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Abolition of cash = abolition of sovereignty

by Marita Brune-Koch

(22 March 2024) It is so convenient to pay with your card, to carry out all your banking transactions from home, to pay on the train or bus with an application. As part of the anti-Covid measures, we were taught that we should make even small payments without cash, since this was more hygienic. Why still use cash? In fact, we are facing strong attempts at the national and international level to eliminate cash. When looking at it more closely, we see that these efforts are not really aimed at the comfort and security of citizens.
EFTA

In the land of the Maharajahs, this Lilliput is Goliath

by Christian Campiche,* Lausanne

(22 March 2024) We can bet that the media, public service excepted, will not make this their headlines. This would be unfair because the announced agreement with India finally constitutes good news for the Swiss economy. It took no less than 16 years of tenacious negotiations for the painstaking work carried out by Swiss officials of the European Free Trade Association, EFTA, to bear fruit. “An important milestone for our country’s trade policy,” comments the Federal Department of Economic Affairs.

“People are looking at Switzerland!”

by Ralph Bosshard,* Switzerland

(22 March 2024) (Ed.) The divided world needs mediators – but only those who are neutral can be mediators. Switzerland should strengthen its neutrality not only to avoid being drawn into a war itself, but also to be able to play an active mediating role in serious conflicts between other countries! The world needs mediators!

German war plans against Russia

Discussions among senior German officers

by Robert Seidel

(16 March 2024) At the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, the German government reassured the country’s worried citizens that only helmets from old Bundeswehr stocks would be delivered to Ukraine and that any further military support would be ruled out. But the population’s mistrust was not deceived.

Middle East

In Gaza, March has begun just like February has ended – with death and destruction

by Karin Leukefeld*

(16 March 2024) (CH-S) Karin Leukefeld – one of the few independent Western journalists in the region – describes the inhumane situation in Gaza in precise words. She repeatedly gives the floor to directly affected civilians whom she knows personally. Her report from the beginning of March is stirring and extremely informative.
PISA-Results

Critisism is getting louder

Everyone wants to do well in PISA, as if that were good education policy

by Michael Felten,* Germany

(16 March 2024) In Germany, more and more voices are criticising the global school performance study PISA and its consequences. In February 2024, for example, the German Philologists’ Association suggested withdrawing from this process altogether. Among the well-known critics is Rainer Kaenders,** the top maths teacher trainer at the University of Bonn.