Dalal.Holdings

It looks like German and French ownership of airbus is equivalent at about 10.8% each. Spain is 4%. It also seems like Airbus defense division has strong german roots & presence (HQ in Germany). I don't think Germans have a problem with Airbus having key role in FCAS. Their problem is Dassault (wholly French) wanting an outsized role in the project. The problem here is the Germans have something the French don't have -- money. While the French might have a legacy in Fighter jets through Dassault, Germans can find it elsewhere and/or build it themselves given enough time

I think this is often country specific -- France seems like an outlier. I think there are places in Europe where the corporate governance is better. Even then, I think Europe resembles Japan in some ways where you can find very cheap stocks with poor corporate governance and still do okay because your downside is protected. Now, if Europe goes full socialist/leftist and destroys its heavy industries, then you will not do well (compare with Japan which is not afflicted by intense climate ideology of Europe and whose heavy industries continue to do okay).

https://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/harald-martenstein/plus693abacd255f61bcbd40d3eb/neben-der-spur-europa-steht-nur-noch-fuer-grosse-klappe-und-monstroese-buerokratie.html Some people think Americans want a weaker Europe--no, we want a stronger, more self confident Europe -- the one that was the birthplace of the enlightenment and many other legacies that America was founded upon.

Does Airbus Defence and Space not have the knowhow to do it? I also think the Germans can build up their own rival to SAAB/Dassault if they put enough time and money towards it. They already have the money. The country is a leader in advanced manufacturing and pioneered rockets and jet engines in the past.

I agree.

This is basically what Vance said in Munich that upset so many — that there should not be firewalls that prevent you from working with a certain party. However, given Germany’s fear of right wingers due to its history, they have overcorrected to the left (along with much of Europe). In the EU you recently saw Ursula finally break the firewall which allowed her to pass the omnibus that will roll back regulations. She could only get a majority to pass it—by getting the “far right” party to go along. It is the only way to correct some of the imbalances—to work with some of these people. Otherwise the government just veers in a leftward direction—even when “center right” people are in charge.

55k in a country of 84M would be a ~220k sized protest in the USA. Given that this was a rally of students (probably mostly aged 15-18) and does not include adults of all ages, it seems sizable given the narrow demographic of the protest. Also noted to be the largest student protest in years. It is encouraging though that the leaders are not buying it and following in that German tradition of reminding the students about the rules: Also, there is nothing wrong with a little patriotism. Right now, a bunch of folks are flying Ukrainian flags and chanting “Slava Ukraini” to defend the homeland. Seems like that form of patriotism has helped Ukraine immensely in the war. Having a national identity is important for rallying people to defend the country. “If something cannot go on forever, it will stop”. Japan, Germany not having independent defense capabilities cannot go on forever, even despite their history. It’s been 80 years. Certainly 500 years from now you can’t expect them to remain disarmed. As Ukraine has shown, if you don’t have defense, there will be guys like Putin who will come and take things from you.

They can't? https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-12-11/germany-ready-to-bury-fcas-jet-amid-scramble-to-save-program

Given all the happenings in Europe, no one should be surprised by the political upheaval under way... https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-12-12/farage-s-reform-overtakes-labour-as-largest-uk-party-by-members The establishment bears responsibility and the people seem intent on holding it accountable. Of course, this is how democracy is supposed to work--no matter how hard some try to resist it.

You can look at some of the German posts in this thread: Here are the protests: https://www.leftvoice.org/55000-students-in-germany-take-to-the-streets-to-protest-new-military-service-law/ They are telling America that there is war on their doorstep, that they need America to urgently defend them with the tens of thousands of troops that have been there for 80+ years. That Trump is horrible for threatening to cut Ukraine aid. But when those same people are asked to (voluntarily) serve their own country, they go wild.

European regulators cannot help themselves. They went to fancy schools where they were taught that capitalism is bad. They came of age when the U.S. subsidized their incredible lifestyle with basically free defense. They learned a lot about climate change, but they never learned Adam Smith. Anyone who disagrees with them is "far right" or a Russian shill who must be censored and/or imprisoned. The main way they get revenues from tech is from fines on big American tech as European tech basically does not exist thanks to these people. They’ve also inflicted critical damage on European industry. And despite this all, they have zero accountability because they are not elected by the people. So, they get to keep doing what they’ve been doing…

The study made a claim about something costing $38 Trillion ANNUALLY and it made it past peer reviewers and editors to be published in prestigious scientific journal Nature. I use Occam’s razor to know how that happened. Human biases corrupting the scientific processes at the highest levels.

