What If Psychedelics’ Hallucinations Are Just a Side Effect? | Who is Herzi Halevi, the chief of staff of the Israel Defence Forces? | Rich buyers running from the climate crisis to the Alps | Settlers are causing mayhem in the West Bank

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� � � � � � You Might Like � � � � � � � � � What If Psychedelics' Hallucinations Are Just a Side Effect? - The Atlantic    Some neuroscientists now believe that the drugs’ mental-health benefits don’t come from tripping. One of my chronically depressed patients recently found a psychoactive drug that works for him after decades of searching. He took some psilocybin from a friend and experienced what he deemed a miraculous improvement in his mood. “It was like taking off a dark pair of sunglasses,” he told me in a therapy session. “Everything suddenly seemed brighter.” The trip, he said, gave him new insight into his troubled relationships with his grown children and even made him feel connected to strangers. I don’t doubt my patient’s improvement—his anxiety, world-weariness, and self-doubt seemed to have evaporated within hours of taking psilocybin, an effect that has continued for at least three months. But I’m not convinced that his brief, oceanic experience was the source of the magic. In fact, some neuroscientists now believe that the transcendent, reality-warping trip is just a side effect of psychedelics—one that isn’t sufficient or even necessary to produce the mental-health benefits the drugs seem to provide. Continued here Who is Herzi Halevi, the chief of staff of the Israel Defence Forces? - The Economist    EVEN BEFORE Hamas, the militant group that runs Gaza, attacked Israel on October 7th, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi was in a difficult position. In January 2023, when he became chief of general staff of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), the most senior position in Israel’s army, the officer and reserve corps were rent by divisions over proposed reforms to the country’s Supreme Court. Some reservists threatened not to serve if the divisive prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, and his far-right coalition passed laws weakening the powers of the court. It was one of the army’s most turbulent periods in recent times. Hamas’s murder of 1,400 Israelis, and capture of more than 200 hostages, eclipsed all that. General Halevi is now commanding an aerial and ground offensive against the militant group in Gaza, in which more than 10,000 Palestinians have died, according to the enclave’s health ministry. Popular rage at the way Israel is conducting the war has inspired protests in many countries. The UN human-rights office says that Israel may have committed a war crime when it struck the Jabalia refugee camp. A minister in the Netanyahu government raised the possibility of using nuclear weapons against Gaza (he was suspended for his remarks). But in General Halevi Israel has a commander with a strong reputation for upholding legal and ethical standards in the conduct of warfare. What is his background and how might it influence how he prosecutes the war? He was born in 1967 in Jerusalem and named after his uncle, who had been killed in action a few months earlier in the Six Day War. His mother’s family had lived in the city for 14 generations; his paternal grandparents emigrated from Russia. His father’s father was a member of Irgun, a Zionist paramilitary group active in the years leading up to the establishment of Israel. Continued here Don't like ads? Go ad-free with TradeBriefs Premium Rich buyers running from the climate crisis to the Alps - Fortune Europe    The rich are jumping on their climate crisis lifeboats and moving in their droves to the wintry climes of the Alps. But an exodus north might not spell a happy ending for the ultra-wealthy. A study of the ski property sector by real estate agency Knight Frank showed the Alpine region—where winter temperatures typically move into the low 20 degrees Fahrenheit—was enjoying renewed interest from wealthy buyers. Prices across 24 resorts in Switzerland and France rose 4.4% on average last year, with a couple of destinations in Switzerland enjoying double-digit price increases.  Continued here Settlers are causing mayhem in the West Bank - The Economist    VIOLENCE PERPETRATED by Jewish settlers in the Palestinians’ West Bank has risen sharply since October 7th. The Israeli army and the settlers have, in total, killed at least 155 Palestinians in the territory, the core of a would-be Palestinian state, since Hamas committed its atrocities against Israel. This death toll is a fraction of the number killed by Israel’s bombardment of Gaza in the same period. But it is rising dangerously fast. The occupied West Bank is getting closer to boiling over. Last year was already the deadliest for Palestinians in the West Bank for 20 years. Settler groups have become bolder and the army has intensified its raids on Palestinian towns and cities. But since October 7th things have dramatically worsened. At the current rate, the four weeks following the Hamas attack will have been more deadly for Palestinians in the West Bank than the whole of last year. In particular, the war in Gaza has aroused some of the more violent groups of West Bank settlers. Some are out for revenge for Hamas’s atrocities. Others are simply taking advantage of the situation to lash out while Israel’s army is busy elsewhere—in Gaza and on the northern front with Lebanon. As a result, the West Bank’s Palestinians are feeling even more vulnerable than usual. Continued here

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