Current Concerns 2014 No. 01 Quo Vadis NATO

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Current ConcernsThe international journal for independent thought, ethical standards, moral responsibility,

and for the promotion and respect of public international law, human rights and humanitarian law

26 January 2014No 1ISSN 1664-7963

Current ConcernsPO BoxCH-8044 ZurichSwitzerland

Phone: +41 44 350 65 50Fax: +41 44 350 65 51

E-Mail: [email protected]: www.currentconcerns.ch English Edition of Zeit-Fragen

Reflecting at the beginning of a new yearwhat the tasks are that we as individualsand as mankind carry over unresolvedinto the new year and with what furthertasks we might be confronted, may be anopportunity to reflect the basics on whichwe want to address and are capable of

addressing these issues and problems.Zeit-Fragen, respectively Current

Concerns, orients itself towards thosevalues of human coexistence which in allcultures have proven essential for our liv-ing together in peace, equality and digni-ty embracing all of mankind.

Within one country and in inter-statedealings, the principle of right has prec-edence over the principle of power asan unshakeable foundation. This alsoincludes the claim that the sovereigntyof every state be observed and that all

states are respected as inherently equal.History and not least contemporary his-tory of the past 25 years has aptly taughtus that forceful interferences from out-side labelled euphemistically protec-tion of human rights, responsibility toprotect or humanitarian interventionwhatsoever were in reality driven bypower and profit interests. Not one singlecase led to a genuine solution and im-provement of peoples lives.

War is always the agent of powerand profit. It deeply contradicts humannature. Genuine progress is only possibleby way of peaceful conflict resolutionenshrined in international law (in thesense of the UN Charter). Peace is oneof the most basic prerequisites to humanlife and human development. Unfortuna-tely, in many parts of the world we arefar from it.

Switzerland with its permanent armedneutrality has created a model whichtakes both into account, this political re-ality as well as the demand for peace. Itsmaxim says that we defend ourselvesin order to protect our freedom and our

self-determination, our people and ourcountry. We will never put ourselves atthe service of power politics of others. Inthis sense, any national state has the rightto self-determination.

The principle that right must comebefore might is also valid within a state.

According to Swiss experience, it is thefederalism, a political system built frombottom up that ensures civil peace best.Centralistic tendencies always containthe germ of power abuse and put thispeace at risk. Where solutions can beinfluenced and shaped by the directlyaffected people, as is the case with Swissdirect democracy at all governmentlevels, each individual has legallyenshrined opportunities to participatein shaping the coexistence in a self-determined and direct way and to share

in the responsibility for the commongood. Hence, Swiss experience showsthat there is a basis for sustainable andhumane solutions to problems so thatthey need not lead to violent forms ofstruggle.

What is true for political coexistencein general has to be valid for other areasof our social life, both, small and large.The economy is not to lead a life of itsown. Neither is it determined by themarket. Economic activity has been partof human life, for the well-being of all.An economy of this kind does apprecia-te and respect the treasures of nature andthe achievements of different cultures.The International Year of Family Far-mingwill give reason to repeatedly illu-minate these correlations. It shall remindus of the fact that it is the small fami-ly enterprises and not the agro-multina-tionals or the international corporationswhich constitute a real perspective in thefight of hunger. This is another scandalof our world and, furthermore, the pro-duct of power politics and greed prece-ding over right.

These values and demands for co-existence on a larger scale correspondto the personalist view of man. Everyhuman being is a person, capable of rea-son and ethics. As a social being, man ispart of the human community in whichhe lives. In the context of his family, his

social environment and its culture, he de-velopes his personal identity. Mental de-velopment happens while relating to hisfellows. It corresponds to his social na-ture to be able to better develop his indi-vidual personality, the more he feels con-nected to his fellows.

This is why our work is based on thepersonalist view of man and the find-ings of the personalist anthropology,a personalist psychology and pedago-gy. Hereby, the welfare of the individ-ual as well as the common good serve

us as benchmarks. Just as in the con-text of the larger coexistence, the equal-ity of man has to be generally respectedin the context of human relationships.Good faith, sincerety and honesty as abasis are valid as much in interpersonalrelationships as in the media. It contra-dicts the dignity of man and it contra-dicts the sovereignty and integrity of theindividual as well as the peoples, if ma-nipulative methods to direct people areemployed. The free expression of publicopinion within the political field mustbe maintained by all means otherwisewarmongering and abuse of power willhave their way.

Tendencies which raise these basicvalues to question, which endanger orhelp ruin them will therefore be critical-ly discussed by us. With our cooperative,our commitment and our newspaper wewant to counteract these tendencies.

These are our ethical principles. Forthese values we stand up.

The editors

Standpoint at the beginning of the year


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No 1 26 January 2014 Current Concerns Page 2

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Human rights, military operations, geo-political interests are three NATO slogansraising three important questions:1. Human rights for whom?

2. Military operations by whom and onwhose behalf?3. Is it a matter of geopolitical interests or

global political decisions?

NATO 1949

The Washington Agreement of 1949(NATO treaty) had required the peace-ful resolution of conflicts and declaredthat the geopolitical interests of the trans-atlantic alliance would not reach beyondthe borders of NATO member states!The NATO treaty pointed to the fact thatNATO states accepted United Nations law

(the Charter of the United Nations) asbinding and that they accepted subsidiari-ty. This means that human rights apply toeveryone, that the NATO countries geo-political interests are limited to their terri-tory, and that military operations are onlyallowed when it is about the defense of theNATO area. Nevertheless, there was al-ready then a caveat for NATO: The NATOstates were to decide whether the UN Se-curity Council had taken the right steps.If, in their opinion, this was not the case,they would act within the meaning of Ar-

ticle 5 of the NATO treaty without ref-erence to Article 51 of the UN Charter.This shows that from the very beginningNATO leadership thought in the sameway as they act today! This means thattoday as well as in the past they have al-ways questioned the monopoly right of theUN Security Council, since the Council isthe only body that has the right to decidewhether to intervene either with militaryor else with other means.

NATO 2013

In the 64 years since NATOs foundinginternational relations have considerablychanged. The NATO of 12 states in 1949has turned into the NATO of 28 states in2013. NATO has installed itself increas-ingly as a global security policy establish-ment in these years of hyper-linking. Weare prepared to develop political dialogueand practical cooperation with any na-tions and relevant organisations across theglobe that share our interest in peacefulinternational relations, reads the NATOstrategy of 2010.

Furthermore, NATO insists that it is

their job to deal with all the major nation-al issues of military and human (!) secu-rity. Energy security is a first priority inthis sense. US SenatorLugarwent a stepfurther when he emphasized that NATOcould intervene militarily according to Ar-

ticle 5 of its Statute, if some NATO statesaccess to energy sources was threatenedsomewhere in the world. However, itwould mean a serious violation of inter-

national law, if this actually happened.There is not much left of a NATO sub-sidiarity within the United Nations in theyear 2013! The result is a network of 28nations that are linked by Partnershipsfor Peace (PfP) worldwide. A variety offormer USSR states is involved. There isa dialogue agreement with Mediterraneanstates. By means of the so-called Istan-bul Initiative the countries of North Af-rica and the Middle East are included inthe NATO agenda. Particular connectionsexist between NATO and the Gulf Statesplus Yemen. Furthermore there is a lose

cooperation between the Israeli navy andthe naval forces of NATO. Special agree-ments were settled between NATO andSingapore, South Korea, Taiwan, NewZealand and Australia. The worlds twolargest drug producers, Colombia and Af-ghanistan, cooperate with NATO. Britain,which still owns the San-Diego islands inthe Indian Ocean, has leased them to theUnited States. The local military bases areused by NATO for deployments.

On behalf of NATO the US is current-ly trying to intensify its military relations

with Vietnam, Myanmar and East Timor.Similar attempts are made in the area ofthe five Central Asian states. In Liberiathe US Africom was recently deployedin Monrovia after having been withdrawnfrom Stuttgart. In most regions wherethere are no land bases, NATO is repre-sented by ships of the US Navy. Strategicpresence and a visible embrace of Chinaand Russia continue to be perfected. Itshould not come as a surprise that thisbrings along serious consequences for in-ternational relations!

The NATO enlargement is associat-ed with the non-declared goal of weak-ening others, especially of alliances suchas the Shanghai Cooperation Organiza-tion(SCO). Gladio, the mysterious un-derground organization of western states,which already existed in the times of theCold War, is an indication for the meansthat are used, even if they are not legal.

Developments in recent years haveshown an ever more expanding, but alsoincreasingly weaker NATO. Defeats in Af-ghanistan and Iraq, a war against Yugosla-via in violation of international law and

an invasion of Iraq that had not been ap-proved by the UN Security Council havebecome milestones of NATOs weaken-ing. The serious violation of the four Ge-neva Conventionsand theHague Conven-tionsby the mistreatment of prisoners at

Bagram, Abu Ghraib and Guantnamo aswell as US flights transporting prisonersto secret prisons in order to torture themin other countries, are additional causes of

this weakening.The abuse of the Responsibility to Pro-tect (R2P) handed over to NATO in 2011by the UN Security Council for the wel-fare of the civilian population in Libya and the actions of individual NATO statesin the Syria crisis have significantly addedto resistance against NATO.

