Today was supposed to be an entirely ordinary day in Chișinău. Instead, we found ourselves standing close to a major fire at the Central Market, watching firefighters work while a huge column of dark smoke rose above one of the busiest commercial areas of the city. It was one of those moments when something familiar changes character almost instantly. Chișinău's Central Market — Piața Centrală — is normally a place of noise, movement and commerce. People walk between stalls carrying bags. Traders call to customers. Cars compete for space around the surrounding streets. There are clothes, shoes, household goods, food, electronics, cafés, pharmacies and small businesses packed together in the dense commercial area around the market. Today there were all of those things. And then there was smoke. At first, the smoke The first thing that made the scale of the situation obvious was the smoke. It was impossible to miss. A larg...