Friday, February 12, 2010

The End of Switzerland?


So is the "End of Switzerland" upon us, as a Labour M.P. and former U.K. minister for Europe claims in this recent Newsweek article?

Or is it really the end of the United States, as proven by this and this?

You tell me.

9 comments:

mrsmac said...

Not a fan of Palin, eh? Lol, me neither. However I could have done without the White House's jab at her.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/09/gibbs-mocks-palin-reads-g_n_455430.html

I hate low blows, doesn't matter who is throwing them.

Anyway, the Newsweek article. Shared it on my blog as well. He makes some valid points. I definitely experience the intolerance. But I also see clean cities and trains on time... a low blow possibly?

Chantal said...

I guess I'm just scared that there appear to be so many people in the U.S. that are fans of Palin. Did we not learn from Bush? Why is she still in the spotlight? Why do so many Americans love dumb people?

Newsweek: Agree on some of the intolerance. But trains are on time. And cities are clean. And a Brit shouldn't be allowed to criticize the Swiss trains!

Kathy said...

Very provocative article. Thanks for posting!

I think the CH has gotten some pretty big jolts to the system in the past couple of decades, much like the 60's in the US. That can breed resentments and a longing for a past that never existed.

As for the latest incarnation of US domestic politics of resentment: spokes-idiot Palin...! The good news is that she's helping to pull apart the Republican party at the seams.

Chantal said...

I think CH is also finally realizing that no matter how much it wants to, it can't escape globalization and just live alone on the planet.

Lori said...

The latter - definitely the latter!

What scares me more is Pat Robertson's new crusade to take over state school boards. He wants to promote a more conservative Christian curriculum in the schools.

Move over, Chantal. If these agendas are pushed successfully, I'll be your new neighbor.

Chantal said...

Come on over, Lori! Would love to have you as my neighbor. It's too bad Switzerland has decided to allow half as many non-EU people here as last year :(

Whittner said...

I just read this article, and I'm not entirely sure they have all their facts right. For I doubt that only after Switzerland became a Schengen country that 3000 Germans per month began to enter the country--I'm sure it was the same before Schengen. And I don't buy it, that there's an "upsurge" in Swiss German, or that English as the first second language is all that new--it's been that way ever since I first came to Switzerland 10 years ago. And Switzerland's reluctance to accept foreigners is nothing new--weren't those who assisted the Jews in WWII only recently? I don't think these issues are "undoing this once unique model nation"--it's been that way for years.

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