New provocations such as the establish-ment of a network of missile defense sys-tems in Spain, Poland, Romania, Turkeyand Germany met with Russias legitimateresistance and withdrew the NATO-RussiaCouncils confidence base.

What is the explanation for NATOsdevelopment between 1949 and 2013?

The dissolution of the Soviet Union in De-cember 1991, the resulting independenceof the 12 Soviet republics and the disso-lution of the Warsaw Pact along withthe signing of the Charter of Paris for aNew Europe following in November 1990 bore the great opportunity of replacingthe Cold War by a warm peace. In manyplaces, there was talk of the expectedpeace dividend. It turned out differently.

NATO did not dismiss itself to history; itwas rather looking for a new raison dtre.

The administration of George W. Bushand the other neoconservative circles inthe US, inspired by the belief in an Amer-ican Century (Project for a new Ameri-can Century PNAC) lying before them,wanted to maintain NATO under US lead-ership. The 11thSeptember 2001 encour-aged the political circles in Washingtonto justify the American claim to hegemo-ny. This PNAC psyche, i.e. the belief inthe leadership of the United States, existedacross all parties before and after the ter-

rorist attack on the World Trade Center inNew York. The European NATO memberstates and Canada were prepared to act aswilling stooges.

In parallel, under American leadershipNATO has developed continuously froma defensive alliance, protecting those wholived within the community, into an alli-ance with a global order. The NATO strat-egies from 1991, 1999 and 2010 provethis in clear language, according to themotto: new threats justify new approach-es. NATO is the most capable and ef-

fective political-military alliance in theworld was said in November 2010, whenthe latest NATO strategy was presented inLisbon. It was no secret that it was about

Quo vadis NATO?by Hans Christoph von Sponeck


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the security and the freedom of NATOnow amounting to 28 member states; itwas hardly about the welfare of the other165 UN member states. How else are weto explain NATOs anti-satellite systems in

Europe and Asia or the NATO inspectionsof merchant vessels in international wa-ters? Further examples are NATO militaryexercises at crisis points of intersectionsuch as on the Korean peninsula and else-where. It is all about selfishness and hu-bris. It is for these reasons that a large partof the remaining world repeatedly drawsthe existence of this transatlantic commu-nity into question.

Closest and excessive connections(hyper-connectivity) and networks atmany levels have led to a significantlystronger polarization in international rela-

tions, which has its origin in the aggres-sive appearance of NATO.

NATO, continually thinking in a uni-polar way, is facing a growing multi-po-lar opposition. The Shanghai CooperationOrganization (SCO) and the CollectiveSecurity Treaty Organization(CSTO) aretwo examples of security alliances that re-spond to NATOs development. We areexperiencing an almost unrestricted useof military force, which plunges the worldinto an abyss of permanent conflicts!These are the words of the Russian presi-

dent Vladimir Putinspoken in 2007.Since then, the level of confrontationbetween NATO and an increasing num-ber of countries in Asia, Latin Americaand also in Africa and the Middle East hascontinued to rise. The conflicts with Libya(2011) and Syria (since 2011), the waragainst the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pa-kistan (since 2001) as well as the US-ledinvasion violating international law andthe eight years occupation of Iraq (20032011) have significantly contributed to thepolarization of international relations.

The obvious double standards ofNATO, the egotism of the Alliance, thepolitical corruption of individual NATOstates and the repeated offense against in-ternational law have played an importantrole in this case. The deliberate spread ofmisinformation by government institu-tions aiming at influencing the nation-al and international public adds up to allthat. Just to mention only one of the manypolitical examples: the performance of USSecretary of Defense Colin Powellon 5February 2003 in the UN Security Coun-cil. In the presence of UN Secretary Gen-

eral Kofi Annan, Director General of the

IAEAMohamed ElBaradeiand the Com-missioner for Iraqs disarmament and headof UNMOVICHans Blix, Powell obeyedhis governments order to forward the ev-idence that Iraq under President Saddam

Husseinpossessed weapons of mass de-struction. This was a serious misdirec-tion, because not only professionals knew

that Iraq was highly disarmed in 2003 andcould no longer pose a threat. There wasno protest from NATO circles! The presentHigh Representative of the UN indirect-ly supported the subsequent US-led inva-sion of Iraq by their silence and thus werecomplicit.

Basic theses on the question:Quo vadis NATO?

NATO defenseThe approach of NATO under the pre-text that the community must defend it-self against an enemy often has to do

with provocations generated by NATO it-self. That is, it is not uncommon to lookat NATO itself as the cause of a crisis.An important example is the anti-satelliteinitiative of the United States connectedwith NATOs eastern expansion. The re-sponse, the symptom, is made the causehere. Once the NATO finished with such aprovocation, the defense would becomeunnecessary!

Global ChangeSigns are increasing that the world is rap-

idly turning away from unipolar politicsand considers a much more nuanced par-adigm for international relations. Thisprocess brings new obstacles to interna-tional cooperation, but also new opportu-nities. In the interest of international se-curity, a peaceful development, humanrights for all, and especially developinginternational trust would mean that alli-ances such as NATO and the SCO giveup their narrow security approaches andagree to a world-wide cooperation. Sucha development does not need to remaina utopia when it is recognized that thecommon features of the 193 memberstates of the UN are the better alterna-tive.

Chapter VIII: Regional arrangementsof the UN CharterThe integration of the alliances tasks inthe responsibility of the United Nationsis accepted by all UN Member States. Itis, therefore, an international legal obliga-tion and should not be dismissed as uto-pian, but be supported as an objective bypersistent negotiations and UN reform dis-

cussions. The existing and recognized

NATO capacity could supply valuablecontributions to crisis management andpeace as a result of integration (subsidiari-ty). Wars in space, terrorism, piracy, drugand human trafficking could be overcomeby means of cooperation in the spirit ofChapter VIII.

UN reformThe security-political responsibilities forthe global, regional and local develop-ment lie with the Security Council of theUnited Nations, not with NATO. Struc-tural weaknesses of the UN have increas-ingly meant that the Security Council hasbecome unable to perform this function.The crisis in Syria is another serious ex-ample of incompetence and thus a danger-ous reality threatening world peace. Pro-posals for fundamental reforms have notbeen lacking. For over twenty years reporton report has been published on this sub-

ject. The international community has sofar lacked the political will to reconsiderthese proposals, adopt them according toplan and implement them. This includesprimarily the reform of the UN SecurityCouncil. Valuable considerations for thecustomized composition of the Securi-ty Council, for the status of membership,for the right to veto or the majority votingrights, subsidiarity issues of alliances suchas NATO, etc. have already been made.

Accountability

The framework for international cooper-ation is largely defined by the UN Char-ter and the two International Covenantson political, civil, economic, social andcultural rights. Compliance with this re-corded international law is mandato-ry for all states that are members of theUnited Nations, and thus also for NATOstates. In reality, however, there is a cul-ture of impunity. Decisions in the UNSecurity Council or in other forums,which have led to serious violations ofhuman rights, remain without conse-quences for the decision-makers. The

consequences of an inhumane sanc-tions policy, enforced by NATO mem-ber states in the UN Security Council inthe case of Iraq, the NATO war againstYugoslavia, the illegal invasion of Iraqor the NATO mission in Libya are allempirically verifiable. Accountability isa prerequisite for a new beginning of in-ternational relations.

The road to peace, which NATO shouldtake, is known. Once the NATO recogniz-es this path itself, a healing process willbegin. (Translation Current Concerns)

Quo vadis Nato?

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km. For nearly 15 years the illegal war ofaggression against Serbia has been jus-tified with lies by the governments of the

NATO countries. Willy Wimmer, former

State Secretary at the German Minis-try of Defence, could write a book aboutit. A few months ago at a new requestsent to the German Ministry of Defencehe once again got a standard response.

Denying the responsibility for thecaused disaster, and refusing the neces-sary reparation is a prominent feature ofthe NATO countries law of the jungle.

To this day, the mixture of lies, threats,and the willingness to pursue power poli-tics in violation of any law defines the pol-icies of the NATO countries. That will onlycome to an end, if more forces will support,

what Willy Wimmer demands: putting anend to the law of the jungle and a renewedcommitment to international law.

