Parallax Views w/ J.G. Michael

On this edition of Parallax Views, Richard Silverstein of the Tikun Olam blog returns to discuss the latest eruptions of violence in Israel/Palestine starting with the massacre in the Palestinian Jenin refugee and then the deadly attack on Israelis outside a Synagogue in East Jerusalem shortly thereafter. In addition to this, we talk about the anti-government protests in Israel against Netanyahu's government and the fears within Israel over Netanyahu's judicial reforms which some are arguing would be a fascistic judicial coup by the Israeli far-right. Moreover, Richard and I discuss President Joe Biden and U.S. foreign policy with regards to Israel and specifically Secretary of State Antony Blinken visit to Israel and meeting with the deeply dysfunctional and corrupt Palestinian Authority's President Mahmoud Abbas. Additionally Richard and I will delve into Netanyahu's cozying up with America's evangelical Christian right, background on Richard's own evolution of thought in regards to Israel/Palestine, Israeli messianism and the end times, the potential for a Third Intifada to erupt, the Israeli economy and big tech start-up companies in Israel, the former Shin Bet (domestic Israeli intelligence chief) calling for a General Strike in Israel, Rabbi Meier Kahane and the Israeli far-right, Israeli ministerial position figures Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, Itamar Ben Gvir's vision for Israel and the Temple Mount, the "toxic brew" that is effecting Israeli politics right now, religious violence and conflict escalation, cycles of violence in Israel/Palestine, secular politics and conflict resolution/compromise, the permanent banning of the anti-Zionist/non-Zionist Mondoweiss media outlet from TikTok, the IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) definition of antisemitism, the attacks on UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese's and her work on the situation of human rights in the occupied territories, and more! In the second half of the program (about an hour into the show), Grant F. Smith of the Institute for Research: Middle East Policy returns to the program to discuss his critique of New York Times op-ed columnist Thomas Friedman's reporting on Israel/Palestine over the years. Grant recently penned a piece at irMEP on the subject entitled "Thomas L. Friedman’s Israel: The krytron and the cholent heater". In a recent conversation with Peter Beinart, Friedman expressed fear that the two-state solution is dead and has also written an op-ed imploring Joe Biden to save Israel from becoming “illiberal bastion of zealotry”. In other words, Friedman has been critical of Israel as of late. Grant, however, believes the criticism is mild and undermined by his previous writings especially in regards to Israeli spy and movie mogul Arnon Milchan, nuclear weapons and smuggling operations, and Benjamin Netanyahu in the 1980s. Among the topics covered in the course of our conversation: - Nuclear smuggling and Israel's "Project Pinto" - Saudi Arabia, the Abraham Accords, Israel's WeWork boondogle, and the private Israeli salmon farming Project Jonah that funded by large sums of taxpayer dollars/government funding - The NUMEC Affair and Israeli nuclear weapons smuggling - Critiques of Thomas Friedman's writings on globalization (see: The World is Flat and The Lexus and the Oliver Tree) and his "Golden Arches Theory of War" (ie: no two countries with a McDonald's would go to war with each other) - And more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, much has been made about the dark, harmful, deceptive, and negative ways which deepfake technology can be utilized as its usage becomes democratized in the coming years. From racists using the tech to make the black lead actress of Disney's upcoming live-action The Little Mermaid white to involuntary pornography and nudification apps, there are some noxious ways the tech has been used so far. That said, can their also be positive uses for these technologies? Artist Stephanie Lepp believes it can and has played with deepfakes in her Webby Award-winning project Deep Reckonings, which imagines controversial figures like Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg confronting the worst aspects of themselves vis-a-vis deepfaked conversations. Stephanie joins us on this edition of the program to discuss the potential for pro-social deepfakes as seen in her Deep Reckonings series as well as: - Re-evaluating our ideas around Accountability and redemption at our current social/cultural juncture - The origins of Deep Reckonings, Stephanie's Reckoning podcast, and her imaginary conversation with the Pope (in which the Catholic Church's leader reckons with the Church's sexual abuse scandal) - A discussion about Alex Jones, how he's seemed to change over the years, his doubling down on having done nothing wrong in his handling/coverage of the Sandy Hook case, and his interviews with Joe Rogan - Charles Koch and Stephanie's idea for a reckoning he'd have regarding the issue of climate change; taking people as acting in good faith even if they're ideas our wrong - Technology and our relationship with knowledge; evolving our concept of truth; ecstatic truth and truth