For some months now the atmosphere over the stretch of sea that separates China from Taiwan has become very heated, but this has become more intense in recent weeks.
Evergrande's $300 billion debt turns the spotlight on to the increase in unproductive and speculative investment that has given a fictitious boost to Chinese national capitalism.
A well-attended demonstration (between 10 and 20 thousand people) against the Green Pass was held in Rome on Saturday, 9 October. The instigators were a varied bunch: from the "sincere democrats" who brandished copies of the Constitution, and the rights enshrined therein, to the galaxy of the far right who were (in an irony of propaganda) "against the health dictatorship" and for "freedom!”.