Editorial companion

What stands out

A squadron of French jets tracing the sky for America’s 250th anniversary looks like a headline-grabbing photo op, and that is the point. It is public diplomacy made cinematic: a reminder that France still treats the transatlantic relationship as worth staging, not just signing statements. For investors, those images matter because they help shape the slow-moving variables markets care about, like alliance cohesion, defense cooperation, and the political will to sponsor joint programs in aerospace and security over decades.