Swiss government continues to practice double standards
by Christian Müller*
(14 February 2025) Can a woman be “a little bit pregnant”? No, either she is pregnant, or she is not! It is the same with neutrality: either a state is neutral, or it is not neutral. But the Swiss government is pursuing a US- and NATO-friendly course, while claiming that, as a “neutral country”, it is also a good place for peace talks.
The good news first: Viola Amherd, last year’s President of the Swiss Confederation and defence minister, whose chaotic conditions in her department could no longer be hidden, understood the call to resign – and she will indeed resign in March.
(Picture infosperber)
However, the 36 new F-35 US fighter jets she selected have been ordered, the tens of billions of francs in costs not covered by her budget and the other unresolved problems in her department will unfortunately not disappear with her resignation. And so, it is not surprising that the party “Die Mitte” (The Centre), which, according to Swiss custom, is entitled to the vacant Federal Council seat, had trouble finding any politicians at all who were willing to take over this department. Only at the last minute two men were found who were willing to take over the highly problematic DDPS – Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sports. Neither of them is particularly suited for the job, and parliament is already toying with the idea of electing a non-officially proposed candidate to the government in this case.
The more eligible and better-equipped candidate of the two men, the farmer Markus Ritter, has already been asked how he feels about Switzerland’s neutrality. His answer: one must be neutral “situationally”. So again, “a little bit pregnant, depending on the situation”. Does he really think that this will satisfy those who stand up for neutrality and at the same time make those happy who would rather bury neutrality after it was already dramatically damaged by the Federal Council in spring 2022 when it adopted the EU sanctions against Russia across the board?1
Let us recall: last year, a so-called peace summit was held on the Bürgenstock, high above Lake Lucerne, under the responsibility of President of the Swiss Confederation Viola Amherd and Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis.2 The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selenskyi was invited and embraced, but Russian, the other warring party, was not invited. A first-class theatre of politics costing over ten million Swiss francs.
And what was learned from this?
Nothing, because the same theatre was also held in Davos at the WEF in January 2025. Russian President Vladimir Putin is also barred from there, but the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Selenskyi, who cancelled the elections himself, is not, and he was once again warmly welcomed by the new President of the Swiss Confederation, Karin Keller-Sutter! And what does the editor-in-chief of the CH Media newspapers, Patrik Müller, write about this on the front page of the associated newspapers?
“Compared to his appearance on the same stage a year ago, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Selenskyi seemed strangely powerless in Davos yesterday. He was right about everything he said: Europe must stand together and fight Putin together, Europe must help Ukraine and thus help itself. Because China is supporting Russia – and waiting for the US is not enough.”
Please note: “Selenskyi was right about everything!” The man may have delegitimised himself by cancelling the presidential elections in Ukraine, but he is “right about everything”. And at the same time, Patrik Müller’s newspapers showed a picture of a laughing Selenskyi on the front page, to whom the new President of the Swiss Confederation, Karin Keller-Sutter, is also beaming as she shakes his hand. And the headline: “Switzerland is positioning itself for peace talks”. The democratically delegitimised – yet still called president – Volodymyr Selenskyi is invited, warmly welcomed and applauded; the rightful president of the other warring party, Putin, has never even been invited, but Switzerland feels predestined as a place for peace talks.
In an ABC for the WEF, which the same editor-in-chief Patrik Müller had published two days earlier, he explained under “Z for Zaun” [fence] that 52 kilometres of fence had to be erected for the security of this elitist event in Davos and 5,000 members of the army had to be called up for an “assistance service” , and that the security costs of the WEF alone amount to 9 million Swiss francs, half of which are paid by Switzerland – the federal government, the canton of Graubünden and the municipality of Davos: money for the security of a get-together of the Western super-rich! And once again: Russia is not invited here either, but Selenskyi is allowed to give a stern talking-to at the address of the Europeans and is applauded! And that is the basis for peace talks!
And how do the Swiss public media respond at a time when Switzerland is “getting ready to position itself for peace talks”? The “Echo der Zeit”, the most important news programme of the public broadcasting service in German, just reported that despite sanctions, Russian birch plywood is still entering Switzerland, of course, via other countries. And which “expert” is consulted on this? Benjamin Hilgenstock,3 who works for the think tank KSE, the “Kyiv School of Economics” and who in this conversation about Russian birch plywood calls Russia an “increasingly fascist dictatorship”.
Switzerland, the ideal country for peace talks!
| * Christian Müller, born in 1944, studied history and constitutional law at the University of Zurich and graduated with a DPhil. He studied business administration at the (then) Handelshochschule St. Gallen. This was followed by 28 years of active journalism at various Swiss daily and weekly newspapers in various positions (editorial office and editor-in-chief) as well as 20 years of publishing management (management, CEO, board of directors in various media). For many years he has been running his consulting company Commwork AG and has been editor of the online platform https://globalbridge.ch. |
Source: https://globalbridge.ch/die-schweizer-regierung-uebt-sich-weiter-in-doppelmoral/, 5 February 2025
(Translation “Swiss Standpoint”)
1 https://globalbridge.ch/die-schweiz-hat-ihre-neutralitaet-beerdigt-ich-schaeme-mich-dafuer/
2 https://globalbridge.ch/der-friedensgipfel-der-keiner-ist/