through fiction - Is deepfake technology good, bad, or neutral?; context and culture in relation to deepfake tech's use; technological determinism - Stephanie's early activism related to the environment and how it played a role in her later endeavors like Deep Reckonings - Social change and personal transformation - Future deep reckonings; Vladimir Putin; our relationship to truth and propaganda - The politics of synthetic media; do technologies have political qualities? And much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, Ramon Glazov, whose articles have been featured in such publications as Jacobin and Overland Magazine, returns to the program to discuss the problematic elements of political philosophers Hannah Arendt's famous "Banality of Evil" hypothesis born out SS-Obersturmbannführer Adolf Eichmann's trial in Jerusalem after the Holocaust. Among the topics covered in this conversation: - Ramon's interest in the topic and the classic cinematic thriller Boys from Brazil - Virulent antisemitic politics vs. the "Banality of Evil" hypothesis as an explanation for Eichmann's actions - Heidegger's Children: Hannah Arendt, Karl Lowith, Hans Jonas, and Herbert Marcuse by Richard Wolin; Arendt's relationship with the German philosopher and Nazi party member Maritn Heidegger; Arendt's identification with high German culture; her condescending views on Eastern European Jews; how did these things potentially inform Arendt's views on the Holocaust? - The question of deviance in understanding Eichmann; the concept of thoughtlessness in Arendt's "Banality of Evil" hypothesis ; the idea of the dark side of the Enlightenment; Horkheimer, Adorno, the Frankfurt School, and the Dialectic of the Enlightenment; the Enlightenment, modernity, and the Holocaust; - The question of whether or not Adolf Eichmann was a true believer or a functionary bureaucrat "desk murderer" who was "just following orders" - Bettina Stangneth's biography Eichmann Before Jerusalem: The Unexamined Life of a Mass Murderer - The myth and reality of Adolf Eichmann; Eichmann was in charge of logistics for the Holocaust and put on trial; did Eichmann seek to craft/present a specific image of himself at the trial?; - Eichmann, Immanuel Kant, and the Kant's categorical imperative; claims that Eichmann was "just doing his job" rather than a committed antisemite and political supporter of Nazism; the psychiatric examination of Eichmann and Eichmann as a fake or simulated neurotic - Eichmann's career in the SS as a flamboyant glory-hound who quickly rose up through the ranks; Eichmann's relationship with the Jewish people (specifically in Vienna, Austria) and his spying on Jewish communities as an SS officer; evidence of Eichmann's loyalty to the Nazi cause - Eichmann's study of Hebrew, his self-presentation as an expert in Hebrew, and his self-mythology claiming that he was born in Palestine (this is before the trial; he was actually a German Austrian); Eichmann's grandiose myth-making about himself - High-ranking Nazi official Herman Göring's comment at a trial that "This Wisliceny is just a little swine, who looks like a big one because Eichmann isn't here" in reference to SS officer Dieter Wisliceny and Eichmann's role in the Holocaust - Simon Wiesenthal and the rise of the Nazi hunters; false rumors about Eichmann being in the Middle East and stirring up Arab nationalists against Israel in the post-war period when he was really hiding out in Argentina - Eichmann's own myth making as indicative of someone who wasn't banal but cunning and knowing in his actions - While in Argentina Eichmann wrote a large amount of written materials justifying himself; examining Eichmann's Argentina papers and what they tell us about Eichmann before his trial; he attacks humanism and Kant in these papers despite later claiming to have been a Kantian led astray; Eichmann treats the Holocaust as being a justified military operation in these papers rather than a genocide - Eichmann wasn't non-philosophical; he was deeply interested in Heidegger; Eichmann's Black Notebooks and his views on "calculation" and modernity; Eichmann's view of modernity being a product of Jewish culture and the Holocaust as a "self-annihilation" - Eichmann, the Frankfurt School, Arendt, Romanticism, and the Enlightenment; differences and similarities between the left and right critiques of modernity, instrumentalization of reason, etc. - The consequences of the "Banality of Evil" hypothesis; the application of the "Banality of Evil" hypothesis to Colonialism; obfuscation of the deliberate actions taken by oppressors over oppressed group - Rwanda, Modernity, the "Banality of Evil", and the paradigms of evil and genocide - How Arendt's "Banality of Evil" hypothesis has impacted both Anglo-thinkers and Continental-thinkers in psychology and psychoanalysis; Stanley Milgram and the Milgram experiment; the problems with the Milgram experiment; - Slavoj Zizek and the Eichmann-ization of concept of the pervert in psychoanalytic thought; the Marquis de Sade and Lacan's essay "Kant With Sade" that appears after Eichmann's execution; the pervert as a functionary following directions from "the Big Other"; the pervert as the perfect conformist; pre-Eichmann trial views of