Courtesy of Der Spiegel and Google Translate

- Slavoj Zizek, "When Corona Meets the Putogan Virus"

The Corona epidemic and a new refugee crisis fueled by Russia and Turkey could be a devastating force. Populists and racists rub their hands
A perfect storm is when an unusual combination of different factors leads to an event of great violence. The individual forces then together produce an energy that is much greater than if only the individual parts were to be summed up. The term was popularized by reporter Sebastian Junger, who in 1997 told the story of a weather situation over the North Atlantic that only occurs every hundred years - a high pressure area that came from the Great Lakes, met a storm over Sable Iceland and collided with Hurricane Grace, which came from the Caribbean. In 1991, this led to the disappearance of the fishing boat "Andrea Gail" without a trace in the ocean.

Because it spreads all over the world, the coronavirus pandemic is often said to be in a boat in its dealings with it. There are, however, a lot of indications that the "Europe" boat in particular could suffer the fate of "Andrea Gail". Because three storms are approaching the continent and could combine their destructive power.

The first two are not specifically European: firstly, the Corona epidemic itself, the quarantine, the suffering and death it will bring. And secondly, the economic consequences that it already has and will have. Europe will already be more affected than other regions of the world. The European economy is stagnating and is also very much connected and dependent on the rest of the world.

But to these two storms comes a third: Speaking in the picture of the disease, we can call it the Putogan virus. It is directly related to the new explosion of violence between Turkey by Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Assad regime, which is directly supported by Vladimir Putin's Russia. A conflict for which both sides are exploiting the suffering of millions of refugees.

When Turkey began to bring thousands of immigrants to the Greek border, Erdogan justified the measure on humanitarian grounds: his country could no longer cope with the growing number of refugees. This apology, however, is downright breathtakingly cynicism: Turkey itself is part of the Syrian civil war and is therefore partly responsible for the fact that people have to flee. Now the Turks want Europe to relieve them of some of the burden, that is to say, to pay the price for this reckless policy. The sham solution agreed by Russia and Turkey in their negotiations, that both parties should ensure peace on their side and otherwise remain calm, has collapsed. This does not change the fact that Russia, like Turkey, is still in an ideal position to put pressure on Europe: both sides control an important part of Europe's oil supply - and the influx of refugees. They can use both to blackmail Europe.

Sometimes Putin and Erdogan are opponents, then allies again, then again opponents. But no one should be fooled by this deadly dance: both are part of the same geopolitical game - at the expense of the Syrian people. And not only do they have no interest in the suffering of the Syrian people. Worse still, both take advantage of it. Putin and Erdogan are so similar that they can be put together into one figure: Putogan.

It would be a mistake to ask who bears the greater responsibility for the suffering in Syria: Erdogan or Putin and Assad. They take nothing and should be treated for what they are: war criminals who destroy a country in order to achieve their goals. And one of their most important goals is to weaken a united Europe. They are doing all this at a time when a global epidemic is looming, so cooperation is even more urgent than usual. In fact, there is only one place where these men belong: before the war crimes tribunal in The Hague.

The problem when you're dealing with a situation where three storms are approaching: they can become a perfect storm. A new wave of refugees, such as Turkey's, can have catastrophic consequences in times of Corona. So far, the coronavirus has not been linked to refugees and migrants - if there was racism, it was because the threat of the epidemic was associated with the Asian other. But if that happens, when the refugees are connected to Corona - which will inevitably happen, there will be corona falls among refugees, just think of the living conditions in the refugee camps: something better can be done for European populists and Racists don't happen at all. At last, they will be able to back up their demands for closing borders on scientific, medical grounds. Those who try to find a human-friendly solution to the crisis will face panic and fear. In a speech, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has already hinted at this: Hungary could become the model that Europe will follow.

In order to prevent this disaster, Europe must try something impossible: it must rapidly increase its capacity to act. Germany and France, in particular, must coordinate closely. And then Europe should act. Against the blackmail by Putogan, for the refugees.

Gregor Gysi recently said a remarkable sentence in a televised debate. One panelist insisted that the misery of the Third World was not his problem, that he bore no responsibility for the poverty of these countries. Instead of helping foreign countries, we should spend our money on solving our own problems, the well-being of our citizens. Gysi's answer was: if we do not take responsibility for the poor in the Third World, then these poor will come to us. This may sound cynical to some ears. But it is appropriate to the current situation. Abstract humanism, which always appeals to European generosity and a bad conscience to somehow be complicit in the world's problems, will not change anything. In the face of a perfect storm, more is needed.