My point is, Syria is not played by various US actors alone, there are at least five countries involved with very different goals and ways of doing things.
I have yet to find any country in Europe or South America with US-style credit unions
Huh? Maybe I don't know what a US-style credit union is, but the German-language countries have large banking Genossenschaften (cooperatives), often called People's bank. Many of them have origins in farmers lending each other money.
I don't know about Fennoscandia, but it would surprise me if there aren't equivalents, given the cooperationist history in very local economies.
Self-checkout seems better to me, because it decreases monotonous and forced public interaction (thus somewhat automated anyway): Beep. Beep. Beep. Do you want loyalty points? That's 21.46€. Do you want the receipt? Goodbye! Beep. Beep. Beep...
It uses less space.
It is parallel instead of serial.
The work is not much more than putting groceries on a checkout lane anyway, except for unlabelled fruits and vegetables.
Self-checkout allows for smaller stores and coops, for example in villages or as kiosk.
Opportunity.
My point is, Syria is not played by various US actors alone, there are at least five countries involved with very different goals and ways of doing things.