This is not World War III

Alberto Benitez
3 min readMar 26, 2020

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Jürgen Klaric, South American coach has this idea: “what we are experiencing now, this COVID-19, is the Third World War. We are experiencing the Third World War. There will be hatred, the countries will face each other, many people will die … “.

The idea is provocative. I pick up the glove.

We are not experiencing the Third World War.

No, because it is seeking, and sometimes demanding more and greater international cooperation. Just today, March 26, there was a virtual meeting between all the leaders of the G20, including the President of Mexico, who in his two years in office has not attended any international summit. That he has not gone to the UN. Well, he has not even visited or received Donald Trump, president of the main Mexican commercial partner. It has only received two heads of state: the Spanish and the Nicaraguan. That he has not made any trip abroad. That says over and over that “the best foreign policy is internal policy.”

So even recalcitrant agents, dogmatic nationalists like López Obrador are going to have to sit down and agree internationally. This COVID-19 crisis forces him to see the global, and not just the local or the regional. Not only the United States is interested in knowing what the Mexican government is going to do. It interests China, Japan, Europe … Klaric has the idea of ​​seeking to bring European entrepreneurs to Mexico and Colombia, taking advantage of the difficult situation in countries like Italy or Spain. So we will all look for more opportunities in international cooperation. A movement will be created to have greater and better international cooperation.

In other words, something totally different will happen from what happens in wars. Factions are created in wars: against each other. Some seeking to hinder what others do. Cut off contact with other regions or countries.

But, the idea of ​​Klaric perhaps goes more on this side: much, much wealth will be destroyed. Many people, who do not play in the political or economic arena, will be affected in their life and death by the decisions of the world’s political and economic leaders. Many people will feel helpless. Used. “Why is this happening to me, if I did nothing?”

This makes me see a very, very important difference between what happens now and what happens in a war.

In a war people sure feel scared, but they also feel compromised. People feel that there is a cause to defend. And this is what is not happening now.

In war there is a villain to defeat. Now there is only fear and helplessness.

This is the kind of enemy present, Jürgen Klaric. It is not like a war, it is more like what happened in 1929 with the crisis, or just a few years ago in 2008.

As always, the solution must be internal and external. Psychological and political. Moral and Ethics.

Let’s talk!

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