the concept of the pervert and how they differ from the Eichmann-ized pervert; psycho-dynamics and the pervert as inherently conservative in the post-Eichmann trial period - A slight digression into the changing views about the Marquis de Sade over the years; the Marquis de Sade as the ancestor of 007 James Bond creator Ian Fleming - Hannah Arendt and her philosophical hero Socrates; Arendt's attempt to grapple with what constitutes thinking; Arendt and thought as the antidote to totalitarian atrocities; Socrates and the Thirty Tyrants; Socrates as a not particularly pro-democracy philosopher even in the narrower, ancient sense of the term; Socrates, Plato, and Xenophon; Socrates in Athens; The Trial of Socrates by I.F. Stone; the charge of impiety against Socrates and his execution - Are there real world consequences to examining the world and social phenomena through the lens of the "Banality of Evil" hypothesis; the "Banality of Evil" as downplaying the specific cultural racial bigotries/hatreds and their role in social phenomena; the "Banality of Evil" as an elitist hypothesis - The range of personalities that supported the Nazi cause; the movement was not just supported by philistine thugs but elements of the society's well-educated as well - And much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, scholar, international speaker, and Orthodox Jewish Rabbi Yaakov Shapiro, host of the Committing High Reason podcast, joins us to discuss his book The Empty Wagon: Zionism's Journey from Identity Crisis to Identity. Rabbi Shapiro is an opponent of Zionism from an Orthodox Jewish perspective. From his purview, Zionism represents a hijacking of Jewish identity or, as he puts it, a theft of the that identity that is not in line with his religion. The conversation begins with Rabbi Shapiro explaining the Orthodox perspective on Judaism. In this regards he discusses the Torah, the seven Noahide Laws, fulfilling religious commandments, and what the Jewish people are definitionally from the perspective of an Orthodox Jew. He explains that from an Orthodox point of view the Jewish people are defined by their religion rather than national characteristics or other traits. Orthodox Jews, he argues, wish to be allowed to practice their faith and be left to their devices doing that. This leads us into a discussion the Orthodox Jewish opposition to Zionism, or, from Rabbi Shapiro's perspective, the Zionist opposition to Orthodox Judaism. We delve into the history of friction between Orthodox Judaism and Zionism as well as how the history of antisemitism, in both it's religiously-driven and racially-driven forms including pogroms and the Dreyfuss affair, plays into this story. In regards to all this we also discuss the idea of strength in Jewish thought, the era of nationalism and the birth of Zionism, Bolshevism and Communism, Hitler and the Holocaust, assimilationism and Zionism, Theodor Herzl, the Jewish language, Rabbi Shapiro's view that Zionism created a synthetic history of the Jewish people, and the success of Zionism in the 20th century. As the conversation goes deeper we discuss: - Israel as the Holy Land rather than a temporal, secular nation-state; the Holy Land is holy regardless of who has political control of it - The Messianic Age; the Orthodox idea that the state of Israel is not allowed to exist as a Jewish state before the coming of the Messiah; Rabbi Shapiro's argues that opposition to Zionism is not simply about the Messianic Age and that the difference between Zionists and Orthodox Jews on Israel is an obfuscation and that the difference goes beyond the question of the Messianic Age - Israel as the Jewish state or the nation-state that represents all Jews; why Rabbi Shapiro takes issue with this and the logic of it - The Jonathan Pollard spying case; the "dual loyalties" trope that has been used against Jews, Japanese-Americans in WWII, and Italian Catholics in the era of JFK; Pollard's claim that all Jews have dual loyalties whether they realize it or not; how that particular claim by Pollard bolsters antisemitism - Zionism, violence in the Israel-Palestine conflict, and antisemitism - Rabbi Shapiro's responds to the argument that the creation of the Israel was necessary to prevent future pogroms and horrors like the Holocaust; the ideology of Zionism vs. the idea that Zionism is just a safe haven for Jews from gentile violence - The traditionally anti-Zionist Haredim Jews who live in Israel; the cultural tensions between the Haredi and other Israeli citizens; Itamar Ben-Gvir, Bezalel Smotrich, and the Religious Zionism coalition; why do some Orthodox Jews support Israel or live within it if they claim to oppose it? - The argument that anti-Zionism is the new antisemitism; the idea that anti-Zionism is antisemitic as itself a form of antisemitism; the Israel-Palestine conflict as being a question for Zionists rather than Jews - And more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, economist, geopolitical financial expert, and investigative journalist Nomi Prins joins us to discuss her new book Permanent Distortion: How Financial Markets Abandoned the Real Economy Forever. Nomi began her career in the world of finance and Wall Street working for Goldman