Those who, in violation of applicable in-ternational law and in a flagrant violationof the Charter of the United Nations, usedthe NATO military machine against theFederal Republic of Yugoslavia from 28March 1999, driven by their mere politi-cal and especially economic power, wantto enforce the acceptance of their aggres-sions consequences by those who were

attacked. Their purpose is to achieve a de-layed and subsequent legitimation of theirbellicose aggression. In this effort theyeven willingly accept to compel certainNATO and EU Member States, who areparticularly affected by the extorted reso-lution of disputes concerning the territoryof the former Federal Republic of Yugo-slavia. What they demand from the ag-gressions victims on the territory of theformer Federal Republic of Yugoslavia,strikes at the very heart of certain NATOand EU Member States and is sowing newhatred.

In order to avoid any doubt on the oc-casion of the 15thNATO-war anniversaryagainst the former Federal Republic of Yu-goslavia: to consider a domestic threat toNATO and the EU, to even commence astill refused relentless investigation of thiswar by all parliaments of NATO and theEU, are not at all sufficient.

Who, if not those who, in violation ofapplicable international law, did wage acrude war of aggression against the formerFederal Republic of Yugoslavia, should bepunished by the War Crimes Tribunal in

The Hague? Who, if not those who, in vi-olation of applicable international law, didwage war against the former Federal Re-public of Yugoslavia, must restore the Re-

publics status as it had existed before theoutbreak of this war?Who, if not those who, in violation of

international law, have invaded a UnitedNations Member State in peace-time, mustprovide compensation for the damages tolife and limb and infrastructure that werecaused by their acts of aggression?

The damages to life and limb are suffi-ciently known. Estimates of the extent ofdamage to infrastructure as well. Damag-es caused by using uranous munition canonly be estimated. Approximately 4,000 people have lost

their lives as a result of the NATO ag-gression.

About 10,000 people were among thoseinjured as a result of the NATO aggres-sion.

The amount of damage to any form ofinfrastructure is about 100 billion dol-lars.Today, it is clearer than ever, what

led to this European disaster, for the waragainst the former Federal Republic ofYugoslavia is nothing else.

Europe was full of hope, when the con-

sequences of 1945 seemed to have beenovercome with the national unification ofGermany in 1990. Above all, the SovietUnion and the United States of Americastood for the success of the Helsinki pro-cess. The Helsinki Charter of 1975 didnot only help to overcome the division ofGermany and thus of Europe. The peo-ples of Europe could breathe again, andthey cherished the well-founded hope tosee that even the long-term consequenc-es of the alleged peace conferences at theend of the First World War were solvedby the scales and diplomatic means of theso-called Helsinki process.

Together with Mikhail Gorbachevand as a close friend of George W. Bush Helmut Kohlwanted to open a newchapter in the German-Russian histo-ry of the 20th century, which had beendetermined by immense suffering. Healso had in mind this target with respectto the relations between the Germansand Serbs. At the same time he had inmind the history since 1914. Only thisway you can understand that he had al-ready scheduled a visit to Belgrade in

the summer of 1999, and immediatelyafter the completion of the internation-ally illegal war against the former Fed-eral Republic of Yugoslavia. The Hon-

orary Citizen of Europe, Helmut Kohlin Belgrade and that, after the NATObombs had wiped out not only lives inBelgrade it would have been a visiblesign that there had existed and still ex-ists a different Europe than a Europeof aggression.

It is part of the tragedy of those yearsthat it had been Henry Kissinger of allpeople, the so highly esteemed HenryKissinger who after Helsinki and its suc-cesses had not called for the further de-velopment of the valid international law,but had championed the destruction and

elimination of international law that hadcontinuously been developed since theThirty Years War and even before, andthat his own government had followedhim on this path. The law of the jungle the power of the strongest was to set thetone, exercised by the indispensable na-tion asMrs Albrighthad postulated. Notonly that henceforth no peace dividendshould be paid any longer in Europe andother parts of the world after the end of theCold War; a war in Europe, in total disre-gard of international law, was the rejec-

tion of international law and the postulat-ed return to the law of the jungle that hadalways brought nothing but misery to thepeople.

It is now after the wars against theFederal Republic of Yugoslavia up to thewar against Iraq almost general under-standing that there is no end of history, butthere is a limitation to the time of the rul-ing fist law, such as the international trea-ties on the Syrian chemical weapons or theinterim agreement with Iran demonstrate.Here we must understand that a numberof questions from the period between Bel-grade and Tehran shine through and de-mand our answer:1. Where were the United States as the

haven of freedom and justice in the pe-riod from 1999 to 2013?

2. Can there be a prosperous world withinternational law as the backbone ofthe international community, without aRussia that is capable of acting?

3. Is Europe more than the brat, withwhich everyone do as he likes?

(Translation Current Concerns)

Law of the jungle cannot last foreverby Willy Wimmer, retired State Secretary of the Federal Ministery of Defence


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Today, many states are over-indebted andunable to sort out their budget. The factthat Switzerland is doing well in compar-ison to other countries apparently botherssome politicians and journalists abroad.Since they do not know the Swiss statemodel, they think the prosperity of Swit-

zerland has its origin mainly in the finan-

cial market. That is not true.

Swiss economic strength is basedprimarily on the small and medium-

sized enterprises (SMEs)

The prosperity of Switzerland is basedonly to a small extent on the added valueof the banks.

Half a year ago, based on the report ofthe Swiss National Bank, you could readin the daily press:

The added value of Swiss banks de-creases continuously: by the end of 2012

it was only 35 billion francs which corre-sponds to a proportion of barely 6 per centof the gross domestic product (GDP).(see 20 Minuten of 17 June 2013)

Actually the Swiss economic strengthis based primarily on the small and medi-um-sized enterprises (SMEs), which makeup more than 90 percent of the companies.

Most Swiss banks are also SMEs.

Reasons for Switzerlandshigh economic performance

The reasons for the high economic effi-

ciency of Switzerland are, among others,a good education system and a high moti-vation of the workforce, the reliability ofthe companies and the high quality of theproducts. Two particularly important fac-tors should be added:

A decentralised economy, structuredin small units: Similar to the federalstructure of Switzerland, the compa-nies are also not agglomerated in thecities only, but many good small andmedium-sized enterprises have settledin the country, their management isembedded in their community and in

the Canton and feels responsible for theflourishing of the location Switzerland Strong dual vocational education and

training system: Over two-thirds ofyoung Swiss people are completing avocational training. Almost all SMEsand all big companies train apprentices.This is a natural contribution to the wel-fare of the country, but also to the for-mation of the younger generation mak-ing them responsible professionals andcitizens who are willing and able to as-sume their tasks in the direct democrat-ic structure.

Direct democracy and State budget

Why is Switzerland so little indebted?The direct democratic state structure

has a decisive influence on the financialstatus of the Swiss nation.

Unlike most other states Switzerlandhas a relatively balanced state budget bothin the Federal State and in the cantons andcommunes. Three factors are responsiblefor this:

1. Citizens decide

about government spendingAll cantons and communes have either thecompulsory or optional financial referen-dum. So the voters decide directly on gov-ernment spending. If they consider an issueunnecessary or exaggerated, they vote no.

This happens frequently. To give some ex-amples, I chose the largest commune ofSwitzerland, Zurich, and the Canton of Zu-rich as the most populous canton as wellas a small village in the Canton of Schaff-hausen. City of Zurich, 400,000 inhabitants:

Compulsory financial referendum

Municipal Code Article 10: the votingby the community [that is, by the vot-ers; A/N] are mandatory for: [...](d) One-time expenses for a specificpurpose over 20,000,000 francs or an-nually recurring expenditures for a spe-cific purpose over 1,000,000 francs.

Example: Communal vote of 22 Sep-tember 2013, credit of the city of 216million Swiss francs for the construc-tion of a stadium, rejected narrowly bythe voters with 50.8% No votes against49.2% Yes votes.

Canton of Zurich, 1.4 million inhabit-ants:An optional financial referendum

Cantonal Constitution Article 33: onrequest the following issues will besubmitted to the peoples vote:

d. decisions of the cantonal parliamentfor:1. new one-time expenditures of morethan 6 million Swiss francs,

2. new, annually recurring expendituresof more than 600,000 Swiss francs

The optional referendum can be taken

in the canton of Zurich with the smallnumber of 3,000 signatures (CantonalConstitution Article 33).

Why is Switzerland doing so well?Direct democracy guarantees moderate use of tax money

by Dr iur Marianne Wthrich

The dept brake is taking effectNational Debt as a percentage of the gross domestic product (19952012)

State debts in Switzerland have decreased significantly since the introduction of a debt brake in 2003while they increased in the EU and the US.

Source: Avenir Suisse

continued on page 6

Switzerland

Germany

euro countries

USA


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Why is Switzerland doing so well?


Education for citizenship as an indispensable basis of direct democracy

At the municipal assembly of the com-mune Bttenhardt the community Pres-ident welcomes the three young citizenswho became 18 years old this year andso have the new voting rights. Her wordsexpress what constitutes an educationfor citizenship.

N.G., F. M. and S.R. can be officiallyadmitted as voting citizens.

