Have you read it? what do you think about it? it's in Newsweek after all, and it's pretty heavy...

http://www.newsweek.com/id/233207

i just might add i don't agree with it, even though most of the things he says there is pretty much true, but why would Switzerland be over?

so facts are given (presented in a biased way though), just the conclusion is strange.

With quotes like that you have to wonder if the reporter who wrote that article has actually ever stepped foot in this country..

I have to tell you that I have seen the end of Switzerland a number of times. It was like a dream.... there was the Lake of Geneva... and then the Rhine Falls.... and then there was Basel, and finally, there was the checkpoint at Chiasso. All very surreal.


Jokes aside, a lot of Swiss I know feel that the Switzerland they grew up in no longer exists.

i don't know, but

and also, few days ago, worker of the emergency room in Universitatsspital thought i'm french after he saw my insurance company on my health card from french part even though i was speaking english. just a very small thing of course, but i think this is true, LESS people in the french part are now learning german, than let's say 10 years ago. i read few articles about that on swissinfo.

That's a mistake isn't it?

Schengen is to do with passports and freedom of travel . . . it's nothing to do with freedom to work.

It's an opinion piece by Denis McShane which probably means it has a pro-EU motivation.

i guess his idea was that since it's easier to travel to and from switzerland, more people want to move and work there.

this is not true of course,

lack of comfort caused by regular ID checks is not big factor in people's so important decision as to where they want to live ! and i think statistics are confirming that. (so from 2009 , actually less Germans moved in compared to 2008, because of the economic crissis, Schengen didn't help at all)

Yes, the writer of that article (Denis MacShane) has actually tripled the true figure of 1,000 per month.

source: http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/bildstrecke.html?id=26908

He makes his article self-contradictory anyway . . . it's a country in such decline that people are flocking here to work. Switzerland certainly stacks up rather favourably against the UK and the more errant Eurozone countries.

People have been saying that Switzerland is over for centuries.

The Swiss just don't seem to be listening.

Which is fine. They should decide their own fate. What others think doesn't matter.

Switzerland will continue unabated. Or maybe it won't. But it will be on it's own timetable.

Brian.

Meh, it's Newsweek. Last U.S. election they were unabashedly biased for the Obama camp - so for me they've lost all semblance of journalistic integrity.

It reads more like a high school essay than a very researched journalistic piece.
I am curious about the author's motivation and the timing of this article. Was he a guest at the WEF? He clearly has a problem with Switzerland:

http://www.epolitix.com/mpwebsites/m...enis-macshane/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...orporate-money

I do agree with his assessment of the Swiss political scene. Calmy-Rey's and Merz's gaffes last week made me cringe.

"
Meh, it's Newsweek. Last U.S. election they were unabashedly biased for the Obama camp - so for me they've lost all semblance of journalistic integrity. "
Considering how Obama lost and all...

Switzerland will never end. Only if we split the country in four parts


And who would make our absolutely delicious Swiss Cheese ?

I agree. It's a very unobjective assessment full of his own political agendas and not everybody would agree with his views. But he does raise a good point about Switzerland's political leaders, especially their performance on the international stage. They do lack polish and they can come over provincial. On the other hand, Macshane might want to reflect on his own political system before he criticises that of others. At a time when there is a furious outpouring of public anger against the House of Commons for the way they've abused their expenses, the public's trust in politicians in Macshane's own country is at an all time low.

It's funny how everybody jumps up to defend Switzerland, where in actuality one cannot deny the fact that the article does hold truth to it.

I agree. it is a shame. We had brilliant politicians in the past. MacShane mentions the Gorbatchev/Reagan meeting. It was made possible by Kurt Furgler that was in the FC at the time. The man spoke 1/2 a dozen languages completely fluently and was a master negotiator. He solved the hostage crisis in 1982 at the Polish embassy. He is the one that also made possible the creation of Canton Jura. He became vice-president of the "club of Rome" think tank when he retired from the FC.

Could be the SVP infiltrating international journalism to send out a story that Switzerland is going to sh*t to stem the steady flow of expats hoarding into the country...

"Move along, there's nothing to see, it's all crap here..."

The writer of this article - "Today, however, Switzerland's cities are grubby..." what! The guy needs to walk the streets of Zurich, get on a flight from Zurich to any London airport, and walk the streets of London. It always strikes me how worn-out and dirty the streets of London look in comparison.

"More and more, Switzerland seems like just another small, struggling European nation." - eh? In his dreams. I am so tired of the constant superior attitude of European Unionists. The biggest threat to Switzerland would be to be sucked into the bureaucratic abyss that is Brussels.

"As Europe ponders its role in the new geopolitical order, Switzerland is looking less and less important to world affairs." The difference here is that I am unaware of Switzerland pretending to be important in world affairs unlike 'Europe' which for some reason the writer fails to recognise Switzerland as lying within. 'Europe' in the EU sense has a vastly bloated sense of its own significance failing to realise that China, India... are where true future (and current?) power lies.

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Somewhat of a contradiction, don't you think Mr MacShane??

Anyone who starts a tirade against Switzerland by quoting the most quoted mis-quote about Switzerland, proves their credentials are tarnished. How long before the world realises that cuckcoo clocks are not Swiss??