Security

Washington texting snafu sends alert to boardrooms

25 Mar 2025

A top-secret group chat accidentally shared with a journalist adds to Team Trump’s list of sloppily handled sensitive information. Confidential financial data, drug trials and more also lurk inside government agencies. Corporate readiness for exposure should now be at DEFCON 3.

Macron lacks the money to put where his mouth is

20 Mar 2025

The French leader wants Europe to boost defence spending. But with debt at 115% of GDP, France can’t easily find the 40 bln euros it needs to cover its share of the burden. The bloc’s strategic plans may be delayed by the fiscal woes of its main military power.

EU’s defence fund is more toy gun than bazooka

18 Mar 2025

The European Commission plans to extend 150 bln euros’ worth of subsidised loans to member states to beef up their military. Only a few countries may tap the facility. Adding conditionality would shrink its attractiveness further. As it is, it is more symbolic than effective.

EU’s big Starlink headache is time, not money

14 Mar 2025

Investors seem confident $3 bln Anglo-French satellite group Eutelsat can replace Elon Musk’s company on Ukraine’s front lines. The swap could be costly, but this won’t deter a newly defence-focused EU. Whether the company can deploy what’s needed quick enough is another matter.

Germany’s fiscal pivot gives Europe rare hope

13 Mar 2025

The nation known for anti-deficit orthodoxy faces an economic slowdown and US antagonism. Likely Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s response: boost spending by more than 500 bln euros. In this week’s Viewsroom podcast Breakingviews columnists discuss the jolt to the whole continent.

Europe will struggle to slip US economic chokehold

5 Mar 2025

The continent relies on its erstwhile ally for defence, but also for finance, technology and energy. With Donald Trump’s return, those tight links have turned into vulnerabilities. Severing them is hard to imagine. The best Europe can do for now is credibly threaten retaliation.

Europe has money but few weapons for Ukraine

4 Mar 2025

US President Donald Trump has paused his country’s military support for Ukraine. Europe has the means to make up for it and plans to spend an extra $340 bln a year on its defence. But Kyiv still needs American weapons, which may force Europe to buy directly from the US.

Europe’s defence push provides cover for tax raid

3 Mar 2025

US hostility to its erstwhile European allies heightens the need for the continent to rearm. Extra spending increases pressure on already stretched finances. But leaders who gathered in London over the weekend have a consolation of sorts: the crisis is an excuse to raise taxes.

How to raise $420 bln a year for Europe’s defence

24 Feb 2025

The partial breakdown in the transatlantic alliance means the continent may need to double its defence spending. The money will have to come from a mixture of national budgets, European Union funds and perhaps a new vehicle. Many sacred cows will be slaughtered on the way.

German elections chart course for a lonely Europe

20 Feb 2025

Voters in the EU’s largest country are set to go to the polls as US leaders threaten to withdraw military support from the continent, economic malaise lingers, and the far-right AfD gains ground. In this Viewsroom podcast, Breakingviews columnists debate the electoral stakes.

Tank maker’s surge depends on political air cover

18 Feb 2025

Shares in $43 bln Rheinmetall have outperformed chip darling Nvidia since 2021 and doubled since the US election. Investors are implicitly assuming Europe will lift defence spending to at least 3% of GDP while hugely favouring the German firm. They could be wrong on either front.

Europe and Trump risk Russian sanctions showdown

17 Feb 2025

The US president’s wish for a quick truce in Ukraine could prompt him to lift the measures slapped on Russia by Washington since 2014. The EU and UK would be loath to follow suit, but that would leave them in a tight spot, notably if it helps Putin rebuild his military.

Smiths’ long-awaited split shows promise

31 Jan 2025

The $8.8 bln British engineer plans to either sell or spin off two of its four units. If all goes to plan, there’s more value for investors including activist Engine Capital. In the absence of a big uplift, the remaining high-margin divisions will be a more attractive target.

A TikTok deal may be good for US-China trade

22 Jan 2025

President Trump has warned of 100% tariffs on the People's Republic if Beijing doesn't approve a sale of the video app owned by Chinese firm ByteDance. How such a deal would look is unclear, but it'd be an easy way for both sides to show goodwill ahead of thornier trade talks.

SpaceX will be a better $1 trln bet than Tesla

26 Dec 2024

The satellite network is a nascent monopoly, more useful and harder to dislodge every day. As at his car company, boss Elon Musk is chasing growth through maniacal cost-cutting. Thing is, that works better in space. Expect SpaceX and Tesla’s relative valuations to prove it.

EU joint debt will reappear despite French squalls

18 Dec 2024

Covid-19 saw the European Union ditch its qualms about issuing bonds backed by the 27-state bloc. Ukraine could spur a similar leap forward. France’s political turmoil is a problem, but Russian aggression and US inaction could force member states to club together to fund defence.

South Korea curveball adds new 2025 risks

4 Dec 2024

Fallout from Great Power tensions tends to dominate the minds of political and financial leaders. So the abortive coup in the $2 trln economy may seem just a domestic issue. But ructions within the major US ally and chipmaking hub may yet reverberate in Asia and beyond.

Europe’s Starlink-lite is a worthwhile also-ran

21 Nov 2024

EU satellite players like Eutelsat are debt-laden minnows compared to Elon Musk’s SpaceX-owned behemoth. But given Starlink now owns more than 60% of all working satellites, Europe has to start somewhere. Investors shouldn’t count on galactic returns, though.

Ukraine support is cheaper option for Europe

19 Nov 2024

New US President Donald Trump could cut aid to Kyiv. But the Old Continent has the means, and reasons, to pay up. Letting Russia win would mean more defence spending, a refugee crisis and geopolitical strife. That’s a bigger toll than the 0.4% of GDP the bloc would need to spend.

Telegram’s route to profitability looks dubious

3 Sep 2024

The troubled app’s CEO Pavel Durov runs a lossmaking enterprise. The easiest path to profitability is to echo Facebook, but content moderation costs would further hit Telegram’s finances. The main alternative is to be a messaging app, but WhatsApp implies that’s hard to monetise.