The common celebration of young cit-

izens of the municipalities Lohn, Stettenand Bttenhardt was traditionally heldon the ship in summer. The chairwomanpointed out to the young citizens thatwith the majority they would have a lot

of rights on the one hand but on theother hand also a lot of duties. So a lotof endurance and will is required in the

jobs or at school. The ideas and views ofthe youngest voters are very valuableand it would be nice if also the youngcitizens actively participate or performfunctions for the municipality.

The municipality president wishes theyoung citizens a lot of strength, happi-

ness and good health. The assemblytakes the young citizens with acclama-tion into their ranks.

Source: Protocol of the Municipal Assem-bly Bttenhardt from 29 November 2012

Commune of Bttenhardt (Cantonof Schaffhausen), 354 inhabitants:Communal Assembly

The following transactions are to be de-cided upon by the Communal Assembly

[in addition to many others, A/N]: - Decision on the approval of newunique expenditures exceeding 20,000Swiss francs

- Decision on the approval of annuallyrecurrent expenditures exceeding 5,000francs.

- Authorization to purchasing, exchang-ing or selling land or granting buildingrights exceeding 30,000 Swiss francs.

Moreover, in communes with a mu-nicipal assembly citizens vote on thebudget every year. They can cut itemsof expenditure, thus, for example, the

commune of Bttenhardt (in addition tomany other communes) cut the contribu-tion of 1,100 Swiss francs to the plannednature park Schaffhausen on 29 Novem-ber 2012.

2. Citizens decide on taxes

In the Confederation, the cantons and thecommunes voters decide on the introduc-tion of new taxes or on the rise or lower-ing of existing taxes. Example Confederation: Federal refer-

endum of 27 September 2009 about the

value-added tax increase in favour ofthe disability insurance People and cantons agreed to a limited

rise of the value-added tax from 7.6 to8 %.

Example Canton of Zurich: Mandatory vote about taxes accord-

ing to Article 32 of the Cantonal Con-stitution: The following laws are sub-mitted to the people for the vote []f. Tax laws [...] and their modifica-tions which introduce new taxes orentail higher tax charges for individ-

uals.

Example commune of Bttenhardt:Annual vote of the communal assem-bly on the local tax rate.If a new schoolhouse has to be built,the citizens increase the tax rate or theyrenovate the existing schoolhouse it isas simple as that.

The consequence of the citizens direct rightto decisions, especially in the communes:The Swiss communes operate in the black.

3. Debt brake

Voters in the federation and in most cantonsas well as in many towns have introduced aso-called debt brake by referendum.

Against the worldwide trend, the Swissstate has reduced debts in the recent past.The national debt rate (Confederation,cantons, communes and social securities)could fall below 30% by 2016, while inmany places rates of 100% and more are

registered. It is but a huge merit of thedebt brake introduced in 2003. (cf. NeueZrcher Zeitung of 15.11.2012)

Debt brake in the Confederation:Federal Constitution Article. 126 Fi-nancial management

1 The Confederation shall maintainits income and expenditure inbalance over time.

2 The ceiling for total expenditure thatis to be approved in the budget is

based on the expected income

after taking account of the eco-nomic situation. 3 Exceptional financial requirements

may justify an appropriate in-crease in the ceiling in terms ofparagraph 2. The Federal Assem-bly shall decide on any increasein accordance with Article 159paragraph 3 letter c.

4 If the total expenditure in the federalaccounts exceeds the ceiling interms of paragraphs 2 or 3, com-pensation for this additional ex-penditure must be made in sub-sequent years.

Debt brakes in the cantons The cantons have made varied arrange-

ments. Appenzell Innerrhoden, for exam-ple, has no debt brake, because people ofAppenzell economize without such a law.

Two examples: In the Canton of Lucerne, the Canton-

al Constitution does not allow the cur-

rent account to show any deficit. Possi-ble deficits are to be discharged withina period of four to eight years consid-ering the economic situation.

In the Canton of St. Gallena balanceof the current account is targeted. If theexpenditures exceed the budget limits atax rise is compulsory.1

Conclusion

The good condition of the Swiss budget isthe result of direct democracy in Switzer-land and its careful pursuance by the vot-ers in the Confederation, the cantons and

the communes.Every citizen in Switzerland or abroad

is called upon correcting the floating er-rors about the origin of the well orderedSwiss household. 1 Source: Fiskalische Budgetbeschrnkun-

gen zur Stabilisierung ffentlicher Haush-alte, in: Die Volkswirtschaft. Das Magazin frWirtschaftspolitik 2-2004, by Dr Christoph A.Schaltegger, economic advisor in the Swiss Fed-eral Tax Administration (SFTA), Bern

Current ConcernsThe international journal for independent

thought, ethical standards, moral responsibility,

and for the promotion and respect

of public international law, human rights

and humanitarian law

Publisher: Zeit-Fragen Cooperative

Editor: Erika Vgeli

Address:Current Concerns,

P.O. Box, CH-8044 Zurich

Phone: +41 (0)44 350 65 50

Fax: +41 (0)44 350 65 51

E-Mail:[email protected]

Subscription details:published regularly electronically as PDF file

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The editors reserve the right to shorten letters tothe editor. Letters to the editor do not necessarilyreflect the views and opinions of Current Concerns.

2014. All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy ortransmission of this publication may be made without writtenpermission.


7/16


No potential enemy of our country wouldhave ever dared hoping to smash our armywithout massively resorting to violence, aswe have done ourselves in a few years and

as we are still doing. The army could haveindeed slightly been reduced, but not eve-rything that constituted its strength shouldhave been destroyed.

The two, now seriously ill twin sistersof our foreign policy our formerly abso-lute peacefulness based on strict neutral-ity and a strong national defense havebeen perceived as exemplary and credi-ble around the world, also among manyordinary people, and have assigned a veryhigh reputation to Switzerland on the in-ternational level. On the basis of earli-er, no longer valid ideas, people assume

here and there sometimes even in to-days China, as the author learned on vari-ous occasions to his great astonishment that all Swiss men and women were readyto fight for freedom and independence incase of attack, and that we basically do notinterfere with foreign quarrels. However,we have to say to our people loudly andclearly what the general staffs of majorpowers already know:

Today we have no longer an army thatcan keep war off the country.

By the way, under international law of

neutrality, we are obliged to deny the war-ring parties the inclusion of our countryand our airspace in their operations in caseof war. We can no longer meet this inter-national obligation today.

Cost-benefit analysisbefore deciding on attack

Even major powers make cost-benefitcalculations before deciding on attacksagainst other countries, and they wonderif the price they intend to win will justifythe costs. Anyone who currently reads thenews has noticed that even the still mil-itarily powerful United States have be-come cautious about interventions dueto the exorbitant cost of campaigns likethose in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Immediately before and after the out-break of the Second World War, the Gen-eral Staffs of Germany and France havemade cost-benefit calculations as towhether it would be worthwhile for theirown army to attack the enemy via Swit-zerland. They also considered whether itwould be worthwhile for their enemy toattack their own country via Switzerland.

In the end both general staffs decided thatthis was neither worth the effort for theirown nor for the army of the enemy, dueto the strength of the Swiss army and thedifficult terrain. TheJoint Chiefs of Staffof England also considered the issue for

both parties, and for the same reasons theysaid it was neither worth for France norfor Germany. The German Chief of Staff

Halderyet commented in his war diary

that the circumvention of the French Frontvia an undefended Switzerland would bea tempting possibility.

Literally, for example, a German at-tack planning in World War II mentionedthe important north-south trade routes(Gotthard, Ltschberg-Simplon) with theirenergy supply as first prize and only sec-ondly a reasonably intact Swiss econo-my and furthermore undestroyed powerplants and railways. Only they consid-ered a reasonable price for an armedintervention in Switzerland. The planhighlighted the significance of these north-

south trade routes, i.e. the Alpine tunnels,with the words, Only their full ownershipmeans a clear military victory over Swit-zerland. Then the following conclusion ismade, The conquest of the troops in theSwiss National Redoubt bitterly defendingthemselves will be a difficult task.

In 1944, when the Allies got stuck inFrance for a long time, Stalinultimate-ly asked them to circumvent the Germanfront by an attack via Switzerland. The topmilitary leadership of the then so power-ful US forces checked this option and con-

cluded, The difficulties of the terrain andthe well-known ability of the small butefficient Swiss armed forces in the fighton their own soil would make such a pro-

ject doubtful. Even Americans obvious-ly found the cost of an attack via Switzer-land too high.

States will make some cost-benefit con-siderations in the future before decidingon attacks. Further examples from the Sec-ond World War that will also be mentionedin the following text show other consider-ations made during the war or constraintsthey could not escape even by militar-ily superior powers. Such considerationswill be made and the constraints will existas long as there are wars. A lot would begained if our people were aware of them.

