Global Research

“At least on three occasions since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Russians have proposed a new security arrangement for Europe in the context of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe), treaty based with the Security Council. This was in the 1990s. The last time they made a proposal, a less ambitious one, this was in December 2021, they proposed open conversations with NATO on the one hand, with the US on the other hand, to try to find an arrangement which would create a sable security system, not just for Europe….” – Jean-Daniel Ruch, former Swiss Diplomat and Ambassador

For full interview with Ambassador Jean-Daniel Ruch (48 minutes), see below.

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In this interview Mr. Jean-Daniel Ruch describes how Switzerland’s moves towards integration into NATO and the European Union is not only compromising Swiss neutrality, but also Swiss identity and Swiss credibility as a neutral state which can offer her diplomatic services for mediating conflicts between countries.

This has already been voiced on several occasions by Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov. For example, Lavrov said in an interview with Russian radio stations that Switzerland had turned from a neutral country into an “openly hostile country”. It was therefore not suitable for conducting peace negotiations on Ukraine.

On another occasion, when Minister Lavrov met in January 2024 with Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis on the sidelines of the UN Security Council open debate on the situation in the Palestinian territories, Lavrov was assessing Switzerland’s continued drifting away from the principles of neutrality and her (the Swiss) reckless support for the Kiev regime. He emphasized that Russia takes such actions and unfriendly policy into consideration when planning its approach to the Swiss track.

Ambassador Ruch says that the concept of neutrality is almost gone around the world, and sadly also, and especially in Switzerland which had a long, hundreds of years long tradition, although neutrality was never written into the Swiss Constitution.  It would be an uphill battle for Switzerland to restore her image as neutral nation. But Jean-Daniel Ruch does not give up and keeps working towards it.

Sweden and Finland – traditionally two neutral countries – are being integrated into NATO within less than a year, an unprecedented fast-track, just to demonstrate another aggression towards Russia, with now each of the two countries having 15 or 17 armed-to-the-teeth NATO military bases.

This apparently in response to Russia’s “aggression” – illegal invasion of Ukraine – an idea sold to the (western) worldwide public, so that a majority of people, still believing in the mainstream, will become vehemently anti-Russian.

And that is precisely what we have seen.

The governments of these countries know exactly that they are following a lie, that they have prostituted themselves to the western powers, that Russia never was and never will be an enemy for them, has never in the past shown the slightest signs that they may “invade” or otherwise aggress Sweden and Finland.

Finland, at one point, was in a conflict with the Soviet Union. Those were different times and Finland knows quite well that the current Russia is far a way from the then Soviet Union.

Why are they doing it?

There must be sinister agenda behind it.

Why does the European Union practically force its members to sanction Russia, while these people, ahead of all, Madame Von der Leyen, unelected President of the EU Commission, also know perfectly well that Russia is not a danger, but rather would like to cooperate and trade with Europe?

Again, there must be a sinister agenda behind it.

One explanation is that these two countries, especially Sweden, were in the past 20 years or so, no longer convinced about their neutrality. Her military was prepared to join NATO – or a precursor of NATO, with an army they call “interoperability” with NATO, meaning that the management of their defense was handed to NATO, or actually to Washington.

Something similar is in process in Switzerland. The silent move towards NATO may not be direct membership as of yet, but also handing over the army largely to the command of NATO, i.e., Washington.

While Ambassador Ruch was State Secretary of Defense under the Minister of Defense, he said, he was always opposed and made no secret of it, that Switzerland was moving ever closer to NATO. He talks about the deep penetration of the American, and also Israeli influences into “our [Swiss] military system”.

One of the latest scandals was the purchase of Israeli drones worth 300 million Swiss francs. They were ordered in 2019 but will not be available until 2029, and then these “toys” have to be accompanied by a helicopter or plane – so, he says with a smile, “You wonder why you need drones if they need to be accompanied by a helicopter or plane.”

Also: “Our neutrality has been largely destroyed by our current Foreign Minister, and also, we do not have within the Federal Council, people who have a vision of what the role of Switzerland in the world should be.” In other words, they have given in, or sold out to the western powers.

The people in the Swiss Federal Council are weak. They have no sense of Swiss identity anymore; they no longer reason what Swiss neutrality means for Switzerland and for the world.

Ambassador Ruch speaks about the enormous incompetence – or corruption — in the Swiss Defense Department. It is possibly that for this reason there is this blind trust in the US military, in NATO – to the point of willingness to hand over the management of the Swiss army to NATO, or actually to Washington.

“In our country [Switzerland], there is very little or none democratic or civilian control over our armed forces, over what they are doing, while we have created at the University of Geneva an institute that teaches African and small Eastern European countries on how their democracies and civil society should control their armed forces.”

Reading the latest intelligence report about threats to Switzerland, Mr. Ruch says, makes you believe it was written in Washington or Tel Aviv.

“Our [the Swiss] enemies are China, North Korea, Iran, and Russia, of course. This is a vision from Washington, but clearly not from Switzerland.”

Because Jean-Danile Ruch was open and outspoken against these aberration in the Swiss defense system, he was exposed to a slander campaign and marginalized.

Ambassador Ruch says that the Americans feel again on top of the world, and in control of the west, and therefore they are sure that Switzerland is “just another toy” and will behave. He is not sure whether and how this trend can be reversed.

“That’s why an opponent like me is not desirable, and they started an ugly smear campaign against me…”

He mentions corruption in the procurement process and calls it a scandal – and to top it off, Mr. Ruch says that the Swiss security forces – all of them – were infiltrated by special interest groups, meaning US and Israel.

While the Swiss media are predominantly still in the western camp – “russophobic” and pro-NATO — their power isn’t anymore what it used to be. Also, on the positive side, there is a growing pushback by the people to this indiscriminate adoption of western political values. People react and one of the results of this reaction is the Swiss Referendum to bring Switzerland back to Neutrality, without sanctions on the imposed enemies. This referendum will be voted on either in 2025 or in 2026. If accepted by the people, neutrality will be written into the Swiss Constitution.

“My view was always that we [Switzerland] must maintain our usefulness in the world, which is our neutrality, and for that we have to keep distant from NATO”.

For the full extremely interesting interview about the deliberate abandonment of Swiss neutrality and silent approach to NATO, and the people’s pushback to gain back this invaluable asset called Neutrality – please listen to the full (48-min) video interview of 14 January 2025 above. 

Peter Koenig is a geopolitical analyst and a former Senior Economist at the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO), where he worked for over 30 years around the world. He is the author of Implosion – An Economic Thriller about War, Environmental Destruction and Corporate Greed; and co-author of Cynthia McKinney’s book “When China Sneezes: From the Coronavirus Lockdown to the Global Politico-Economic Crisis” (Clarity Press – November 1, 2020).

Peter is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG). He is also a non-resident Senior Fellow of the Chongyang Institute of Renmin University, Beijing.

Featured image is from Keystone / Lukas Lehmann