Who's Cashing In on the Middle East War

#MiddleEastWar #DefenceIndustry #MilitarySpending #AusPol #AusNews #AIGenerated

https://thedailyperspective.org/article/2026-03-18-whos-cashing-in-on-the-middle-east-war-9cede7fb

Paul Keating throws weight behind fight to save historic assets from sale
By Adam Harvey

Opposition is growing to the federal government's plan to sell scores of defence properties to reduce maintenance and repair costs, as locals fight back.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-16/defence-sale-victoria-barracks-hmas-penguin-under-scrutiny/106460046

#DefenceIndustry #RealEstateIndustry #AdamHarvey

🏭 There is no true defence and security without a strong defence industry. Europe needs a #DefenceIndustry that can develop, produce and deliver everything we need.

Do you agree with André Denk?

Comment & watch the full speech: https://youtu.be/NB1WSk5W5fs

#StrongerTogether

🏭 There is no true defence and security without a strong defence industry. Europe needs a #DefenceIndustry that can develop, produce and deliver everything we need.

Do you agree w...
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https://nitter.net/EUDefenceAgency/status/2031318842031407113#m

Germany Receives First Patria CAVS 6x6 Armoured Vehicles under Multinational Programme

https://defensemirror.com/news/41185/Germany_Receives_First_Patria_CAVS_6x6_Armoured_Vehicles_under_Multinational_Programme

#Patria #Bundeswehr #CAVS #ArmouredVehicles #MilitaryProcurement #EuropeanDefence #Germany #DefenceIndustry #ProtectedMobility #Ukraine

Saudi-UAE feud affects military showcase

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://dailytimes.com.pk/1447244/saudi-uae-feud-affects-military-showcase/

Rheinmetall’s Rocket Ride: From €93 to €1,840 on Taxpayer-Fueled War Profits

Rheinmetall’s: €1,000 to €19,785 on Ukraine War – How Taxpayers Fund the Ultimate Laundromat

On 1 March 2022, as Russian columns rolled toward Kyiv, Rheinmetall AG shares closed at €93.44 on the Xetra exchange. Fast-forward to 5 November 2025: €1,840.00 – a blistering 1,952% gain that turned every €1,000 pocket change into €19,785. While families across Europe ration heating and governments slash pensions, one Düsseldorf postcode has never had it so good. The secret? A fearmongering perpetual-motion machine that transforms taxpayer euros into corporate super-profits, one artillery shell at a time.

This is not conspiracy. It is accounting.

Step 1: Scare the electorate
Politicians thunder about “Russian tanks 500km from Berlin”. NATO ups its target to 3.5% GDP. Germany alone unlocks €100bn Sondervermögen plus annual €80bn+ budgets. No public tender required – “emergency clauses” wave through framework deals worth tens of billions.

Step 2: Hand the cash to Rheinmetall
June 2024: largest contract in company history – €8.5bn for 155mm artillery rounds, paid upfront by Berlin, destined for Ukraine. Q1 2025 order backlog: €63bn. CEO Armin Papperger brags “customers buy whole factories”. Translation: governments pre-pay for plants that churn shells billed at €3,000–€6,000 apiece – margins north of 21%.

Step 3: Launder every penny
No suitcase cash, no Swiss accounts. The cleanest grift in history:

• German Treasury wires billions to Rheinmetall AG (DE0007030009)
• Rheinmetall books “defence sales” – €9.75bn in 2024 alone, +36% YoY
• EBITDA margin 21.71%; operating profit €1.48bn
• Dividends soar; insiders sell at €1,900+
• Zero VAT on “military exports”, full state risk guarantees if Russia sues
  Result? Taxpayer nickel → corporate dime → shareholder dollar, rinsed spotless through the Bundestag ledger.

Past scandals prove the playbook works.