Sachs, Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Chase Manhattan Bank. Since then, however, she has become an investigative journalist that's been exposing wealthy inequality and the intersection between money, influence, and power that defines the divide between Wall Street and Main Street. In her latest book, Nomi details how the Federal Reserve and quantitative easing policies has led to a "permanent distortion" of the real economy and a dearth of easy, free money for the ultra-wealthy. Among the topics covered in this conversation: - Nomi's background and transition from Wall Street to investigative journalism - What does Nomi mean by "Permanent Distortion" - Explaining quantitative easing and the Fed - The 2008 financial crisis - Trump, China, and trade wars - The rise of populism in an age of disenfranchisement - Wall Street vs. Main Street - Explaining the real economy - The 4 phases of the book: chaos, addiction, overdrive, and metamorphosis - Cryptocurrency, the Robinhood app, r/WallStreetBets, and the permanent distortion era - The mega asset management company Blackrock - The average American household and the stock market; about 10-15% owns 85% of the stock market; although many American don't have a stake in the stock market they can still be impacted by it - And much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, the 1989 horror film Society has become a cult classic for it's wild mix of body horror, dark humor, satire of high society, and class warfare politics. Joining us to discuss that movie, as well as his work on other horror movies past and present, is the film's co-write Zeph E. Daniel. In the second hour, Zeph and I discuss his return to screenwriting with the 2021 horror/thriller GIRL NEXT, a story of a young woman's fight to survive after being kidnapped by human traffickers that gets very strange when demonic entities, body-altering drugs, quantum physics, and a sinister MKULTRA-style government experiment are thrown into the plot's mix. Among the topics covered in our conversation: - How Zeph became involved in screenwriting and early sci-fi writing - Working with producer/director Brian Yuzna, known for his body-horror films including the Re-Animator franchise and Society - How Society's initial story involved a Satanic cult rather than strange, alien-like shapeshifting beings posing as rich humans in Beverly Hills - Satirizing the shallowness of the wealthy and Beverly Hills culture - Silent Night, Deadly Night 4: Initiation and it's witchcraft plot involving the demon Lilith - The length of the filming shoot for the Yuzna-made movies Zeph worked on - Zeph's thoughts on Bride of Re-Animator - The class warfare element of Society, Zeph's interview with the left-wing publication Jacobin, and the exploitation of the poor by the rich in Society's story - Actress Devin DeVasquez's "Clarissa" character in Society - The differences between Zeph's original story for Society and the movie itself - Special effects artist Screaming Mad George and the infamous "The Shunting" ritual scene in Society - Girl Next and the story of how Zeph formed Crazed House Ltd. with director Larry Wade Carell - Zeph's belief in spiritual warfare - Zeph's thoughts and feelings on his work being rejected by the Christian community despite his being a born again Christian; the story of how his evangelical Christian novel Lamb was rejected by the Christian community; the fear of creativity that exists within some Christian circles - The next Crazed House Ltd. movie and the big name horror star legend that'll have a voice role in the film - Experiences at Texas Frightmare Weekend - Problems with wanting to express one's authentic creative self and still getting funding to make a movie - Sex in cinema; the sexual scenes in Girl Next - An explanation of the body-altering drug that's central to Girl Next's plot; how quantum physics and simulation theory play into Girl Next and it's upcoming sequels - Zeph's "Special Thank You" credit in the serial killer movie Ed Gein starring Steve Railsback (The Stuntman; Helter Skelter) - How Zeph works with people who do not share his beliefs about religion or his personal story - The cult classic status of Society today and the different types of people that have come to love the film - Society as a movie that was soft banned in the U.S. but very popular in Europe - Zeph's speculations on what happened to Society's protagonist Bill Whitley (played by Billy Warlock) after the events of the story - The trials and tribulations of making Girl Next - Zeph's early experiences on the radical left - Power elites and oppression of working people - The infamous "The rich have always sucked off low-class shit like you" line in Society that crystalizes it's class conflict themes - And much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft's Ben Freeman returns to discuss his report The Emirati Lobby in America and his upcoming report on Saudi lobbying in the United States. We begin the conversation by discussing the nature of the U.S./UAE relationship and the way the military, economics, and weapons sales figures into that relationship. We then delve into the activities, legal and illegal, of the Emirati Lobby in the United States and the ways it