Our aim should be to ensure that thecost-benefit calculation is always madein favor of our country and that we canthereby prevent the involvement in a war.However, the more the WEA, (Weit-ere Entwicklung der Armee) i.e. the fur-ther elimination of our army proceeds,the smaller a potential attacker will esti-mate his costs and the larger his benefits;

since an occupation is possible quicklyand without great destruction and casual-ties and then our economy and the trans-port network are largely functional at hisdisposal. The general staffs of some fu-ture potential attacker will gratefully have

bookmarked the sellout price we offer himfor an attack.

The reality of war

A deterrent army and a culture of defensecapability that is absolutely committedto peace, as we had earlier, can only be

built up over long periods of time. Sinceour saturated people are not aware of whatwar really means and will not be shownwhat a future threat of war might looklike, they believe in the face of the longprevailing peace in Europe that this con-dition will remain for all times and thatthe citizens personal commitment and themeans for a credible national defense wereno longer necessary.

For many Swiss people all the horrorsof the last 75 years up to the more recentconflicts in Kosovo, hence in Europe, aswell as the current barbaric massacres inthe Middle East and Central Africa arequasi scenes from a horror movie that theycan observe from a comfortable and safeauditorium with voluptuous horror beforethey have a good dinner.

Do we really have to remind them bymentioning terrible examples from reality without also talking about the killed sol-diers and the widespread destruction thatin this historically very short past reach-ing into our present time millions of de-fenseless, innocent people were gassed,shot, buried alive, burned, hanged, de-

ported to slave labor in mines and facto-ries? Do we really have to remind themthat frenzied soldiers have raped tens ofthousands of young women for days and

A military doctrine of illusionsby Gotthard Frick

continued on page 8


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A military doctrine ...


continued on page 9

then killed them by poking piles or bro-ken bottles through their vagina into theabdomen? People have done and are stilldoing all these and many other atrocitiesto other people on the basis of hatred, re-

venge or because they experienced injus-tice and humiliation before. What atroci-ties will the people in Europe be able todo, what leaders will they follow if, forexample, the gigantic mountain of debtcollapses and will lead to general impov-erishment and chaos?

Military doctrine of the Swiss Army

In No 2/2013 of the Military PowerRevue, the professional journal of theSwiss Army, five authors described thecurrent state and prospects of the Mili-tary doctrine of the Swiss Army.

An unrealizable orderThe criticism below is not aiming at theseprofessionals. They have done their dutyand tried to loyally execute an unrealiza-ble order within the strangulating regula-tions of the Federal Council and Parlia-ment to devise a national defense that canfulfill the constitutional mandate. This ex-plains the tricks with which they were try-ing to achieve that goal since it cannot beachieved with the available resources. Itspeaks in their favour and shows their com-

petence that they suggested over and againthat other conditions would be required,and that they drew attention to the risks as-sociated with this kind of security policy.

The WEA*(Further Elimination of the Army)

The elimination of the army which has al-ready happened as well as its further elim-ination has been sincerely criticized fromthird parties. Here are the main points ofbreakup: Our worldwide unique, simple, inex-

pensive and almost ineliminable mo-

bilization system has been destroyed.Today the rump army is partly func-tional only after many months. Accord-ing to reports apparently a faster sys-tem will be introduced again, initiallyfor 1,500 men.

The army was whittled down massive-ly and large parts of the rump army arenot even intended for fight, for militaryuse.

Today the rump army can no long-er be fully equipped. This is reminis-cent of the Chinese Army in the Ko-

rean War, when only the first wave ofattackers was equipped and each sub-

sequent wave had to pick up the weap-ons of fallen soldiers in order to fight.

Contrary to every military principle thepreviously decentralized and thereforealmost indestructibly stored equipmentwas concentrated in five major logisticscenters, whose exact location is gener-ally known, even by any foreign gen-

eral staff. In other words, the equip-ment of the army can be suddenly andabruptly eliminated from a great dis-tance, even before a war has begun. Itseems to be somewhat decentralizedagain as part of the WEA.

Thousands of bunkers, destructible butequipped with powerful weapons, havebeen abandoned. The time and mate-rial which an opponent calculates toeliminate a part of it before deciding tolaunch the actual attack would heavilybe weighed in a cost-benefit analysis,and maybe would then be ascertained

as too large a loss, and therefore leadto a renunciation of an attack. Providedour enemy was even engaged in a warwith other powers, which is very likely,they would need such bunker crackingweapons elsewhere. That would weigheven more in a cost-benefit analysis.

(A German attack planning duringthe Second World War very clearly ex-pressed that means used at one pointare missing elsewhere. It was pointedout that for an attack on Switzerlanddivisions would need to be removed

from virtually all German fronts. Thenthe consequences were drawn: Dueto the attack on Switzerland thereforea temporary substantial weakening ofthe defense forces meant to repel land-ings of the Allies forces will occur. Awithdrawal of troops familiar with theeastern war [against the Soviet Union,the author] means a dangerous loss onthis front.)

Large stocks of military hardware tanks, armored personnel carrier en-hanced for combat and other were ei-ther scrapped or sold abroad. As one

critic rightly remarked, no one wouldscrap old, not quite powerful fire trucksbefore the new ones are ready.

Possible military threats

It is beyond the scope of this assessmentof the military doctrine to dwell on con-ceivable military threats. However, itshould be remembered that a new worldorder is emerging. What it will look like,is not clear yet. In such times of upheavalin the past, wars often took place.

Asia, led by China, India, in Europe

Russia, but also many other states areheavily upgrading their armies. The US,still the largest military power, have newlyfocused their main interest away fromEurope to the Pacific. Old and new ten-sions, caused for instance by the creation

and management of spheres of influence,or because of sovereignty over territoriesand the control of resources (water, agri-cultural land, raw materials), or migrationand the increasing contamination of air,water and ground, as well as the increas-ing gap between rich and poor, and manyothers are reinforcing each other. Dormant

volcanoes, such as the gigantic state debtswhich can no longer be easily redeemed inan orderly way could explode, and rapidlylead to extreme levels of anger and revoltsamong the people involved, and in turn,provide the fuel for new wars.

Questionable prioritiesconcerning the tasks of the Army

In the order of tasks that, according tothe military doctrine, are to be taken overby the army, the countrys defense comeslast. That speaks volumes.

PeacebuildingThe first argument claiming that weneeded a tool for peace supporting op-erations abroad, does really not justifyan army. It is not an objective of Switzer-land to maintain intervention forces andsend them around the world so that theymight ensure law and order on behalfof the OSCE or the international com-munity. These jobs often serve to pro-mote Western interests, even if camou-flaged by popular rationalizing, like theprotection of human life, e.g. in Libya.

And considering Libya: up to now Chinahas abstained from such world commu-nity deployments ordered by the West. Itprobably follows the advice of their greatreformer,Deng Xiaoping, who had recom-mended not to attract any attention untilChina was strong enough to assert itsviews forcefully. In future, China, gettingstronger, as well as Russia are likely not toconsent to military operations for peace-building but only in rare cases; thatwould probably rule out a use of Swisstroops altogether, provided our countrywill continue to be perceived as neutral.

(A lot is revealed about todays SPS[Social Democratic Party of Switzer-land] by their commissioning the Ger-man Study Group Alternative SecurityPolicy with an expertise about Swisssecurity policy entitled Responsibilityand Protection, and that it uses peace-building missions abroad recommendedin that study, to justify an army of 50,000men, and even that only just toleratedfor a certain amount of time as the basisof their own security policy).

Military support of civilian authoritiesFurthermore, the doctrine mentions rea-sons for a military operation under thetitle Military support of civilian author-* In VBS jargon WEA stands for Weitere

Entwicklung der Armee (Development of theSwiss Armed Forces) [the editors].


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continued on page 10



ities, which are not an argument for anarmy. All these tasks, as helping in caseof earthquakes and other natural disasterscould be transferred to specialized, rapid-ly mobilized civilian corps (for example,

with staff and equipment of constructioncompanies), after the adoption of the rel-evant legislation and appropriate prepara-tions. Even the police could be quickly re-inforced by specially prepared forces incases of possible mass violence.

Defense competencerather than defense capability

There is no other justification for a strongarmy than a countrys defense and withhighest priority and as the main goal theprevention of Switzerlands involvement

in a war or unrest in our neighborhood ac-companied by extensive violence.

Under the last title, Defense, thedoctrine confirms that we have no long-er an army, because the latter should nothave the capability to fight but only thecompetence to fight, which means thatit only needs to know how one would fightin case one had the time to prepare and thehuman and material resources to do so. Tothis end, the military doctrine states:

Defense capability is achieved onlyafter a political decision and a longer

preparation time. Only a small numberwill guarantee the maintenance and devel-opment of know-how that is necessary forthe defense against a military attack.

