There has been talk of a new Dark Age. The political power of states is declining. The large conglomerates of the new digital and financial economy are extending their reach ever further and have begun to penetrate the political arena. Is it Trump who has empowered the tech magnates in his second term as US president, or are the techno-oligarchs the ones who put him in power? Who can stop them? The new global ideological framework is democracy versus authoritarianism. And the battle is being fought largely on social media.

More than sixty Londoners with very diverse backgrounds, from drill singers to Russian oligarchs, passing through aristocrats and politicians and artists, stroll through Caledonian Road (More Books/Libros del Asteroide), translated into Catalan by Albert Nolla and Víctor Ruiz Aldana. The main character is a white, middle-aged art historian who feels comfortable with everyone and pretends not to care about money. Writer Andrew O'Hagan (Glasgow, 1968) makes them all talk and manages to portray the effects of arrogance and corruption in post-Brexit British society. It's a work of fiction, but many things can be seen in the pages of this novel. A finalist for the Brooke Prize on three occasions, O'Hagan also has extensive experience as a journalist.

The wet snow of Slavic literature is again the landscape of war. The infinite scenery of suffering, of vital agony, of the victory of corpses and death over the hope of the living. Once again, for so many young people, it is the scene of an incomprehensible war of which we should be collectively ashamed.

Last February 24 in the morning, a few hours after Vladimir Putin issued a televised message announcing the invasion of Ukraine, the Russian president gathered about thirty oligarchs in the Kremlin. Despite the face masks, the photos revealed looks of tension among the attendees. One of them was Vagit Alekperov (see above), who, seated in the front row, listened to Putin's speech.

Alisher Usmanov, an oligarch with "particularly close ties to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin", appears in third place on the blacklist drawn up by the European Union. He is considered, in fact, "President Putin's front man" and is one of the men who "solved his business problems". The EU also considers that Usmanov "will actively provide material or financial support to Russian politicians responsible for the annexation of Crimea". On Thursday, this powerful Russian oligarch saw German authorities obeying EU directives and confiscating the Dilbar, his luxury yacht which was moored in the Port of Hamburg. Two other yachts, owned by other oligarchs, have also been immobilised in the operation. The Dilbar, one of the largest in the world and valued at $600m, had been moored at the Port of Barcelona, where Usmanov, through different companies, owns a mooring.