The Turning Point: Assessing the Global Geostrategic Situation and Switzerland’s Role

The sentence slaps at the beginning of the final chapter of a book devoted to the global geostrategic situation: the world and therefore Switzerland too are “at a time of a fundamental turning point”. The author is not just anyone: he is one of the pioneers of strategic thinking within the Department of Defense, the architect of the security policy that Switzerland has been practicing since the 1990s. Furthermore, Ambassador Theodor H. Winkler established the three centers for international cooperation in security policy – ​​the GCSP(the Center for Security Policy in Geneva) dedicated to it, the International Center for Humanitarian Demining and the Center for the Democratic Control of the Armed Forces, which he led for sixteen years. He has just published a book – available in German: turning point. Russia and China’s grip on world power, Editions Lit) on the background, course and consequences for the world order of Putin’s aggression against Ukraine. He warns his readers against escalation: the Ukrainian conflict could prompt China to take back Taiwan by force, which could escalate into a world war. And Switzerland?

“Switzerland has lost a lot of ground internationally in recent years. The reason is the continuing lack of clarity in its relationship with the European Union.” European policy is punctuated by mistakes made since the rejection of the European Economic Area in 1992. The subject of relations with Brussels has become emotional. We have lost sight of the fact that it is a question of access for the Swiss economy to the world’s main internal market, to international scientific cooperation and to the possibility of solving the major problems which are common to us, starting with that electricity supply… The normalization of our relations with the EU is all the more important as the liberal democracies are in the process of adapting their institutions – EU and NATO – to the new situation created by the Russian invasion. They also want to coordinate with the Americans to widen the scope of the alliance towards Asia. “We are therefore marginalized in Europe, losing our attractiveness for the Americans and risk missing the train to Asia…” Then the author describes the lamentable state of the army. His lines read like an explanation of the text of the report that the head of the army published on August 17 on the strengthening of the military capacity of Switzerland: “The reality is brutal, proclaims our author, the rebalancing of the armed forces Swiss will still take time”.

Le Temps publishes chronicles, written by members of the editorial staff or outsiders, as well as opinions and forums, offered to personalities or requested by them. These texts reflect the point of view of their authors. They do not represent the position of the media.