(In a German attack plan, dated 1942,there was an explicit warning not merelyto consider the soldiers that were servingat the time but the total number of soldiersthat could be mobilized as the demobi-lized military were able to fight immedi-ately in case of an attack. Later, until theend of the last century, this defense capa-bility was still intact and whole regimentswere able to march to the mountains and

hold trainings with sharp skirmish shoot-ing with artillery and aircraft support inthe afternoon of the very day they had sattogether with their families at breakfast.)

Added value of an armyIf a strong army with many skills and ma-terial is available it will bring additionalbenefits; for example supporting civil au-thorities after an earthquake or in the nar-rowly-defined foreign peace-buildingmissions that the current military doctrinementions. But there is no reverse justifi-

cation for an army. This has been clear-ly recognized by our people. Given theconfusing situation of orders, it is under-standable that the military men have ques-tioned their contribution to the security ofour country, represented by a recent SMS

survey carried out by the CdA (Chef derArmee).

Regarding the promotion of peace,we always have to be aware that the UNis being manipulated by the Great Pow-ers to enforce their interests. Also, onemay wonder whether neutral Switzerlanddoes not have different and more effective

ways for the promotion of peace than byits army. Nobody except the United Statesand NATO, who would like to get us in-volved anyway and are supported by theFederal Council, would blame us for that.

In case of war Switzerland will be con-fronted with the problem of insufficientdefense depth, as noted in a German at-tack plan of the Second World War. Thatis, our territory is so small that the wholecountry would become the battlefield. Theconsequences of war are therefore moredevastating for us than for many othercountries. This correct assessment would

be another reason to do anything to keep awar away from our land.

Adaptation of the defense capabilityto the security situation

Correctly the doctrine states that the in-telligence services task is to continuouslymonitor and assess the security situation.Based on the assessment the defense ca-pability needs then to be adjusted, i.e. in-creased, if the situation deteriorates. Wemay rightly assume that the intelligenceservice is able to perceive and assess

changes in the overall security situation.But it is an illusion to believe that suchassessments of the security situation which are nothing more than an interpre-tations of information, i.e. opinions ofemployees of the intelligence service would be accepted by the Federal Coun-cil and the majority of parliament as thiswould mean that they take an overall longterm strategic view, and not just an ad hocshort-term view as it is today.

Even if the politicians had the insightthat the defense capability must be in-creased quickly, they had to be ready andwilling to provide enormous financial re-sources that are essential for closing thegaps that have opened up due to previousneglect. The necessary defense capabili-ty needs to be created again and a larg-er army needs to be built in a short time.Many more men and women would haveto be trained so that the army will haveenough resources to endure a prolongedactive service and its respective rotatingscheme. Men and women serving wouldbecome unavailable to the economy forseveral months. Finally, the current eco-

nomic and financial situation would haveto allow these efforts. It is an illusion toassume that this scenario could be real-ized.

If the deterioration of the security situa-tion became manifest so quickly and con-

cretely as was the case for example be-fore the Second World War when within

just six years the Rhineland was re-mil-itarized, anti-Jewish riots and the annec-tion of Austria took place, Czechoslova-kia was destructed andHitlerhad built upa large modern army and air force fromzero that even our cabinet ministers and

parliamentarians could not deny this, allpossible efforts to increase the combat ca-pability would come much too late, giventhe current state of the army. At best somegaps might be closed just like before theSecond World War.

Unpredictable strikes by enemies

So far we discussed only long-term devel-opments. But today, major powers havethe opportunity to take surprising strate-gic measures or carry out destructive orlocalized strikes over large distances offthe cuff. (The US is currently working

on a weapon that should be in a positionto destroy a goal anywhere in the worldwithin one hour).

It is an illusion to believe that the in-telligence service could identify suchstrategic measures or targeted strikes inadvance. With the destruction of our mo-bilization system and the extreme concen-tration of equipment in well-known, easyto be destroyed logistics centers, we havemade sure then that we will only be ableto watch helplessly as our equipment issurprisingly destroyed within a few mo-

ments and we are left without militarilycapability. Previously, the rapid mobiliza-tion capability and the immediate takeoverof the decentralized storage of material bythe fighting forces additionally hinderedopponents to rapidly destroy our militarymaterial. Today, opponents have plenty oftime to prepare unpredictable strikes onwell known targets.

Two recent examples of surprising ac-tions:

One may safely bet a large sum thatno intelligence service could have fore-told that China would surprisingly intro-duce a no-fly zone in a region of politicaltensions. South Korea has now followedwith its own no-fly zone, which partiallyoverlaps those claimed simultaneously byJapan and China. This has led to a danger-ous increase of tensions in the Pacific vir-tually overnight.

After Putinhad been re-elected pres-ident of Russia, he had put large partiesof the army on the alert on several occa-sions without any upfront hint. Significanttroops were shifted over thousands of kil-ometers, rockets were ordered to march

and had to be intercepted by the air de-fense. A large number of planes and shipswere deployed. All intelligence agenciesprobably recognized these actions only in


10/16




retrospect. This notice should not be in-terpreted in such a way that Russia is cur-rently planning an attack. But later, anarmy thus trimmed could carry out an im-mediate surprise attack. These examples

show very clearly how illusory it is to as-sume that there is a longer reaction periodto increase an armys combat capability.

Illusion of military defence:Our trump not played

The military defence as presented inthe doctrine is another illusion due tothe inadequate size of the army. Howcould an attack take place? Initiallyand surprisingly triggered off, e.g. as ashort, very intense cyber-war, missileand air attack from a distance, toeliminate at least our electricity supply

and telecommunications, which meansto paralyze the country and to destroythe few logistic centers of the army withselective strikes. As the army cannot bemobilized in a short time anyway and willnot have any equipment available after theblow against its logistic centers, furtheraction of the attacker will no longer beurgent.

We actually had a trump card but wegave it away caught in our illusions ofeternal peace: our transalpine routes. Themilitary doctrine confirms that by stating

that the major part of the actions is likelyto take place in the Midlands.For most of our potential enemies or

their allies the transalpine routes are of su-perior strategic importance in a war, andlater, when having entered peace again, ofcontinental economic importance. If wewere able to defend and destroy them, wecould avoid to become solely paralyzedand bumped off from space and air onlylike Serbia a few years ago. We wouldhave the opportunity to blackmail mostopponents with the threat to destroy thetransalpine routes in such a way that theycould no longer be used for years neitherin the subsequent peace, in case the enemywanted for example to completely destroyour electricity supply and important hubsof the infrastructure from the air and par-alyze the country. All Western Europe-an countries would hold for example theUnited States back in such a case, if theyhad such an intention. With regard to Rus-sia, this argument could have less effectdepending on the circumstances. But itsenemy would be trying to prevent the pa-ralysis of our country in his own interest if

we were in the war against his opponent.Although we have no longer expect to

count on huge tank armies, every majorpower has a sufficient number of battleunits, to use a much larger force againstus than our downsized army would have.

Given the lacking strength of the armyand the large number of objects or areasto defend, it is incomprehensible that themilitary doctrine foresees the main partof war activities in the Midlands, whichmeans multiple concurrent actions to pre-vent an occupation.

According to WEA, the air force is

to be equipped with only three airfieldsafter the completion of the next stage ofthe further elimination of the army. Willwe leave them to the airborne troops ofthe enemy without fighting, so that theycan be used immediately by his air force?We have two intercontinental and severalsmaller civilian airports. Are they to be de-fended, or are they left to the enemy un-defended from the very beginning as basesfor his supplies, his warplanes and attackhelicopters? And the transalpine routes?Are we willing to defend them or will weleave them to the assailant? In case we

want to defend these infrastructure com-ponents essential to our country, wouldour downsized army have enough com-bat units at all? It is obvious that we can-not leave these important installations ofour infrastructure to an enemy. But willthere be any units left to act in defenseof the midlands with its cities and villages,its power plants, industrial facilities, rail-ways and highways?

Or can we cherish the illusion, that anopponent would attack only selectively atindividual points with weak forces, so that

the army always assuming that it is mo-bilized prior to the attack at all and couldbe readily equipped could take over se-lective tasks with weak forces. Or wouldthe enemy attack rather professionally,with a larger number of battle units on awide front and possibly from different di-rections, from the air and space? The an-swer is obvious, that is, the defense of theMidlands with our downsized army is afurther illusion, although in the same issueof theMilitary Power Reviewthe Chief ofArmy presents a very convincing conceptfor the warfare of our ground troops in a probably unexpectedly complex mod-ern war.

How will this downsized army with itslow firepower meet the illusory claim ofthe doctrine to prevent by all means theenemy from reaching his goals quickly;heavy losses should be inflicted on him,forcing him to give up his actions?

