Bravo for the Swiss government for vetoing plan to send 96 German tanks to Ukraine to simply get blown apart by Russian artillery. Swiss arms maker Ruag AG sought a license to send the tanks to Germany for refurbishment before transfer to Ukraine in their quixotic continuation of a war slaughtering their military and destroying their country.
Tanking Swiss tanks for Ukraine follows their earlier refusal to allow Germany to release Swiss make anti-aircraft ordinance held in German stockpiles to Ukraine.
Switzerland’s NATO neighbors are not pleased. The French ambassador to Switzerland charged Swiss neutrality is “a problem for Europe”. But the real problem for Europe is, by following America’s lead pouring hundreds of billions in weaponry to further destroy Ukraine, their also edging the US/NATO closer to nuclear confrontation with Russia.
Swiss President Alain Berset had a perfect retort to his war loving neighbors all in for weaponry, and all out for negotiations: “Warfare is not part of the Swiss DNA.”
Sure wish the Swiss could share some of that Swiss DNA with President Biden and his compliant weapons poodles in Europe.
Walt Zlotow became involved in antiwar activities upon entering University of Chicago in 1963. He is current president of the West Suburban Peace Coalition based in the Chicago western suburbs. He blogs daily on antiwar and other issues at www.heartlandprogressive.blogspot.com.
Switzerland did the right thing by not caving in to NATO. The US & NATO led proxy war in Ukraine is as useless as other wars and NATO which should have gone the way of the Warsaw Pact, USSR and the Berlin Wall.
Germany was better under Merkel than under Scholz. She stayed out of the USA’s wars although she could have been even better by ending aid to Israel and Saudi Arabia. France was better under Jacques Chirac. It stayed out of America’s wars and did not provide aid to Israel. At that time, most Americans and Israelis said the Europeans, especially the French were Anti-American and Anti-Semitic. Most Europeans said the biggest threats to world peace were the USA and Israel.
Switzerland did cave in to NATO to at least some degree, cooperating with sanctions early in the war.