In Germany there is a political dispute about the war: Poland wants to supply Leopard tanks to Ukraine. But because the world’s best combat vehicles come from Germany, Berlin has to give its approval. Chancellor Scholz hesitates, the opposition insists, just like the coalition partners FDP and the Greens.
Central keyword of the German debate: solidarity.
How long will Scholz be able to afford to block Poland’s delivery of the Leopard 2 that Kiev so desires in the eyes of the Western public? Rockets are raining down on Ukraine every day and every hour; Putin seems determined to bomb the invaded neighbor to rubble and ash.
Spain wants to deliver military equipment to Ukraine, these are parts of anti-aircraft systems made in Switzerland. Bern must agree to further exports, but the Bundesrat rejects Madrid’s wishes.
The keyword of the Swiss debate: neutrality.
In the eyes of the world public, can Switzerland still afford to block Spanish solidarity with mortally besieged Ukraine? There, mothers and children die every day in bombed-out homes and schools; The Russian soldiers are abducting Ukrainian citizens from occupied territories to Putin’s empire – for ethnic Russification.
The frenzy of the Kremlin troops is unrestrained, reminiscent of the Nazis’ madness for destruction in World War II: mercenaries of the so-called “Group Wagner” loot, rape and kill prisoners with hammers.
Swiss neutrality? They don’t exist!
Those who do not rush Ukraine’s military aid, even if they could, are rushing to the aid of Putin: whoever weakens Ukraine strengthens Russia.
Which of the two will help Switzerland?
The Bundesrat cannot escape an answer to this question. Not even neutral silence. Why then does he insist on a theoretical neutrality that practically does not exist? Does tactical consideration of the right-wing populist neutrality initiative distort the view of world reality? The Helvetian attitude seems erratic for western freedom nations.
Yes, Switzerland is behaving completely out of place – at a bad time for Europe, at a bad time for the Ukrainian people.