The requirement of the doctrine toafter start of hostilities [...] conductstrikes in the depth of the enemy roomhas to be seen as an illusion. Where is thenecessary firepower, the heavy artillery,

rocket artillery, the air force? Further on,what special operation forces availablein this downsized army would be able toconduct such strikes in the depth accord-ing to doctrine, and not just punctuallyand thus annoying an opponent with in-

effective needle stitches? Didnt we learnfor example in Libya, that many thou-sands of combat aircraft sorties are need-ed do effective strikes in the depth of theenemy area? And isnt it an illusion tobelieve we could achieve something cru-cial with offensive action in the elec-tromagnetic and cyber space against a

major modern power? Couldnt an oppo-nent, however, turn off our own electro-magnetic installations relatively quickly,for example the positioning system andlead center installations?

What size are the combat units orhow many are available in the downsizedarmy, fighting with integrated weaponryin their respective zones? In how manyzones can the army be present at all atthe same time, even if one would waivethe defense of transalpine routes and themilitary and civilian airports? How bigare the mechanized reserves foreseen

for counterattacks? Let us watch out forillusions here.

The worst thing to a country is to haveillusions on tackling one of the most chal-lenging but most rewarding tasks, name-ly to keep the war out of a country. Let ustell the truth to our people. Lets point itout, that it must rebuild a credible nation-al defence or has to accept taking upon it-self the whole abomination, terror and de-struction of war and losing our freedom inthe worst case. But it shouldnt be delud-ed that our further downsized army could

spare it from war as in the last 200 years.

Will the demons of wardie peacefully while sleeping?

The crucial question, which was alreadyasked above, is whether a war in Europe isstill possible and if so, what could triggerit off and how would it look like. Manydeny this possibility looking ahead intothe foreseeable future. If they are rightwith their assessment, we wouldnt real-ly need an army.

We must tackle this question with thehighest priority and then find out how thedefense should be set up to be able to keepa war from the country.

If an opponent wants to subjugatea country in the long run and use in hisfavor, he must occupy it with own numer-ous ground troops, even if he initially de-feated it thanks to superior technology andfirepower. This finding gains acceptanceafter the defeat of the United States in Iraqand Afghanistan. This is a chance for us.

To make our army stronger and particu-larly to prevent an occupation or make thelatter possible only at a very high price,

we should find our own way. So in ad-dition to the downsized army, we couldbuild for example robust units, with highfirepower, but neither armored nor fully

continued on page 11


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When in 2002 the author thought about thecourse and consequences of a great depres-sion he was one of the first to do so withthe now famous book What happens when

the crash comes? he was accused bybankers, politicians, the mainstream pressand even by most professorial colleaguesthat such thinking was indecent, com-pletely overhauled, ignorant and unre-alistic. However, when in 2008 the globalfinancial crisis actually broke out, sudden-ly all of them had already seen it coming,and some hastily copied from the authorsbook in order to keep up with the times.

Meanwhile the prevailing opinion has,in turn, declared the financial crisis asovercome, although the debt not only of the individual

states, but as a whole has not been re-duced, but has continued to rise dra-matically,

this overall debt is now ruining the cur-rencies by the FEDs and the ECBs un-restrained money printing, and

the ruling high finance clique evadesthe rescue measures, by shifting theconsequences as a gigantic total liabil-ity onto the citizens of Europe, espe-cially Germany.

All this does not even worry the financeministers of the countries that now bear ad-ditional liability for the ailing states. Guar-

antees are no household debts, Schubleboasts, referring to German guarantee ob-ligations in triple-digit billion range, whichcan turn into payment obligations at anytime, if the crisis breaks out again.

The dominant actors have pushed thecrisis to the back of their minds, the au-thor was labeled a crisis guru in the cri-sis in a New Years review since we donthave a crisis, but booming stock and financial markets

with a Dax of more than 9000 points, a euro climbing up to $1,37 instead of

a euro crisis, a gold price fallen below 900 Euro, a booming labor market with the high-

est employment rate and full social security and pension funds. Instead of a euro-crisis Ireland could

leave the rescue shield at the end of theyear and Latvia joined the euro as the18thState.

To speak of difficulty or crisis is again asindecent, unworldly and ignorant as it wasin 2002.

Again and again the author has noted,however, that a good entrepreneur or asset

manager does take crises into account andmust prepare himself for them. In case thecrisis does not come, the preparation wasstill correct. If, however, the crisis doescome the preparation was existentiallynecessary. And he who is now spreadingonly optimism with the dominant press,politics, financial industry and their jubi-lation choirs, overlooks the fact that weare currently living in a specious prosper-ity whose source is the unrestrained print-ed fiat money without any value.

Only by means of this money bubble

the debt orgies can be held before thecollapse, even driven further and evenincreased,

the international financial elite couldnot only keep the debt bondage overmore than 200 countries, but even in-

crease it by debt assumption throughother countries (Germany),

an artificial demand pull to economicgrowth and high employment could be

generated and the social systems could be held liquidfrom the lushly gushing money sources.

The unrestrained money supply increasehas not only levered out the market forc-es, but also manipulated the interest rateartificially downwards by the fact that thismoney was pumped into the banks at zerointerest rates. And the inflation, gener-ally following an unrestrained multiplica-tion of money according to market law is clouded by statistical tricks at present orsimply denied, although every housewifewho does her shopping atAldis orEde-

kas, experiences the daily price increase.In fact, the financial crisis was not

solved, but only extended and contrary toall laws and morals, enlarged, clouded andits effects delayed by granting guaranteesand by unbridled money printing. Greecenow has twice as much debt as at the be-ginning of its crisis, the US stumble fromdebt summit to debt summit. Most Euro-pean countries do the same.

Only short term thinking prevails inour time and one responds only to short-term stimuli rather than considering long-

term developments. And a population ofmostly childless self-realizing egoists isblindly relying on the fact that a reducednext generation could yet guarantee pen-sion wealth to them. Nobody wants to seethe future. The crises of the future, inev-itably following todays mistakes, mustnot be dealt with. Our readers wantgood news, the chief editor of a newspa-per wrote when he sent an essay on crisiswarning back to the author.

The dance on the volcano continues.Anyway, it must not end while the rulingpolitical, financial and journalistic elite

is still in office. Therefore not only thiselite itself pushes away all crisis thoughts(Draghi), but also does not want the pop-ulation to be disturbed by it.

The crisis of the 30s, however, showedthat only a minority of entrepreneurs andproperty owners overcame the crisis un-scathed, if they recognized it in time and pre-pared for it. The mass, which would not seethe crisis clouds, has always been the losers.

A crisis Guru can thus enlighten onlythe wise, prudent and long-term thinkingones and keep them from harm as he did

in 2008: If the mass is reached by the cri-sis, it is too late for prevention. Then itwill take revenge that one regarded the cri-sis as overcome and ceased to take the cri-sis warnings seriously. (Translation Current Concerns)

motorized battle groups below the elec-tromagnetic threshold, tasked mainly tohold the position (cities and towns, air-fields, the transalpine routes, infrastruc-tures, hubs) and, where appropriate, tosupport the civil authorities. An assailantwould have to fight with ground troops,to occupy these areas. The highly flexi-ble, mobile and fully equipped, heavilyarmored downsized army, which wouldbe again part of a credible national de-fense would thus fight in conjunction with

the static units to be created according tothe concept of the Chief of Army. The re-cent wars show how strong lightly armedbut highly motivated fighters are againsta modern army which cant absorb littlelosses and is closely watched by the mediaand its own citizens. The here proposedrobust combat units would have incompa-rably more firepower, and would be bettertrained. For such a solution we need lot ofmental agility and creativity and more, butaffordable money. This way we would re-ally be well prepared.

No one will accuse Jean-Claude Jun-ker, until recently Chief of the Euro group,being a narrow thinking, diehard yester-days militarist, embed in the Rduit, asthe opponents of a credible army accusetheir proponents, such as for example theauthor. In two very serious interviews onGerman television and in Der Spiegelin the year 2013, he said that Europe ismuch more fragile than everyone wouldhave believed, and also in Europe a warwould again be possible. He concludedthat thought by saying: The demons arenot dead, they are only sleeping.

We all hope that in future history books,future generations will have the opportu-nity to read that these demons had diedpeacefully while sleeping. But let us re-main prepared, in case they wake up! (Translation Current Concerns)



Crisis over critics refuted?by Prof Dr Eberhard Hamer


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km.Without prejudice to the actual eco-nomic and political development with-in the European Union, the new GermanGovernment has set clear accents in its co-

alition agreement: The European unifi-cation project remains the most importanttask of Germany, is the first sentence inthe chapter on the European Union, whichagain is falsely equated with Europe fordemagogic purposes. Germany has Eu-ropean political responsibility and wantsa democratic Europe.

