Editorial: Greece in an unsettled world

The legacy of instability of 2019 was violently confirmed as the new decade began.

US President Donald Trump poureed fuel into an already flammable Middle East by ordering the murder in Baghdad of the prominent Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, an emblematic figure in Tehran with broad involvement in crucial fronts in Iraq and the Arab world in general.

The murder, which by all appearances was ordered as a reprisal for the siege by Shiites of the US Embassy in Baghdad, triggered a maelstrom of reactions in the broader, unsettled region.

The Iranians are threatening with attacks against Israel and Western targets and a new wave of anti-Americanism is spreading through the wider region.

It is no coincidence that Americans themselves are speaking of a knee-jerk reaction which threatened to finish off an already destabilised Iraq. It can also draw into a war situation a number of other countries which still labour under the burden of the Syrian crisis and the emerging Libyan crisis.

Let us not forget that Syria remains unstable, there is tumult in Libya, clashes in the Persian Gulf have not subsided, in the Arabian Peninsula skirmishes continue, and Egypt feels perpetual Turkish hostility and claims after Ankara stated its intention to intervene in North Africa.

Diplomatic sources on 3 July made no secret of their concerns about the repercussion and the prospect of triggering a more general conflagration in the region.

The international oil market has already evaluated the situation as extremely dangerous and that pushed the price of oil up to 70 dollars a barrel. In any event, the world seems to be losing its certainties.

Undoubtedly everyone is concerned, especially diplomats who feel that the efforts of many years are...

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