It seems that it is time to get used to wars again: Ukraine is still there; returns to the Middle East. The question: do the maps of the present talk about the past and complicate the future? It seems that way too.
History does not repeat itself but there are times when it is very similar and these days it is clear: there is, once again, violence and death on a large scale in the Middle East, although there are also other parallel changes that are less striking but that should be kept in mind.
And in all of them the map matters. Let’s see:
On October 7, a surprise attack by Hamas militiamen from Gaza on Israeli territory caused more than 1,400 deaths. Tel Aviv’s response was immediate and the strip added more than 6,000 fatalities, including more than 2,000 children, according to Gazan authorities.
A drama.
But a drama that could get even worse with the expected land invasion of the Israeli army, starring – it is believed – by the armored Namer, summarized in detail in these graphs.
In the Middle East everything is looking worse. It already happened in the past. It is sensed for the present.
For example, and as the subsequent map explains, the northern border with Lebanon is equally hot against Hezbollah – missiles abound; Israel has evacuated the bordering populations – that with the West Bank, without so many missiles but where more than three million Palestinians and some 400,000 Israeli settlers live. The crashes already leave people dead.
Furthermore, there is no shortage of attacks involving Syria.
A regional war is feared. Iran does not hide it. Neither do the US movements bringing their troops closer to the area. And everything reminds us, however, of other times…
Because it has been three quarters of a century of confrontation since the decision to create two States after the end of the British mandate over Palestine. The State of Israel was born after the Second World War and the Holocaust, in 1948, and just one day later the first Arab-Israeli war broke out.
Since then they have happened. In 1967 the Six Day War broke out. In 1973 that of Yom Kippur. In 1987, violence took to the streets with the first Intifada. The second one followed in 2000.
Peace, despite attempts, has not yet settled. And neither do the borders.
The map illustrates, precisely, a breeding ground full of settlers, governments and imperceptible armed groups of all kinds that make many predict the worst.
They are turbulences that the maps advance and that join others that the maps also certify not only due to the regained prominence of Russia in Ukraine or of China in the Far East and the New Silk Road.
The best example is given by France, which is experiencing the end of its Françafrique: “The wave of coups d’état and the loss of French influence taken advantage of by Russia announces a turn of no return in Africa,” it is summarized.
So between changes, the European Union also looks at the maps and once again considers changes to its map. So much so that the EU is open to absorbing two monsters: Ukraine and, above all, the Balkans. (Türkiye, yes, plays in another league today).
Because geopolitical interest is what is once again decisive here.
The evolving map of the world, moreover, today has to be completed by looking at the sky. Because this is where another key actor stands out: “Starlink is the cornerstone of the great geostrategic power of a tycoon, Elon Musk, who raises eyebrows in the Pentagon and the White House.”
“The world in Musk’s hands,” it is said. And it can and in fact already establishes itself as an arbiter of war with its satellite network, the main one in orbit and which is essential for Ukraine; imposes conditions on the US; Iranian dissidents use it but Turkish or Chinese ones are not allowed.
In Spain the focus remains on the investiture, which has not yet come to fruition. Although the economy, as always, does not fail either. And it is not because of the bursting of the NFT digital art bubble or because there is a record occupancy, but because of a classic: housing.
We know how difficult it is to buy one. The same for rent. That is why it is surprising at first that 42% of the apartments are already paid in cash. And they do not do it, apparently, millionaires: in the most stressed areas it is mainly by foreigners. In the second home, by locals and foreigners.
High interest rates explain it, it is insisted.
It is worth remembering, however, that where things are worse, the most pressured cities are also those that live at the bottom in terms of investment in the welfare state.
To look at it.
It is half a century since the first flight of Concorde. Remembering it, reliving it, here, allows us to get closer to what was a supersonic dream… that consumed fuel at the same speed… and that went away just as quickly because it was so expensive.
Lesson learned?
