Between viruses and bombs

There are weeks that we do not earn enough to maintain the most adequate heart rate for our healthiest state. But nothing like the suffering that thousands of Syrian citizens are once again experiencing as they are forced to flee their homes in the Idlib region to save their lives, even though the EU is closing the door on them. They leave behind their lives, their memories, their families, their horizons of a fate that does not always have to be conditioned by bombs, as has been the case for nine years in Syria.

They are not the first and who knows if they will be the last because, despite the ceasefire reached in Moscow between the presidents of Russia and Turkey, the Syrian regime of Bashar Al-Assad is determined to recover all its territory, which includes this area that houses the last bastions of the opposition and terrorist groups. It turns out that the ambitious Turkish President, Recep Tayip Erdogan, considers this region to be a security zone for his non-negotiable interests. His aggressive attitude against Syrian troops has met with a serious drawback: Russia prefers to save its interests with the Syrian president rather than support its alleged Turkish partner. Relations between Moscow and Ankara have had many ups and downs in recent years, and it was clear that pure expediency took precedence.

So much so that the S-400 missiles bought by Erdogan from Putin, who was in great discomfort at NATO, are now of no use to them in Idlib because Russian fighters have the technology to avoid them. The Turkish leader, with neo-Ottoman bias, had no qualms about turning to the betrayed ally in Washington to ask for patriot missiles. However, if Erdogan accepts a ceasefire imposed by Moscow, a series of considerations can be expected that could become a reality in Syria, which is doubtful because Russian bases in this country are very valuable for the Kremlin's interests, or in Libya where Turkish interference with soldiers and weapons has further aggravated the conflict.

The Turkish president supports one of the warring parties and is once again confronting Russian interests that support Marshal Khalifa Haftar. In addition to Libyan oil, the Mediterranean stock exchange and the reconstruction contracts, what Erdogan is also interested in is the creation of external enemies to help distract attention from the real day-to-day problems of the Turks with a worsening economic situation, and even more so with the new military expenditure. 

In this context of dangerous instability, the thing that deprives the world of sleep and causes millions of dollars in losses on the stock markets is the coronavirus. Something very strange is happening in the world. Or not.