There are only a few countries in the world that have chosen neutrality, and Austria and Sweden are among them. However, no country has managed to make neutrality a status symbol, as Switzerland has done.
It is a country that, due to its neutrality, represented the interests of the USA in Iran and the interests of Tehran in Washington for 30 years. Switzerland has been negotiating hard with the US to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid to Iran and ease the most severe consequences of the sanctions.
However, Switzerland also sold rigged coding machines to the Iranian authorities, which were marked "made in Switzerland" so that Washington could eavesdrop on them.
After it was revealed that the German and American intelligence services used the Swiss company Crypto AG for decades to spy on other countries, the neutrality of this country was called into question, to say the least, according to the BBC.
Switzerland's neutrality is viewed as if it were woven into the country's DNA, as if it were part of the national identity and not the pragmatic policy of a small country that hired mercenaries from other parts of Europe until its leaders decided it was safer not to fight at all.
"We survived two world wars" is a phrase you often hear in Switzerland, which can be quite irritating for citizens of other European countries who have also survived wars, but in a more difficult way.
However, the truth is that Switzerland's neutrality kept it out of those wars, and in 1945 the Swiss economy and infrastructure rose unscathed, while its neighbors tried to recover from the rubble and ashes.
Neutrality, however, is not some kind of force that protects you from enemies, the BBC points out and reminds that in the Second World War, Switzerland, for example, had to do a lot to make sure that its neighbors stayed away from it. The mass mobilization, in which the authorities sent every man between the ages of 18 and 60 to defend the border, and the blasting of tunnels and alpine passes, is something that has stood out proudly in Swiss history books. However, there were other, equally important things, according to the BBC. Namely, Switzerland was beneficial to all parties.
Nazi Germany found Swiss banks a safe haven for stolen works of art and gold. She sent trains full of weapons through Switzerland in support of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.
At the same time, the head of the Swiss armed forces, General Henri Guizan, was secretly negotiating with the French about a joint fight if both countries were attacked.
Meanwhile, the forerunner of the US intelligence services, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), sent Allen Dulles to Europe. Dulles settled in Bern and remained there until the end of the war, spying on the Germans. He later became the head of the CIA.
The BBC reminds that in the late 1990s, the Swiss were questioned a lot about their role in the Second World War. Included in the history books are sections on the shameful policy of returning Jewish refugees to the borders. Commissions were established, monuments were erected, and the minister in the Swiss government, Caspar Williger, officially apologized.
It is this Kaspar Villiger who is now accused of knowing that the CIA controlled Crypto AG and that it was selling modified devices all over the world so that it could spy on foreign governments while serving as Minister of Defense in the 1990s.
Villiger denies the allegations, however the BBC points out that during the 1990s questions were often raised about the company Crypto, so it is strange that the Defense Secretary never heard about it or did not follow up.
The question arises as to how it is possible for two concepts - neutrality and cooperation - to exist together.
Perhaps in the same way that Switzerland proudly does not fight wars, but sells a lot of weapons. Or in the same way that its bankers say that "money has no smell". Or in other words, they will gladly take care of the money regardless of which bloody conflict it originated from or which brutal dictator or drug lord it belongs to.
Or Switzerland simply wanted to survive the Cold War. Its values are Western, so why should it not see through the fingers of several secret operations of the main European protector, the USA, in one of the most prestigious Swiss engineering companies. The BBC says there are millions of Swiss people who think deeply about these issues and who favor policies that are less self-interested, particularly in banking and the arms trade.
However, every few years something shakes Swiss neutrality, and the Swiss need to realize again that their country is not a bright example of hope in the heart of Europe. It's more about pragmatic, often dirty survival tactics on a continent with a bloody history.
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