• 2012: banned in India for bribery; paid €46m German fine in 2024 for Greek submarine kickbacks
• 2008 South Africa: 51% “local” stake masked full control; ongoing probes
• 2025: zero money-laundering convictions – because the laundry IS the state budget

The human cost is measured in ledgers and lives.
Each €3,000 shell fired near Pokrovsk was pre-paid by a German nurse’s income tax or a French teacher’s pension contribution. Rheinmetall’s Unterlüß mega-factory – built on the same soil where Nazi forced labourers died making 88mm rounds – now runs three shifts, employing 3,000 at premium wages. Stock buybacks? €500m authorised. CEO bonus? Tied to “Nomination” – the €15bn pipeline of future call-offs.

Critics who cry “money laundering” are half-right. Classic laundering hides dirty money. This is reverse laundering: dirty geopolitics washed into pristine quarterly results. Brussels’ €1bn ammunition subsidy pool? Rheinmetall grabbed the lion’s share. EU “Ukraine Facility” loans? Collateralised by future shell profits.

Even the factories are taxpayer gifts.

• Weiden: €200m state subsidies for Lynx IFV line
• Unterlüß: €300m public funds for 700,000 rounds/year
• Ukraine JV: Berlin guarantees every bomb built behind the Dnieper

Shareholders laugh all the way to Monaco. Institutional holders – BlackRock (7.2%), Vanguard, Norwegian Sovereign Wealth – pocket dividends funded by widows in Kherson. Retail bag-holders on X celebrate “5Y +2,152%” while their own sons dodge conscription.

Is it legal? Impeccably.
Framework agreements bypass competitive bids. “National security” clauses bury details. EU auditors wave through “military exemption”. Papperger himself boasts: “We deliver certainty – governments deliver cash.”

The fearmongering flywheel spins faster:

• Trump threatens NATO pullout → panic buying
• Putin rattles sabre → emergency clauses
• Stock hits €2,008 (Oct 2025 high) → analysts hike targets to €2,500
  Loop complete.

Yet cracks appear.

• July 2025: €46m bribery settlement re-opened old wounds
• Whistle-blower leaks show 12% “consultant fees” on Ukraine deals
• Hungarian prosecutors eye Rheinmetall’s Budapest shell plant for “irregular subsidies”

Still, the machine hums. Q3 2025 guidance: sales +28%, defence margin 15%. Translation: another €2bn+ from public coffers before Christmas.

What would stop it?
A single Bundestag vote to cap margins at 8%. A brave prosecutor to call framework deals “state aid in camouflage”. Or peace – the one scenario Papperger never models.

Until then, every European who pays tax is an involuntary Rheinmetall shareholder. Your €50 monthly solidarity surcharge? That’s 16 more shells. Your cancelled hospital wing? That’s one more Panther tank.

The chart on your screen – that glorious green candle from €93 to €1,840 – is not a success story. It is an invoice. And the bill is addressed to you.

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References

#DefenceIndustry #Rheinmetall #taxpayerMoney #TaxpayerLaundering #warProfiteering #WarProfiteers

In this new defence landscape, #Telefónica's president has stated the company's commitment to investing in defence and placing itself "at the service" of #Indra, which is being positioned as Spain's national defence technology champion. This aligns with the government's recent acquisition of a 10% stake in #Telefónica, signalling its view of the company as a strategic national asset.

https://share.google/v9GHKrTJ8MUctPmcj

#IndustrialResilience #DefenceIndustry #Cybersecurity #TechSovereignty #FabCat

ASELSAN, dünyanın en değerli 18. savunma şirketi oldu: ASELSAN, küresel savunma sanayisinde önemli bir başarıya imza attı. Şirket, 15,18 milyar dolarlık piyasa değeriyle dünyada en değerli 18. savunma sanayisi şirketi oldu.

Amerika merkezli Companies Market Cap sitesinin verilerine göre, dünya genelinde halka açık savunma şirketleri sıralamasında zirvede 180 milyar dolarlık piyasa… https://www.eshahaber.com.tr/haber/aselsan-dunyanin-en-degerli-18.-savunma-sirketi-oldu-229384.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon EshaHaber.com.tr #ASELSAN #SavunmaSanayi #DefenceIndustry #Türkiye #Ekonomi