Atlantic Council experts respond to the airstrikes against Turkish soldiers in Idlib, as Russia and the Assad regime continue their collision course with Turkey in Syria.

“While Russia’s decision last week not to support OPEC’s proposal for a production cut and the subsequent oil price war—which as of publishing has pushed Brent crude down more than 9 percent—is surely part of the larger story of the economic impacts of the coronavirus outbreak, it is actually better understood as a geopolitical story about how US energy production growth has strengthened the United States’ international posture, which in turn has reshaped a number of global relationships,” Randolph Bell says.

For nine years the West has chosen, in the context of Syria, to deny real power to its diplomats and its diplomacy.