Shortly after the decision on the co-alition agreement, however, have inter-nal party critics on the European policycourse of the CDU, who had been electedto the Bundestag again by the citizenslost their previous positions in the parlia-

mentary committees. CDU punishes theBundestags Euro-critics, was a head-line of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zei-tung on 30 December. CDU politicianswho had criticized the Governments eu-ro-strategy in the last legislature, hadbeen sidelined in the Bundestag. TwoCDU parliamentarians lost their seats inthe Budget Committee, one of them eventhe position of the groups chairman. Aparliamentarian lost her seat in the Eu-ropean Committee. Such side-lining ma-noeuvres contradict the previous parlia-

mentary practice.The newspaper quotes the former chair-man of the Budget Committee in indirectspeech as follows: With one third of new-bies in the CDU, they obviously wanted toset an example on him, how things weregoing with deviants. Who had run off the

track, could not remain in his position,was suggested to him.

Article 38 of the Constitution providesthat the Members of the German Bunde-

stag [...] elected by the citizens and notby the parties are not bound by orders orinstructions, but only by their conscience.In Germanys policy the lack of respectfor the Constitution is obviously on the in-crease. Germany is ever more being gov-erned as a country in state of emergency.

Dealing with those who are not will-ing to conform when it comes to EU andthe euro, produce some strange effects.Populism is one of the most harmlessphrases. The European Central BankPresident Mario Draghistated in an in-terview withDer Spiegelthat in Germa-

ny there was a perverse (!) anxiety,that things would be turning worse.For Draghi is of the opinion that every-thing is going wonderfully on the whole.The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitungof 9 January even placed the headlineGreece sees himself at the end of thecrisis on its front page.

Herfried Mnkler, one of the German po-litical elites favorite professors, used thehundredth anniversary of the beginningof World War I, in an interview with the

Deutschlandfunk(30 December 2013) to se-

riously accuse the voices who are critical ofthe really-existing EU: the largest threat ofwar in Europe today was coming from them[the critics]. At the same time an attemptis made, a few months before the electionsfor the European Parliament in May of thisyear, to decompose the new party Alterna-

tive fr Germany, in such way that makesyou think of the Stasi Directive 1/76.

How self-assured of their success inthe matter are those barkers for EU

and euro, if they have to fight with noholds barred? Ulrich von Suntunany-way, Director of the Center for Applied

Economic Research of the Universityof Mnster, in the Frankfurter Allge-meine Zeitung of 3 January 2014showed once more that Professor

Hamer with his analysis is probablycloser to reality. Since there are someinteresting sentences namely: 15years after the introduction of the com-mon currency the euro-zone is in exis-tential difficulties. Meanwhile there isnot much left of the original stability

agreements: self-responsibility for thenational debt, prohibition of monetaryfinancing of the state, Maastricht debtlimits all this is only on paper at best.The Central Bank, committed to an in-dependent, single monetary policy, mu-tated into a fiscal institution that buysbonds of weaker member countrieson a large scale and without regard totheir creditworthiness. The ECB oper-ates nothing other than the creation ofmoney without real value. The threatto the euro is to become an inflation

and debt currency. [...] The funda-mental difficulties of the euro area are[...] not being resolved, to the contra-ry. At least when it comes to officialdepreciation of shares held by the ECBand rescue fund issue papers, [...] thetaxpayers will be asked to pay.

The intellectual climate in Germany has becomecramped and stuffy

Current ConcernsThe international journal for independent thought, ethical standards, moral responsibility, and for the promotion

and respect of public international law, human rights and humanitarian law

Subscribe to Current Concerns The journal of an independent cooperativeThe cooperativeZeit-Fragenis a politically and financially independent organisation. All of its members work on a voluntary andhonorary basis. The journal does not accept commercial advertisements of any kind and receives no financial support from businessorganisations. The journal Current Concerns is financed exclusively by its subscribers.We warmly recommend our model of free and independent press coverage to other journals.Annual subscription rate ofCHF 40,-; Euro 30,-; USD 40,-; GBP 25,-for the following countries:Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hongkong, Iceland, Ireland, Is-rael, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Qatar, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Swit-zerland, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, USAAnnual subscription rate ofCHF 20,-; Euro 15,-; USD 20,-; GBP 12,50for all other countries.Please choose one of the following ways of payment:- send a cheque to Current Concerns, P. O. Box, CH-8044 Zurich, or- send us your credit card details (only Visa), or- pay into one of the following accounts:CH: Postscheck-Konto (CHF): 87-644472-4 IBAN CH91 0900 0000 8764 4472 4 BIC POFICHBEXXX

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cc. To understand, assess and be able toclassify current events and developments,we need to be capable of surveying so-cial, economic and political developmentsover a long period and with a keen mindand to assess them with reference to theirhumaneness. The resulting insights can

point the way ahead and will serve thegood of all. This also applies to the fieldsof education and medicine (social scienc-es), as the following article most impres-sively illustrates.

Today, children that stand out by somelearning problems or conspicuous behav-iour, are as early as in kindergarten andalso later in school being diagnosed withpsychiatric disorders such as ADHD, au-tism, Aspergers syndrome, etc., and theyare often treated with psychiatric drugssuch asRitalin. This has not always beenthe case. Still in the 60s of the last centurysuch behavioural conspicuities were cor-rected in the same field in which they hadbeen created: by educational, psychologi-cal or educational means. The changes ex-

plained below are meant to show the closerelation between the paradigm shift in theschools, the no longer personalist viewof man and undesirable developments inmedical diagnostics that are all runningparallel to each other.

Since the 60s of the last century, thischange from the personalist view of manto the psychiatrization of child behaviourhas by means of ever new reforms in theeducation sector led to an increase inmental disorders of children.

Paediatricians had to deal with thisproblem, too, and we had to acquire apoint of view in accord with our profes-sional ethics.

First school reformsand psychosomatic disorders

In a short time during the late 60s to theearly 70s of the last century an unusual-ly large number of children aged from 6to 8 yearswere referred to the big psycho-somatic department of one of Germanyslargest childrens hospitals in Hamburg.These children seemed very nervous andinsecure and showed a number of unusual

behavioural problems. They all came fromthe neighbouring state of Schleswig-Hol-stein and there went to the first and secondgrade of elementary school. This occur-rence attracted the attention of the head ofthe childrens hospital in Hamburg, Prof

K. Seelemann, who was also responsiblefor the Psychosomatic Department. He in-vestigated the matter and found that, with-out any transition period, the approved an-alytical method of teaching reading andwriting skills had been replaced by the so-called whole language approach. Thewhole language approach, which was atthat time praised as progressive, relies onmemorizing whole word pictures and pre-vents the understanding of the structureof our writing. For this purpose, the ana-lytic-synthetic method is essential, which

matches sounds with signs. It was im-mediately clear to Professor Seelemannthat the change of teaching method wasthe cause of the abnormal behaviour ofso many children. He conferred with thehead of the childrens psychiatric depart-ment of the university hospital. They im-mediately went to see the authorities re-sponsible for primary schools, presentedtheir suspicions to them and urged theimmediate reinstatement of the analyti-cal method of teaching reading and writ-ing. The school officials reacted sensibly

to the paediatric authorities opposition.They changed the teaching method, andin a short time there were no more chil-dren with behavioural problems from therespective primary schools. At that timeno psychiatric diagnoses were made andno psychotropic drugs were administered.The cause was found in the education-al field and was solved right there, whereit had come from! Medical diagnosis wasstill based on a careful anamnesis, accord-ing to the principle: The case history ishalf of the diagnosis.1This story should,among other things, teach us a lesson.

Introduction of the set theory abolition of orthography

In 1975, my daughter attended the firstform of primary school in our community.Without notice or explanation the set theo-ry was introduced in mathematics. It wasnot until the introduction that the parentswere informed about the great value andprogress the set theory allegedly stood for.In the evening parents often sat with theirchildren trying to understand the set theo-ry and the sense thereof. I could not. I had

the feeling that I was busy doing sense-less brain-phantom acrobatics. Other par-ents had the same feeling. We did not holdback with our criticism. We had not beenseized by the spirit of the age, but we wereoriented towards values.

Some weeks later my daughters teach-er stopped correcting the childrens spell-ing mistakes. We parents got together andinvited her to a parents-teacher confer-ence.

We requested the teacher to take settheory off the curriculum and to teachthe correct spelling of words. We werevery clearly expressing our demands.The teacher promised to talk about it tothe headmaster of the school and to in-form us about the result. After four weekswe had not yet heard anything. Every-

thing continued as before. As a precau-tion we had developed a plan to be on thesafe side and invited the headmaster to theparents evening as well as the Hamburgschool senator. The headmaster came, butthe school senator didnt. We expressedour astonishment at not having receivedany message from the teacher nor fromthe headmaster. Moreover we had not re-ceived any excuse by the school senatorfor his not coming. The parents speakerdeclared what our demands were: The settheory was to be taken off the curriculum

within one week and spelling was to betaught as ever or we parents would takeour children off the school, we would en-gage a teacher of our own and would in-form the press. We were ready to take onthe legal consequences. We expected fromthe school for which we paid our taxes to instruct

Current Concerns 2014 No. 01 Quo Vadis NATO

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