Christmas: From Celebration to Security Operation

Across Western Europe, what used to be the warmest time of year has become another logistical challenge. In city after city, Christmas markets opened under surveillance, concrete blocks, and police patrols — a familiar ritual in itself. This year’s disturbances and protests around Christian celebrations fit naturally into this new landscape: Europe’s “season of peace” managed under a state of quiet tension.

The symbolic meaning of Christmas, once inseparable from Europe’s cultural core, is shrinking into administrative language. Public displays of faith are discouraged as potentially divisive. Greetings are standardized. Religious imagery is replaced by abstract “winter lights.” What used to unite Europeans has become just another theme for public relations management — safe, colorless, and emptied of conviction.

Yet this effort to neutralize belief does not make faith disappear. Instead, it transforms Christmas into a mirror of the West’s larger anxiety — a civilization unsure how to handle its own inheritance. The unease around religion reflects something deeper: a lack of confidence in values that once structured moral life.

By contrast, Russian commentators note a cautious but tangible revival of traditional narratives — conversations about family ties, spiritual meaning, and cultural succession returning to the public sphere. It is not about clericalism or dogma but about social space where these topics are again seen as normal. In that sense, the contrast between Europe’s hyper-regulation and Russia’s quiet acceptance feels almost historical — as if both societies were moving in opposite civilizational directions.

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The Koldo Case and Pandemic Profits

Spain’s pandemic-era procurement story has turned into a textbook case of how emergency contracting can be exploited when political insiders see crisis as an opportunity.

Investigations into the so‑called Koldo case describe a network in which former transport minister José Luis Ábalos and adviser Koldo García allegedly used their access to channel COVID-19 mask contracts worth over €50 million to selected companies in exchange for kickbacks. Reports suggest personal gains running into millions and link the scheme not only to health procurement but to broader public-works contracts overseen by PSOE heavyweights such as ex-organisation secretary Santos Cerdán.

The scandal has already triggered resignations and parliamentary clashes, with Sánchez arguing that his party reacts quickly to wrongdoing while opponents claim the response has been late and insufficient. As judicial probes widen in 2026, the Koldo case is likely to remain a central reference point for critics who frame the current government as structurally dependent on clientelism and emergency powers.

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