munitions. Yes, standoff munitions could “accomplish” a lot of destruction, but—like use of a tactical nuke—it would lead to massive blowback. If it had been practical before, why wasn’t it done? That’s the question John Mearsheimer keeps asking: If there were a path to victory, why wait until after the midterms, over a month from now, rather than doing it now?

CCH—According to Paulson, the only lesson one could confidently take from the 2008 crash was that the world had not undergone sufficient deregulation. As Goldman Sachs remarked themselves, the era of deregulation opened the doors to the era of globalisation. Without the former one cannot have the latter.

On November 20, 2008, during remarks at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Henry Paulson said,

“We are working through a severe financial crisis caused by many factors, including government inaction and mistaken actions, outdated U.S. and global financial regulatory systems, and by the excessive risk-taking of financial institutions. This combination of factors led to a critical stage this fall when the entire U.S. financial system was at risk. This should never happen again. The United States must lead global financial reform efforts, and we must start by getting our own house in order.”[66]