Let’s force more of European industry to shut down & move here to “save the planet”

https://www.sustainable-bus.com/news/deutsche-bahn-byd-evg-trade-unions/ “A large Deutsche Bahn e-bus tender has ignited a political and labour backlash after BYD emerged as a key supplier, according to reporting by the German newspaper Der Spiegel out on December 9th. For policymakers and unions, the prospect of a Chinese manufacturer delivering a major share of DB’s next-generation bus fleet…” I can assure you that those buses will not be made from low carbon “green” steel and they will not be made in solar powered factories with diverse and inclusive labor force that is unionized. Even if assembled in Hungary. There goes that CO2 and there go the jobs and industry… This is what suicidal ESG/etc policies look like in real time. Xi thanks you for your efforts.

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/a-climate-study-retraction-for-the-ages-49e967e0?mod=hp_opin_pos_1 So many lessons here about how climate ideology has rotted brains and so many institutions (like Nature) that were once held in high regard. The affliction seems to have had pernicious hold in Europe in particular Politics and science should not mix, but in this case it has corrupted science. Yes, the reviewers didn't want to downplay the narrative being pushed by climate ideologues...something that should never be called "science"

https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/powerful-german-union-calls-dassaults-expulsion-fighter-jet-programme-2025-12-10/ More bickering. Will be interesting to see how talks go...

https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-strikes-deal-green-rules-cut-major-ursula-von-der-leyen-deregulation-drive/ Ursula undoing her own mistakes...and the only way she could do it was to cross the "red line" and work with the "far right". It should be apparent to anyone above room temp IQ that if you isolate an entire bloc as "far right extremists" then your government will be left with a heavy leftward bias...which is what Europe has had for many years and why efforts to censor and suppress these parties is counterproductive and undemocratic in that it ignores the will of the people who elected these people. Vance's "infamous" Munich speech was on point there.

https://www.perplexity.ai/finance FYI there is a Finance Perplexity that does earnings transcripts, financials, etc I use Perplexity as a Google/Wikipedia search hybrid. I use Gemini for deep research only really ...The thing about all of these is---is there really much differentiation for day to day use ?

https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a69661592/european-union-ice-ban-2040-report/ So it sounds like a 5 year delay...cue outrage by the Greens

https://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/article6931d59611f914c89b853254/vorwurf-politiker-beleidigung-hunderte-strafantraege-merz-ausuferndes-agieren-in-eigener-sache.html It seems like Merz himself is in this and German citizens don't sound pleased...he had people who insulted him get their houses searched Can AfD politicians also jail people who "insult" them online? I can see such a law being abused easily Here is the English translation: Of course, Russian media RT is putting the above story on full blast... Pretty embarrassing. This kind of thing would not be tolerated in the states. Trash talking politicians should be a national pastime in all democracies.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c04vqldn42go Happened today. Thank God (and James Madison) we have the 1st Amendment.

Us Americans have perfected the art of insulting politicians, and I am all for it ! If insulting Trump on the internet were illegal, millions of people around the world (incl Europeans) would need to report to jail. Maybe we can make an ICC case out of it using the German criminal codes...with the sole purpose of revealing how stupid and anti-democratic such a law is This is why they want the data from X--to enforce such Orwellian laws on their own populace

Just to be clear, this is how European elites think : (If the CoBF Politics thread existed in Germany, we'd all be in jail ) https://p.dw.com/p/54scH These are "crimes" they deem worthy of investigation. Politicians in Europe are very sensitive and thin skinned. You'd better not insult them, or you might get fined or thrown in the gulag. This is what Europeans call "Free Speech" and "defending democracy" as they claim they rank highly on Freedom of Speech... Ranked by "Reporters Without Borders" a.k.a. elites ranking elites. "We've investigated ourselves and found no wrongdoing"

From the U.S. national security strategy document: Is the company Lanxess ? https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202511/14/WS691737ada310d6866eb299cf.html Rubber is made from petroleum byproducts. Yes, expanding in China is very "sustainable" bro... Or maybe it's BASF: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/12/world/europe/germany-china-trade.html https://asiatimes.com/2024/11/germany-closing-factories-at-home-opening-them-in-china/ Add to this VW, Bosch, SAP, BMW...So many companies doing this, not just in Chemicals... The environmentalists/Greens who helped bring Germany to shut down its nuclear baseload and regulate these industries to death should be happy. Now the factories & plants will be producing in much more Co2 emitting China. Global Co2 might go even higher, but hey, if those plants don't exist in Europe, they will be out of sight and out of mind. China must be happy too, more tech they can learn to copy while they get to sell solar, EVs, batteries which they've invested in aggressively to the Europeans. Xi and the CCP have played this brilliantly...