seeks to influence U.S. foreign policy. Ben's Quincy report details the political activities of 25 firms registered as working on behalf of the UAE under FARA (the Foreign Agents Registration Act). Ben and I delve into the cases of former Trump advisor Tom Barrack, Lebanese-American businessman George Nader, and the high-ranking military officials that have worked on behalf of UAE interests. Additionally, we discuss the UAE in relation to other Gulf State countries, namely the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Moreover, Ben and I discuss Kristen Sinema and the F-35 deal that benefitted Saudi Arabia; the law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP (or just Akin Gump); how the Emirati Lobby donates to influential D.C. think tanks; the Abraham Accords; the Dubai Expo 2020; the war in Yemen; the issue of dark money; why having FARA is better than not having FARA;  why the UAE has such significant lobbying efforts in the U.S. compared to some other Middle Eastern countries; foreign influence operations and academia; cultural exchange vs. foreign influence ops; how the Emirati Lobby and other foreign lobbies are actually not one group but a constellation of organizations and firms; PR and perception management; PR efforts by foreign lobby's to put attention on countries other than their own; how foreign lobbies can impact not only U.S. foreign policy, but also negatively impact smaller, more economically disadvantaged countries; arms sales; and much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, Adult Swim, the late night programming block, followed up the Season 6 finale of the popular Rick and Morty with the Adult Swim Yule Log (aka The Fireplace). What started out as a seemingly ordinary yule log video quickly morphed into something more unexpected: a feature-length film. More precisely, a horror movie featuring a cavalcade of genre tropes including UFOs, Satanic cults, murderous rednecks in the vein of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and even a rather devious little imp. Melding humor with comedy, the Adult Swim Yule Log is something that has to be seen to be believed as it's unlike anything you've likely seen before. Joining us on this episode is the Adult Swim Yule Log's writer/director, Casper Kelly. Casper is perhaps best known for his [adult swim] absurdist shorts Final Deployment 4: Queen Battle Walkthrough, the infamous Too Many Cooks, and the TV series Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell starring The Last Podcast on the Left's Henry Zebrowski. Additionally, Casper created the "Cheddar Goblin" sequence for the Nicolas Cage-starring horror movie Mandy and has written for such shows as The Squidbillies and Nickelodeon's CatDog. Oh, and he created the Scooby Doo parody of The Blair Witch Project known as The Scooby Doo Project. Much of Casper's work is available on Youtube and you can check a lot of it out through his website. In this conversation we discuss: - How the feature-length Adult Swim Yule Log came to be - The thematic threads in Casper's work including depression, anxiety, media, and, in the case of the Adult Swim Yule Log, the grappling with the history of American slavery, the idea of "time privilege", and whether we are really progressing as a society or not - Influences on Casper's work; John Carpenter, Sam Raimi and The Evil Dead, David Lynch and Twin Peaks, and the satirical elements of Paul Verhoeven (Starship Troopers, Robocop, and Showgirls) are all mentioned - New media in Casper's projects (yule log videos and podcasting in the Adult Swim Yule Log and video game streamers in Final Deployment 4: Queen Battle Walkthrough) - Making Too Many Cooks, which plays with the trope of 80s/90s sitcom intros; the research that went into making the short and the way in which the sitcom intro-style is both absurdist and realistic in terms of the kind of shows intros it's satirizing/homaging - The question of whether Casper's works are comedic satire or eerie horror - Working within constraints and how those constraints can actually lead to greater forms of creativity - The difference between working on shows like The Squidbillies and CatDog compared to Casper's projects like Too Many Cooks and the Adult Swim Yule Log - Whether or not Adult Swim has been short thrifted by the way some people write it off as "stoner comedy" content - Horror and comedy as genres which are related to each other - The making of the "Cheddar Goblin" sequence in Mandy - Dealing with the issue of slavery in the plot of the Adult Swim Yule Log - And much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, Rey and Boris of the antifascist The Empire Never Ended podcast join the show to discuss the strange story of David Myatt and his neo-Nazi Satanist sect The Order of Nine Angles. For many years the O9A remained relatively obscure, only really known to people on the fringes of the occult/esoteric community. But it has gained notoriety more recently, along with the Atomwaffen Division, thanks to growing concerns about neo-fascist terrorism in the U.S. and Europe. According to Rey and Boris, the O9A believe in bringing about a new type of human being, an ubermensch, by becoming ruthless predators engaged in socially