Top 5 stories of the week

1. The World Cup ends the group stage: Spain reach the Round of 16

The first phase of the World Cup is over. The controversial event seems to be shaping up well, as far as sporting matters are concerned. The groups have proved to be a vibrant experience full of surprises. 

Among the revelation teams, we can highlight Australia, who were able to overcome the Danish team, with players as outstanding as Christian Eriksen or Morocco, who, 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 out the two shockers of the group stage: the qualification of the two Asian teams, South Korea and Japan, and the elimination of Uruguay and Germany. 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 Spain, only two teams, the ones that had the most potential for the World Cup, have made it to the knockout rounds: Spain and Argentina. While the Argentinians have already taken on and beat 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 quarter-finals. For the moment, the two confirmed matches in the next phase are generating 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. Iranian revolt: the end of the moral police

After intense protests in recent weeks in the largest cities of the Middle East's most important Shiite regime over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was arrested by the so-called moral police because of her dress code, tensions seem to have eased. 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 kind of semi-professional police squad, charged with the task of ensuring that "acts of vice" are not committed on the public highway, which generally translates into the surveillance of the population's dress codes (and in this area, the regulation of the hijab).

In the face of the rise of new cultural and intellectual elites, especially concentrated in urban areas, more connected to Western trends, these patrols have become increasingly incisive and problematic, to the point that we have been able to observe in recent weeks. Now, their existence seems to be in the air. Yesterday, the state attorney general himself said that he would proceed to dismantle 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 mobilisations in the Iranian regime, we will see how far they go, 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 Chinese public's patience with the government's COVID-0 policy seemed to be coming to an end. Due to expressions of popular discontent, which even alarmed the Chinese communist himself, it seems that the response has been swift: the restrictive measures have been reduced, enabling greater mobility for Chinese citizens.

But it is not all good news. Since the end of November, COVID infections have been on the rise, and now it seems that this trend is on the rise. Beijing is juggling between curbing the number of infections on the one hand, and reviving the economy on the other.

While most developed economies last year went through a process of adaptation to the virus, and began 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 regarding COVID policies may lead to an unexpected scenario. On the one hand, economic recovery may accelerate, but on the other, 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. Ukrainian embassies alerted by 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 in different parts of Spain (such as the Ukrainian and American embassies in Spain), until the end of the week, when the envelopes received, this time in several Ukrainian embassies in Europe, contained pieces of dead animals (especially eyes) and blood on them.

The embassies affected by the macabre events are those of Italy, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Croatia, Austria and the Czech Republic, as well as 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 attacks of this kind are closely coordinated. And it is not just about the packages, in the last few hours we have learned that animal faeces have also been deposited at the entrance of the Ukrainian ambassador's residence in the Vatican.  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

Grande-Marlaska's second appearance last Wednesday in Congress on the events that took place in Melilla on 24 June of this year was particularly tense. Let us remember that what happened in that event was tragic: a multitude of immigrants tried to enter Spain through the Melilla border, and both their violence and the countermeasures taken by the Moroccan and Spanish security forces left 23 dead and hundreds injured.

Marlaska stressed that no immigrant died on Spanish territory, information that some Moroccan media outlets deny, and reiterated that the events took place "fundamentally on Moroccan territory". Marlaska also defended the actions of the Spanish security forces, while also pointing to the correct functioning of the coordination protocols with the southern neighbour. These explanations have failed to satisfy the majority of political forces, which, with the exception of VOX and the PSOE, have led to a tough parliamentary session.

While the PP focused its accusations on Marlaska's inconsistencies and branded him a liar, from the left the criticism was directed more at the inhumane treatment of the immigrants. The questionable legality of the 470 "hot returns" that police forces are said to have carried out has also been pointed out. Perhaps the most notable response came from the government's partners in government, PODEMOS, which pointed out that it was not "convinced" by the interior minister's appearance, and demanded a rectification, which, if not forthcoming, could cost him his political post.

Mantente informado 

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