To save Airbus Macron goes to China, black clouds on the US-Mexico border, the collapse of Russian tax revenues could be a symptom of problems with the energy sector
Bulletin (second week of April)
Macron and Von der Leyen waste time in Beijing
In a ludicrous speech in Beijing, the current President of the EU Commission Ursula Von der Leyen emphasised what German Prime Minister Olaf Scholz had already said repeatedly: do not talk about deglobalisation.
Specifically, the former defence minister emphasised that 'the invasion of Ukraine has profoundly changed the thinking of European capitals'.
Von der Leyen then added that Xi's support for Putin 'will be a determining factor for relations between the European Union and China'.
Finally, she emphasised that some trade restrictions and stricter controls on foreign investments by European companies are necessary, especially on technologies that could be used by the Chinese military or to violate human rights.
The Commission President did not go alone but was accompanied by President Macron and 50 key figures from French industry, in a kind of repeat of the German government's unilateral November 2022 trip to Beijing to facilitate the Chinese reopening and sale of Coronarvirus drugs.
Simultaneous with the trip of the two European politicians came the announcement of increased production of components by the EU aviation multinational Airbus. Obviously the increase in civil aircraft would be aimed at sales in the Chinese market.
In the end, we believe that both Macron and Von der Leyen unnecessarily exposed their flanks without really achieving anything useful, but the reasons why they went to Beijing differ.
In all this, the war can only be stopped if both sides agree, and although Moscow has repeatedly been open to possible ceasefires, in practice the preconditions for a lasting peace have never been apparent. Finally, Putin's constant speeches about the Donbass, Crimea and Novo Rossiya is quite indicative of a Bear still absolutely focused on gaining as many gains as possible.
As far as Germany is concerned, Von der Leyen's remarks are essentially IDENTICAL to those made by Scholz in his previous visit and reiterate like a broken record the same positions that the EU and the US have had formally and informally practically since China's entry into the WTO in 2001.
Namely: we need to discuss a system to deal with intellectual property theft, human rights violations and the use of mass surveillance technologies.
Frankly, at this point we think it is obvious to everyone that none of these issues are really of any importance to Berlin, what matters is to be able to trade again as if nothing had happened.
Finally, we come to the REAL reasons why the French have gone out of their way and travelled with pomp and circumstance to Beijing to shake hands with the likes of Xi Jinping, who is quite rapidly destroying Paris' control over Francafrique.
The motive is actually one: to avoid the however inevitable failure of the European aerospace sector after similar British attempts foundered as we describe below.
For Paris, in fact, the Ukraine issue is merely a distraction from the riots in France as it desperately tries to support Airbus without forcing the French into an uncomfortable merger as happened with Rolls Royce or worse bankruptcy as happened with Virgin Orbit.
As if that were not enough, it is well known that Washington has been rubbing its hands together for years over the possibility of being able to absorb part of the European market.
Thanks to the dollar's ability to remain the world's trusted currency, the enormous amounts of money absorbed during the Pandemic and with the outbreak of the Ukraine War, and the rapid reindustrialisation that is exploding in the USMCA trading bloc, it will be no problem to absorb the increasingly anaemic economy of the old continent.
That is of course IF retarded European leaders have enough brains to realise that WHEN NECESSARY it is better to sell to the US than to China.
As usual, the British realised at once what the real situation was and got the better deal than their neighbours while still trying to maintain their own independence. But to understand why this is so, you will have to go down a few paragraphs.