In 1999, the share of global production consumed by the West reached its highest point ever recorded: one-sixth of the planet's population consumed four-fifths of all the planet's goods and services, which is outrageous. Just a decade after reaching the historic peak, the global financial crisis of 2008 erupted and this spectacular consumption percentage was reduced by a quarter: from devouring 80% of the world's gross product, Westerners went down to 60%. Naturally, this dizzying decline has led us to delve into our ideas about the tragic cycles of history. And it turns out that these narratives have a pattern extremely influenced by the fall of the Roman Empire as narrated by Edward Gibbons in the legendary History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, published in six volumes between 1776 and 1788, an interpretation that has taken hold so much in the collective imagination that it returns again and again, from Oswald Spengler's The Decline of the West, through Samuel Huntington's theory of the Clash of Civilizations, to the rhetoric of Make America great again. With the war in Iran, which many commentators see as the umpteenth example of the West shooting itself in the foot and fostering the inexorable rise of China, the wheels of the decline narrative are turning again.Broadly speaking, the history of the fall of the West has two fundamental premises: that we have corrupted the moral and cultural essences that led us to rise, and that this corruption implodes with the invasion of barbarian peoples. It is a strange mixture of "it is all our fault" and "it is all the fault of others", which works very well to simultaneously obtain the benefits of criticizing the establishment and criticizing foreigners, and which always ends with the same antidote against decline: controlling the borders and tightening our belts in order to recover the martial purity that led us to the original golden age.

Fear is the driving force, the beginning of all things. So, first and foremost, the fear machine must be set in motion: "Europe is about to disappear as a civilization."

The Serra family has secured control of over 90% of the Occidente insurance group (formerly Catalana Occidente). The takeover bid launched by Inocsa, the company controlled by this family, for Grupo Catalana Occidente (GCO), of which they already held 62.03%, has been completed with the acceptance of 35.79% of the share capital. This gives them control of 97.82% of the capital and allows them to achieve their goal of taking the company private. Excluding the 74.44 million immobilized shares, representing 62.03% of the share capital, Inocsa's takeover bid was accepted by 42,950,477 shares, representing 94.27% of the shares targeted by the offer. "Consequently, the public offer has been successful, since the number of shares included in the acceptance declarations exceeded the minimum threshold set by the offeror for its effectiveness," the company stated. The minimum acceptance threshold was 15,671,159 shares. The cash portion was accepted for 38,010,278 shares, and the exchange portion for 4,940,199 shares. On October 21, Inocsa decided to increase the consideration offered for the takeover bid of GCO to €49.75 per share, an improvement of €0.75 over the initial price. The other option was an exchange of one newly issued Class B share of Inocsa for every 43.9446 GCO shares, with a reference price for one new Class B share of Inocsa of €2,186.24.

The Serra family has decided to increase the price of the takeover bid launched against Grupo Catalana Occidente (GCO) to achieve full control of the company, of which they already hold a majority. This decision was made by the board of directors of Inocsa, which directly and indirectly holds 61.951% of the capital in the GCO holding company, according to a communication to the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV). The takeover bid notification was accepted for processing by the stock market supervisor last May and is pending approval.

The hawks are winning the New World Order battle: those of the Old Testament, with their eye for an eye, those who make life impossible (even more, those who make your life impossible), those of dehumanization, hatred, and division. Just listen to the tone and vocabulary with which US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth spoke to his generals.

"The West no longer exists". The West no longer exists, Pankaj Mishra told us on Monday, September 21, in a conference at the Palau Macaya. Without mincing words, in the heart of old Europe, the Indian thinker and author ofThe World After Gaza: A Brief History (Galaxia Gutenberg, 2025) told us, looking us in the eye, what we are incapable of telling ourselves. It was a hyperbole intended to provoke, but we must pay attention to the arguments given.

"It was the East that pushed Europe towards the West," writes historian Alessandro Vanoli. Columbus and Magellan wanted to reach the Indies, where so much wealth came from, where knowledge had always come from. First and foremost, America was the West Indies. The concept of the West was born looking towards the east and was in parallel with the redefinition of Europe, a name-idea that the Greeks had invented and that had been used in the early Middle Ages, soon replaced by the term Christendom in opposition to Islam. There was then a time of alliance between Christianity and the Chinese Empire against the powerful Ottoman world.

More familiar. The Serras, who are already the largest shareholders, aim to further control the Occidente insurance group (formerly Catalana Occidente). This Thursday, Inoc, the company in which they hold a stake and which holds a 62.03% stake directly and indirectly in the holding company GCO (Catalana Occidente Group), is proposing a voluntary takeover bid (OPB) for all shares. Currently, 33.57% of the capital is floating on the market, and half is held by institutional investors.

1. Fall. "Our mission was to protect the United States, not Afghanistan, and we have succeeded". "The United States cannot pursue a war that the Afghans are not willing to fight". The two arguments on which Biden has tried to legitimise his escape on the run have come up against the hard test of reality and have served to confirm the failure of the American model of military intervention. It is hard to understand why the lessons of the past, which have too often led to leaving the Asian world with our tails between our legs, have not been learned. Twenty years on the ground, often unloading missiles and bullets, and now they discover that the country was not following them?