“Switzerland’s alignment move towards the USA is problematic”
Interview with National Councilor Carlo Sommaruga, SP(Socialist Party), Canton Geneva
Current Concerns: How do you judge the performance of Federal Councilor Burkhalter at NATO in Chicago? In the last years NATO has emerged to be an imperial war alliance. Therefore it is especially inappropriate that a neutral state is represented by a member of the government at the NATO summit. How do you judge that?
National Councilor Carlo Sommaruga: It was not the presence of our Federal Councilor for Foreign Affairs that was problematic but the indication of his wish to bind Switzerland more closely to NATO. This contradicts neutrality – even active neutrality – and it opposes Switzerland’s endeavour to strengthen the UN as a world assembly and the Security Council as a place for the development of collective security.
NATO is a military organisation to defend the USA’s strategic interests and those of the countries that ride on the US’s hegemonic wave. Indeed, there exists an alignment move of Switzerland towards the USA and that’s problem,.
Federal Councilor Burkhalter wants to commit himself to a closer collaboration between NATO and OSCE when Switzerland will preside the OSCE in 2014. How do you assess this course of action?
That is a radical mistake. The OSCE is a place of dialogue and is developing more and more to a universal instrument of our democratic values and human rights. The fact that Switzerland and Serbia share the chairmanship is a living example of that. NATO is a place where power relations are created for the defence of one superpower’s interests.
How do you assess the cooperation between NATO and Switzerland with respect to the fighting of cyber attacks announced by Federal Councilor Burkhalter?
Conventional war was the war of the 19th and 20th century. Cyber war is that of the 21st century. The viruses Stuxnet and Flame released by the western powers against Iran are the best examples. To intensify the cooperation with NATO, that is to say with the USA in the field of cyber defence, obviously means joining the USA’s military strategy. An independent strategy of cooperation with neutral states would make much more sense.
Didier Burkhalter basically aims at a close collaboration with NATO as he did already in the Defence Committee (Sicherheitspolitische Kommission SIK). What do you say about that, and how can we prevent our country to become an appendage of the US empire and become involved in wars contrary to international law?
It is important to place the UN in the centre and to commit oneself to the strengthening and democratisation of their agencies: to commit ourselves to the defence of the human rights, their defence everywhere in the world, in China, in Russia and even in the USA and their allies. The Swiss active neutrality must be retrieved from storage where it has been pushed by Didier Burkhalter after he took office. With that a genuine diplomacy of values can be reactivated, and not one of short-term interests and of seeking shelter with the world power.
Hiding oneself behind a mixture of values and interests means in plain English to give up those genuine values and to adapt oneself to the powerful be it for military or economic interests. •
“We have no business with NATO“
Interview with National Councilor Jakob Büchler, CVP (Christian People’s Party), Canton St. Gallen
Current Concerns: Federal Councilor Burkhalter has made a controversial appearance at the NATO. What do you say as a former president of the National Council’s Defence Committee?
National Councilor Jakob Büchler: I was surprised that Federal Councilor Burkhalter moved on the political stage as if we were a NATO member. It was also amazed that he took part in Chicago. Moreover, he was in the media and answered questions on Swiss television. That’s all very strange, because Switzerland has no say in NATO decisions. We are not a member, we do not pay anything, so we have no business there.
Burkhalter said in Chicago that if Switzerland took the OSCE presidency in two years, he would push for a closer cooperation with NATO. It is really amazing that the head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of a neutral state, where 95 percent of the Swiss population want Switzerland’s neutrality to be ensured is chumming up with a military alliance like NATO. How do you assess that?
OSCE and NATO can not be compared nor do they belong together. OSCE observes elections and observes, whether human rights are being respected, etc. It has nothing to do with war and aggression. NATO is a purely military alliance, which had its origins in the Cold War. Today, NATO is seeking its task. It intends to get Afghanistan in order, a task at which it will not be successful. If one leaves that country in 2014, it will be very difficult to leave it behind orderly or even to democratize it. That will not work. Nobody knows what will happen then. That remains to be seen.
What is NATO’s role today?
Libya has shown us that NATO no longer works as a mere defensive alliance. At the NATO summit in Budapest, where I was invited as a parliamentarian, we were told that Lybia was attacked with 10 000 air strikes and that no soldier had to set foot in this country. What the consequences are, will become clear in the future. Gaddafi left 5000 missiles, ground-air- and ground-ground missiles. They are now in the hands of al-Qaeda or other insurgents, and nobody knows where they will show up, may be in the hands of the “Syrian freedom fighters”. NATO will have to face that some day.
So as I said, I do wonder what Federal Councilor Burkhalter wants to cause there. The Swiss people do not want to join NATO, the Swiss people want to hold on to their neutrality, and that‘s what I want. So there is no flirting with NATO membership, as little as with an EU accession.
I was really astounded that he went door-knocking at the NATO. •
“NATO not a good partner for Switzerland”
Interview with National Councilor Ueli Leuenberger, GPS (Green Party of Switzerland), Canton Geneva
Current Concerns: What do you think about Federal Councilor Burkhalter’s visit at the NATO in Chicago?
National Councilor Ueli Leuenberger: It is not his visit that bothers me. What bothers me are the explanations about a closer collaboration with NATO (etc.). Of course, I want to know precisely what kind of project that is.
What bothers you about a closer collaboration with NATO?
I oppose a closer collaboration with NATO: Switzerland has to be active within the UN. Actually, NATO is not a good partner for Switzerland.
What is NATO in your opinion?
In a large part it is still a tool of some big states, especially the US. We saw how they intervened in wars etc., depending on who was in office in the US. I oppose operations of the Swiss Armed Forces abroad, e×cept if it was within the framework of the UN. And in that case it still would have to be discussed. To intensify relations or cooperation with NATO has no priority for Switzerland and is politically wrong.
So, to your mind we could as well have sent an ambassador as observer to the summit?
Well, there is indeed the question, what his business was there, actually and whether it was really necessary. But the result has shown that Mr Burkhalter would like to give this relationship more relevance. What I do hope is that the matter will also be discussed in the committees concerned, the Defence Committees or the Foreign Affairs Committees and that everybody will put their cards on the table. •
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