Top 5 news of the week

1. The World Cup ends the group stage: Spain makes it to the Round of 16

The first phase of the World Cup is over. The controversial event seems to be making the grade, as far as sporting matters are concerned. The groups have turned out to be a vibrant experience full of surprises. 

Among the revelation teams, we can highlight Australia, which was able to overcome the Danish team, with players as outstanding as Christian Eriksen or Morocco, which, against all odds, sent home Belgium, a team full of superstars (Lukaku, De Bruyne, Courtois...) and number 2 in the FIFA ranking.

But if we are talking about surprises, we can't leave aside the two surprises of the group stage: the qualification of the two Asian teams, South Korea and Japan, and the elimination of Uruguay and Germany due to these two teams. The latter has been unable to get past the group stage in the last two editions, since they won their last World Cup in 2014.

In the Spanish-speaking world, only two teams, the ones that had the most experience at the World Cup, have made it to the knockout rounds: Spain and Argentina. While the Argentinians have already faced and defeated Australia in a comfortable match, which was complicated at the end (2-1) and with a stellar performance by Leo Messi, Spain will face a Morocco team that has shown a solid game and has already been able to beat Belgium in the group stage.

As for next week, it seems that the round of 16 is an appetizer of what we will find in the quarterfinals. For the moment, the two confirmed matches of this next phase generate high expectations. On the one hand, an exciting European duel between France and England, and on the other, an Argentina-Netherlands match that will be the definitive thermometer to see if the Czech national team is up to the level required to qualify for the World Cup.

2. Revolt in Iran: the end of the moral police

After the intense protests that have taken place in recent weeks in the largest cities of the most important Shiite regime in the Middle East, due to the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman arrested by the so-called moral police because of her dress code, the tension seems to have subsided. The protests revolved around the critical economic situation of the regime in Tehran, but also around the strict religious rules of the more orthodox sectors.

One of these orthodox expressions is precisely the guide patrols, better known as "the morality police". These patrols are a sort of police squad, with a semi-professional character, in charge of monitoring that no "acts of vice" are committed on the public highway, which generally translates into the surveillance of the population's dress codes (and in this field, the regulation of the Hijab).

In the face of the rise of new cultural and intellectual elites, especially concentrated in urban areas, more connected with Western trends, these patrols have been more and more incisive and problematic, to the point that we have been able to observe in these last weeks. Now, their existence seems to be in the air, yesterday, the state attorney general himself said that he would proceed to the dismantling of these patrols, which have disappeared since the beginning of the demonstrations.

It seems that the end, or at least the questioning of the moral police, is one of the first consequences of the mobilizations in the Iranian regime, we will see how far they reach, and what are the next responses from the Iranian government.

3. Chinese government eases COVID restrictions... and contagions soar 

Last week we commented on how the patience of the Chinese citizenry with the government's COVID-0 policy seemed to be coming to an end. Due to the expressions of popular discontent, which alarmed the Chinese communist himself, it seems that the response has not been long in coming: the restrictive measures have been reduced, enabling greater mobility of the Chinese citizenry.

But it's not all good news: since the end of November, COVID infections have been on the rise, and now it seems that this trend has shot up. Beijing is juggling to curb the number of infections on the one hand, and to revive the economy on the other.

While most developed economies were going through a process of adaptation to the virus last year, and were beginning to learn to live with it, the Chinese government maintained a more reserved attitude towards it. While this policy seemed to be more effective in the short term (with China registering far fewer deaths than other countries), we have now reached a point where several economic powers have learned to live with the virus and have been able to revive their economies, while the Asian giant has been left behind.

These latest manifestations and Beijing's change of course with respect to COVID policies may lead to an unexpected scenario. On the one hand, the economic recovery may accelerate, but on the other hand, the containment of the virus and the implementation of new policies to contain it may yield unexpected or even counterproductive results. Right now, the ball is in Beijing's court.  

4. Alert at Ukrainian embassies for threatening envelopes 

 As the week has progressed, we have encountered increasingly Dantesque scenarios. At the beginning of the week, several envelopes with pyrotechnic material arrived at different points of the Spanish geography (such as the Ukrainian or American embassy on Spanish soil), until the end of the week, where the envelopes received, this time in various Ukrainian embassies spread throughout Europe, envelopes with pieces of dead animals (especially eyes) and blood on them.

The embassies affected by these macabre events are those of Italy, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Croatia, Austria and the Czech Republic, in addition to the Spanish embassy. Oleg Nikolenko, the Ukrainian foreign minister announced that they were studying the meaning of the message and ordered increased security at all Ukrainian embassies and consulates. He also pointed out that this was "a well-planned campaign of terror and intimidation in Ukrainian embassies and consulates".

It seems that these types of attacks are closely coordinated. And it is not only about the packages, in these last hours we have learned that, at the entrance of the residence of the Ukrainian ambassador to the Vatican, animal feces have also been deposited.  Or, in the most serious case of all, as in Kazakhstan, the Ukrainian embassy reportedly received a fake bomb threat.

5. Marlaska on the ropes: The tense appearance in the Melilla case

The second appearance, last Wednesday of Grande-Marlaska in the Congress for the events that took place in Melilla on June 24 of this year, has been especially tense. Let's remember that what happened in that event was tragic, a multitude of immigrants tried to access Spain through the Melilla border, both the violence of these and the countermeasures raised by the security forces, Moroccan and Spanish, left a balance of 23 dead and hundreds of wounded.

Marlaska has highlighted how no immigrant died in Spanish territory, information that some Moroccan media deny, and has reiterated how the events happened "fundamentally in Moroccan territory". Marlaska has also defended the performance of the Spanish security forces, while also pointing to the correct functioning of the coordination protocols with the southern neighbor. These explanations have failed to satisfy the majority of the political forces, which, except for VOX and PSOE, have led to a tough parliamentary session.

While the PP focused its accusations on the inconsistencies of Marlaska and called him a liar, from the left-wing forces the criticism has been directed more to the inhumane treatment given to the immigrants. The questionable legality of the 470 "hot returns" that the police forces are said to have carried out has also been pointed out. Perhaps the most notable response has been that of the government partners, PODEMOS, which pointed out how it was not "convinced" of the appearance of the Minister of the Interior, while demanding a rectification, which, if not, could cost him his political post.

Mantente informado 

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