mw. In the rough wind blowing around us, caused by our mainstream media and a number of Swiss and foreign politicians, it is a blessing to read a praise of our neutrality penned by the former US Ambassador to Switzerland, Edward T. McMullen Jr.
“Quiet diplomacy in action” –
the basis of Switzerland’s Good Offices
McMullen served as ambassador for Switzerland and Liechtenstein under the Trump administration from 2017 to 2021. With his impressive appeal titled “A praise of Swiss Neutrality: I want to give clarity to those outside Switzerland who question Swiss neutrality and seek to redefine it. Once again, the Swiss good offices proved invaluable.”, he set a counterpoint to today’s war bluster.
Ambassador McMullen states: “A Switzerland poised to offer good offices as a neutral party while determined to negotiate for peace and freedom is a contribution to the international order that should be properly and historically understood and respected.” He recounts of his own experience, which touched him deeply: The Swiss ambassador and his staff in Tehran succeeded, thanks to relentless efforts, in helping an US citizen who had been imprisoned there since 2016 to be released in December 2019. Edward McMullen spent months in Berne learning “about the compassion and professionalism” of the Swiss ambassadors.
On his arrival at Zurich airport the freed man told him “if it were not for the Swiss and their willingness to bring him books, western food, and hope for freedom, he could never have endured.”
Similar things were reported by others, McMullen said, “It must not be forgotten...”. McMullen had recalled the “quiet hum of diplomacy in action”, “The very essence of the good offices for which Switzerland has long been respected and admired.” He adds: “After a long history of success Switzerland’s Good Offices have once again proved invaluable.”
A task for Switzerland,
“like no other nation is able to do”
After all the newspaper commentaries he had read recently, Ambassador McMullen wanted to “give clarity to those outside Switzerland who question Swiss neutrality and seek to redefine it.” Not only for non-Swiss, it must unfortunately be added.
Its neutrality allowed Switzerland, “to play a role in international negotiations, peace and stability that no other nation is capable of offering,” said the ambassador. “During this debate about Switzerland’s future role in world affairs, it is incumbent upon the community of nations to look back and remember the important roles Switzerland has played in helping arrange the major diplomatic agreements and conversations that have prevented wars, rebuilt nations and presented Swiss fundamental peace policy with global trade partnerships and good offices”.
And especially for his compatriots: “Geneva has, over the past forty years, been the location of choice for US/Russian diplomatic meetings.” •
Source: Edward T. McMullen Jr.: "Swiss good offices prove invaluable – A praise of Swiss neutrality”. In: Weltwoche of 8 April 2023.
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