deviant acts including human sacrifice, or in the O9A's terminology the "Culling" of "opfers". The story of this strange sect gets much stranger though as the figure of Joshua Caleb Sutter, co-founder of the O9A-affliated Tempel of Blood, is discussed. Turns out Sutter, who has longstanding involvement in the American white supremacist movement and has served prison time, has acted as an FBI informant. Even stranger, perhaps, is the story of controversial former Montenegrin diplomat Mirna Nikčević and a man by the name Nikola Poleksić, who has become involved in the Montenegrin Orthodox Church as a deacon. This particular thread in the O9A saga is noteworthy because of O9A's belief about "insight roles" within their initiatory process. These insight roles require initiates to go undercover with groups whom may go against their own personal beliefs as part of one's personal "spiritual" growth, developing skills in manipulation against the "Magian" order (in other words, the Western liberal society that O9A opposes), and, perhaps most importantly, infiltration. With that in mind, the stories of Nikčević and Poleksić appear to be examples of O9A infiltration of Church and State. In addition to discussing all of this we delve into David Myatt's history including his involvement with Combat 18. In regards to the history of Myatt and the early O9A we also make mention of the London Nail Bombings. We discuss the myth and reality of Myatt and the O9A as well a sect known as the Astral Bone Gnawers Lodge, the deep state, the history of the Montenegrin Orthodox Church, why talking about something as seemingly kooky as the O9A matters, O9A's Satanism as cover for its neo-Nazi fascism, and much, much more!

On this edition of Parallax Views, author, filmmaker, and TV producer Natasha Lance Rogoff joins us to discuss her new book Muppets in Moscow: The Unexpected Crazy True Story of Making Sesame Street in Russia. Natasha was tasked with making the Russian version of Sesame Street, called Ulitsa Sezam, after the fall of the Soviet Union. The show faced many struggles as Russia was dealing with what it would become in the Soviet era. Additionally the country was dealing with incredible economic inequality, assassinations, car bombings, and communists who did not want Russia to transition to a capitalist system. Despite this, Ulitsa Sezam ended up being a hit amongst Russian children and originally ran from 1996 to 2007. That isn't, however, to say that it's road to success was an easy one. As Rogoff details, there were many cultural clashes that occurred during its making that had to be overcome. In this course of our conversation Rogoff and I discuss: - Rogoff's time in the Soviet Union prior to Ulitsa Sezam, her documentary Russia for Sale: The Rough Road to Capitalism, and her reporting on underground LGBTQ+ culture in the Soviet Union - The role of then Senator Joe Biden, Congress, and USAID (United States Agency for International Development) in the creation/making of Ulitsa Sezam; the show as a way to spread Western ideals like individualism, diversity, inclusivity, free-market capitalism, etc. - The issues that arised from wanting to show children in wheelchairs and disabilities on the show; and the way in which this led to a transformative, emotional moment for all involved in Ulitsa Sezam - The issue of music in Ulitsa Sezam; fear of change; proud of Russia's musical heritage; wanting to showcase different and eclectic forms on the show - Cultural exchange between the U.S. and Russia; U.S. pop culture demonization of Russia; overcoming cultural differences - An instance in which Ulitsa Sezam was going to play a really downbeat song that was seen as more in line with traditional Russian culture; how children reacted to a different, more upbeat song in contrast; Russian children singing WWII songs - The Ulitsa Sezam character Zeliboba (pictured below) Zeliboba from Ulitsa Sezam - The biggest obstacles in making the show; violence, culture clashes, and financial issues; overcoming the deaths of Natasha's confidants in Russia while making the show (there were assassination, car bombings, etc.) -  The emotional bond between those who were involved in making the show; the show brought together Russian, Ukrainians, Armenians, and others in collaboration; hundreds of freelancers; the project was unprecendented at the time; why Natasha stuck with the project even during the toughest times - Natasha's close friend Leonid Zagalsky, an investigative journalist in Russia, and his work with Natasha - Returning to Russia during the process of writing the book and the melancholy of that experience - The recent culture wars in the U.S. over Sesame Street and potential parallels with culture clashes Natasha saw in Russia; free speech and diversity of opinion; the unregulated internet - Approaching Russian society through the lens of the Muppets; how doing so offers a different perspective than, for example, a foreign policy lens; fostering empathy and the book's attempt to give deeper emotional understanding of Russian people and culture - One of the lessons from the book: the West cannot expect other societies to mirror their own; a need for a certain openness about other societies - And much, much more!