There is one more piece of news: A former Barcelona provincial subprefect has been arrested, along with two civil servants and an employee of the Russian consulate, and charged with collaborating with the Russian mafia. They were providing false Spanish work and residence permits to anyone the Russians wanted them to. I really don't know much about it, but people say the Russian mafia is powerful in Spain, and that some of the money behind the construction boom is theirs. I suspect that there is some truth behind the rumors, but that Russian mafia money is a minor factor, and the main stimulus for construction is simply that Spain is Europe's Sunbelt.