Switzerland Considers Ending Its Policy of Neutrality

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A group of Swiss lawmakers has moved forward a proposal to allow countries to give Swiss-made weapons to Ukraine, in a move that would soften Switzerland’s centuries-old policy of neutrality toward foreign conflicts.

*“The majority of the committee believes Switzerland must offer its contribution to European security, [ “Besides there is money to be made.”-tj commentary inserted] which requires more substantial aid to Ukraine,” the Swiss parliamentary security committee said in a statement.

The decision would represent a significant break from the policy of Swiss neutrality, though its supporters insist that the measure would not violate their law of neutrality since Bern would not be sending weapons directly.

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Bad idea, the Russian Oligarchs won’t put their money in Swiss banks any longer.

The Captain

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Too late. The Swiss already froze their assets. The oligarchs will be forced to buy condos in New York instead j/k.

It is interesting to see how Putin’s blunder is changing the geopolitical landscape.

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Then they are not neutral! Who told them to? The US?

The Captain

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I got the impression it was more of an EU thing, but I don’t really know.

But like I say, this is evidence of geopolitical landscaping changing. For a while it looked like US influence was slowly diminishing with the rise of China and more recently with tariffs and such and countries began looking for more reliable partners. But the US appears to be back in the game as the global leader.

The emerging Russia/China block seems to be just about dead. When the smoke clears (both figuratively and literally) Russia will still be a nuclear power, but her military will be a spent force and Russia lacks the ability to reconstitute it. There will always be at least some market for Russian oil and gas, but nobody will be willing to rely on it. On top of that, Russia doesn’t have the technical ability to maintain its fields. They’ll have to learn to play nice or they will be in world of hurt.

Earlier this year we had a thread about how China’s population officially declined for the first time. Some think it was already in decline. That means China’s era of high growth is either over or soon to be over. We’ve had a few discussion about the Chinese financial system being a bit shakey. We’ll see how that plays out. Russia’s population was already in decline before the war. Killing off a percentage of the young men will not help with that problem.

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