With the virtual Democratic National Convention over, the US presidential election is in its final stretch. This is an election like no other: Because of the pandemic, most of the campaigning is on the internet; because of Donald Trump, what is at stake is not only who will win but the very survival of democracy in America.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan chose a heavily symbolic day to present himself as a new Ottoman conqueror, converting the Hagia Sophia museum into a mosque on the 97th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne.

Erdogan’s Turkey is offering the European Union a valuable opportunity to develop into a substantial power, to prove that, as the United States withdraws from the international scene and China is on the rise, the countries of Europe are determined to secure peace and prosperity through consensus and democracy.

Justinian built it, Mehmet II took it by conquest, Ataturk turned it into a museum. Erdogan stacked a court with his acolytes, signed a paper converting it into a mosque and reckons himself a conqueror.

How we see major historical events usually says more about us than about the events themselves. It indicates the level of our education, the extent to which we seek the truth, as well as how our current needs shape opinions, myths and prejudices. In this context, the opinion poll “How the Greeks See the Revolution of 1821” shows our overwhelming admiration for warriors at the expense of visionaries, politicians and financial contributors to the struggle.

The special relationship between Donald Trump and Recep Tayyip Erdogan is a throwback to the distant past, when powerful men decided the fate of nations without giving account to anyone else.

Whenever the sewage of scandal bubbles up to the surface, those who see this as a weapon with which to destroy their rivals are overjoyed, while those exposed by the revelations claim either that they are victims of conspiracy or are no worse than those who preceded them.

Developments in the Eastern Mediterranean are like a dangerous game of three-dimensional tic-tac-toe, in which simple-looking moves are complicated by conflicting dynamics among the players and in the relationships between them.

Monuments that have endured through time and hardship are free of the bonds of their age, of the vision and fate of their creators. They become part of our global heritage, “judging” those responsible for their preservation.

“A new world has been born and we have to deal with it, and this presents an opportunity for the Church,” Archbishop Ieronymos said in an important interview with Kathimerini’s executive editor, Alexis Papachelas, last Sunday.

The pandemic has complicated an already difficult situation in migration and relations with Turkey. The way that Greece is handling Covid-19, though, might suggest a way to deal with other issues, too.

The European Union is founded on democracy. The member-states join forces willingly in a whole that is far greater than its parts.

The quarantine and fear taught us to appreciate the people who keep society on its feet. They also helped us realize what is important in our daily lives.

On the one hand, Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court could not have chosen a worse time to intervene in the public debate regarding the mandate of the European Central Bank.

During this time of isolation I think of Cavafy. Not only because we, like the Alexandrian poet, can exclaim “around me they built walls great and high.” Nor just because “our efforts are those of the lost, like those of the Trojans.”

Europe needs a huge amount of money to deal with the pandemic and its consequences. 

“In the tomb they laid you, Christ, who are life,” chant the living, thinking of their own death, hoping for Resurrection. In the midst of a pandemic, Good Friday’s Graveside Lamentation touches us all, whether we are believers or not.

This government is evidently capable of showing determination and consistency in the face of crises. Beyond the pandemic and Turkey’s belligerence, though, it also has to deal with the consequences of decades of mismanagement in many fields.

Times like these test leaders. In a world full of fear and noise, a small group is called upon to take decisions that will determine the fate of their people. 

When the coronavirus emergency is over, the extent to which life will have changed will depend on the length of the disruption, the number of lives it took and the way each country and transnational organization dealt with the crisis.