Switzerland’s so-called ‘flexible neutrality’ – a case of false labelling from Bern

A persistent misconception has taken hold in the Swiss media and political parties, and, regrettably, in the minds of some eloquent Swiss politicians as well. Certain circles, including the current leadership of the Swiss Social Democratic Party (SP), reject the neutrality initiative due to be put to a referendum primarily on the grounds that it would prohibit economic sanctions in future. To this end, the trump card of “solidarity” is also being trotted out.

Solidarity – a grand, yet often misused word. Solidarity with whom? With the scatterbrained and unscrupulous Donald Trump? He makes use of Switzerland’s good offices and, even on the eve of his planned attack on Iran in February 2026, pretends as though he wants to discuss peace seriously with its negotiators. A few hours after an agreement that was within touching reach in Geneva, American bombs strike Iran once again, killing high-ranking officials in the government, the military high command and religious institutions. They also kill schoolchildren – a blind, frenzied mass murder, a treacherously orchestrated act of pure destruction. This is and remains a grave war crime, yet another in which Israel’s current leadership is complicit, in addition to its targeted killings in the Gaza Strip.
    Is this what the future of our world is supposed to look like? Terror and massive destruction for a country that wishes to follow a different path to that dictated by the US and the EU?
    Switzerland has, on several occasions in the past, mustered the courage to reject illegal economic sanctions unilaterally imposed by the US or the EU, invoking its neutrality. It did well to do so. But suddenly, overnight, at a nod from “Big Brother”, there was a full 180-degree U-turn. It has now been proven time and again that economic sanctions against countries and individuals have become a lethal weapon in economic wars. They replace or accompany warfare on the battlefields, but often inflict equal or even greater damage on those affected. Their architects are well aware of this; that is precisely what they want. This was made abundantly clear by the “slip of the tongue” from the then-naive German Foreign Minister in the Scholz government, when she said: “We are waging a war against Russia”, the aim of which is “to ruin Russia”. Annalena Baerbock (currently President of the UN General Assembly!) must have known that, according to independent studies all reaching the same conclusion, sanctions primarily affect the civilian population, including an alarmingly high number of children. This is due to malnutrition, poor hygiene and a lack of medical care resulting from the sanctions.
    In war-torn areas in particular, sanctions have a deadly impact on the civilian population. However, according to recent findings, this terrible weapon of economic warfare is ineffective in achieving the objectives put forward by those who employ it. Despite the US forcing other countries to participate in its economic warfare, Cuba, for example, remains socialist, whilst the Taliban continue to rule in Afghanistan. Iraq, which has been bombed back to the Stone Age, is still anything but a democracy today. Neither there, nor in Iran, nor in Russia have sanctions led to the formation of an insurgency against the government, as Trump’s delusional advisers apparently still believe. On the contrary, in both Iran and Russia, the West’s actions have led the population to decide to defend itself against external interference that violates international law.
    Nevertheless, the catastrophic misery in Africa and the Middle East – which is constantly exacerbated by sanctions – continues to grow. The Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross has repeatedly drawn attention to this with increasing desperation. Neither Putin nor Iran has caused this misery; rather, it has been caused primarily by the Americans with their so-called “war on terror” – from Clinton through Bush and Biden to Trump – obediently followed by the doomsday warmongers in Brussels, who have no other vision of world peace than that of a NATO that has become aggressive.
    Official Switzerland, based in Bern, continues in practice to meekly kowtow to the so-called powerful and to the notorious war criminal Trump, who unleashes bloody wars with as much nonchalance as if he were playing golf – a national disgrace. The Swiss Federal Council wants to be able to stick to its “flexible neutrality”. To what end? With its “flexible neutrality”, it did not put a stop to the madness on the Bürgenstock, but instead staged it before the whole world as an elaborate show for Zelenskyy, who for years has been sending hundreds of young people to their certain deaths every day. To what end? For whom? As far as genuine peace in the world is concerned, the elaborate Swiss scenario led to a complete failure. No wonder, when only one side of those embroiled in this terrible, protracted war is allowed to appear, whilst the other is ignored. This was yet another signal to the world that Switzerland has abandoned its neutrality (in favour of the US). The Bürgenstock event was not a peace conference, but a military parade of pro-American figures – highly embarrassing for our country – without a single word of concern for those revelling there. This was not the Swiss model of conflict resolution exemplified by figures such as Henri Dufour, Henry Dunant, Konrad Ilg, Giuseppe Motta, Henri Guisan, Didier Burkhalter and others – true servants of the common good of Switzerland, with an open-minded view of a world bleeding from many wounds.
    What our Federal Council as a whole has achieved in recent years in this fractured world has often amounted to kowtowing to powers that were mistakenly regarded as all-powerful. And even if they were, it is a Swiss tradition that we stand firm, do not sell off our sovereignty, but demand it out of conviction. Proven steadfastness is our best defence; credible neutrality is the key to this. There is a great deal of damage that needs to be repaired. Roger Köppel (Weltwoche daily of 1 August) has called this state of affairs by its real name: for him, the term “flexible neutrality” is not only arbitrary, it is also misleading and thus a form of “slang used by crooks”. Should Switzerland continue to persist with this barely concealed tacit acquiescence to the obvious misdeeds of the supposedly stronger party – and remain steadfastly silent about those of its ally as well? What sort of parliament do we actually have if it allows this blatant one-sidedness in the Swiss government’s actions to go unchallenged and even accepts it as neutrality?
    There is a good reason why the Neutrality Initiative is finally putting a definitive stop to these deadly weapons of sanctions. They must be condemned. This gives us the space to show genuine solidarity – not with so-called world rulers, but with populations suffering under the delusions of grandeur of unscrupulous war mongers. That is where Switzerland’s true solidarity lies: solidarity with people in distress, not with self-obsessed egomaniacs backed by the arms and financial lobbies that profit handsomely from perpetual war. The whole world, especially its underprivileged sections, has repeatedly pinned its hopes on this genuine solidarity – including on neutral Switzerland. There is only one remedy for the silent complicity of official Switzerland in the face of glaring, daily injustices: a resolute “yes” to consistent Swiss neutrality, on the referendum weekend of 27 September 2026, and before and after that date. •