4 And what about Switzerland, where our Group is based? Switzerland is supporting the UN sanctions against Russia, accepting refugees from Ukraine and also providing humanitarian aid on the ground in Ukraine. But so far it has rejected all requests to supply weapons and munitions, directly or indirectly, that would provide crucial support for the Ukrainian army. This country, otherwise so willing to help, is taking cover behind the War Materiel Act - which is in urgent need of updating - and a version of strict neutrality that is long outdated nowadays. With its incomprehensible intransigence, Switzerland is depriving the Ukrainian defence forces of meaningful aid of any kind. It is also dismissive of its neighbours and any country which is supporting the Ukrainian army with supplies of weapons and munitions. In so doing, Switzerland has sidelined itself from the rest of the world – to its own detriment. On the other hand, far more significant than Switzerland’s behaviour is China’s attempt to further strengthen its “strategic partnership” with Russia. And this at a time when China’s relationship with the USA is at an all-time low. In its opposition to the West and particularly to the USA, the dictatorship in Beijing seems to be more determined than ever to boost its military capabilities and become a global superpower, while permanently preventing Taiwan from becoming independent. In the light of these developments, we see the world today as facing the ever-increasing horror of war and the associated risk of escalation on a huge scale. By comparison, the coronavirus pandemic led to geopolitical changes of an entirely different kind. Yet when it comes to attempts to protect the environment, the effects of that threat and the current ones are the same: the efforts to reach environmental targets that are of existential importance to subsequent generations have once again lost their urgency in our day-to-day perception. Just like during the Covid pandemic, the destructive impact of climate change is again overshadowed by a threat that is more acute in the short term. Consequently, the absolutely essential need to combat global warming has again been pushed into second place. The dramatic consequences of this retrograde step are immeasurable. We can see it above all in the floods, droughts and famines caused by climate change in Haiti, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia. In these regions and many other large areas of Africa, the death rate from malnutrition is at an unprecedented high, and many more millions of people remain at acute risk of death from starvation due to climate change. Such mass mortality is mitigated mainly by support from OECD member states, with the USA and Germany being by far the biggest donors of development aid. However, people suffering under the horror of war are equally dependent on aid from donor countries. Their numbers have risen rapidly during the last three years and are now at an unprecedented high: the UN Refugee Agency estimates the number of people who have been forcibly driven from their homes worldwide at around 103 million. They are all dependent on emergency humanitarian aid, economic assistance and, especially in Ukraine, they rely heavily on military support. The accumulation of all these highly dangerous threats around the world makes it impossible for any government, however responsible it may be, to focus on global warming at all times. After all, in addition to their own domestic problems, and having overcome the coronavirus pandemic, governments in the US and all democratic countries are now facing primarily foreign policy challenges. The range and scope of the humanitarian, economic and military action that they need to take have increased hugely in a very short time. In the light of this acute pressure to step up to the plate, it seems unlikely that combating climate change will always be top of a government’s agenda in the foreseeable future. A further complicating factor is that even the most responsible governments are forced to make compromises that are not only politically problematic but also, in some cases, conflict with their efforts to protect the environment. Often these compromises are financially necessary to keep the economy working, which is itself a prerequisite for a peaceful society. Anyone who is unwilling to recognise these dilemmas facing governments and the need to make difficult compromises fails to understand that the most pressing priority is to defend human rights, democracy and the free market economy.
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