Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A group of researchers based at Chuv (University Hospitals) in Lausanne have published the results of a 23-year study of Swiss homicide-suicides in The American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology (28 January 2010 issue). Their conclusion: a stricter weapons law would help reduce the number of such deaths. The study was undertaken in the context of an ongoing national debate over military laws that require soldiers to keep guns at home. Switzerland has a national militia.
Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told senators Tuesday 2 February that the US should end its “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that obliges gay soldiers to keep their sexual preferences to themselves. “”No matter how I look at the issue I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens.” The policy began in 1993 but the Pentagon says it will now review it.
Links to other sites: Al Jazeera, NPR, MSNBC
Davos during the World Economic Forum, 2009 (image: WEF)
Update 11:37 Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss Army has begun preparations for the World Economic Forum in Davos, from 27-31 January 2010, with 200 soldiers dispatched to canton Graubuenden to begin making security arrangements. The army will supply 5,000 soldiers this year, the same as last, and the government will spend CHF1.5 million providing military security for the event. The cost is down slightly thanks to technical improvements, according to Bern.
The army provides security on the ground, including clearances for people attending the event, which pulls in top-level business and political leaders. The Swiss and Austrian air forces provide air surveillance.
Swiss military flights are flying over the Alps frequently this week, noticeable to skiers, but these are regular training flights, the military department confirmed to GenevaLunch. Military training linked to WEF begins closer to the event.
Airolo, Ticino, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A 19-year-old soldier died while on a break during a football game at the Airolo boot camp for sanitary workers, the federal Department of Defense announced 26 November. His colleagues gave him first aid and CPR almost immediately, but were unable to revive him. He was in his fifth week of boot camp. The cause of death remains unknown.
An extradition treaty between the US and Britain makes the legal case cut and dried: Gary McKinnon of North London in the UK hacked his way into US military and space agency computers in the days after 11 September 2001 and he must be tried in the US. McKinnon, 43, has admitted to the actions, but says he was simply looking for information on UFOs. Beyond the legal issue is a human rights debate over whether or not McKinnon, who has Asperger’s syndrome (the high-functioning end of the autism range) should be extradited and tried for a crime that could put him in prison for the rest of his life. The man’s family has pleaded with the British home secretary, Alan Johnson, to intervene but Thursday the family received a letter from him saying he is powerless. Legal advice differs on his ability to stop the extradition.
UUKLinks to other sites: boing boing, freegary, Guardian, UK, Times, UK and 2005 interview with McKinnon in the Guardian
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The two guides who worked with a military team scaling the Jungfrau when an avalanche hit and killed six in the group now face the possibility of a new trial. The prosecutor in the case Wednesday 25 November filed an appeal against the judgement last Thursday that acquitted the two guides, who were awarded damages.
Background: Guides acquitted in Jungfrau military accident, 20 November 2009, GenevaLunch
Update 2 25 November Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff and Russian officials have been meeting in Geneva since Sunday according to Michael Parmly, spokesperson for the US Mission in Geneva. The Russian Permament Mission would not comment on the talks but confirmed that they had taken place. Mullen’s office says he met Tuesday with Russian armed forces chief of staff General Nikolai Makarov, AP reports.
Geneva is the site of negotiations between the US and Russia to replace the 1990s-era Start treaty on cuts to both countries’ nuclear arsenals, which expires 5 December. A major obstacle has been the verification process. The Start talks have been the subject of high-level meetings between US President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev over the course of 2009.
Mullen also met with the head of the Swiss army, André Blattmann, for a working lunch in Geneva Tuesday.
Background: “Start treaty talks may take longer, Obama says“, 16 November 2009, GenevaLunch
Links to other sites: Adm Mike Mullen on Facebook, US Mission in Geneva, Permanent Russian Mission in Geneva and ABC News, AP/WGN-TV, Chicago
Bern / Chur, Graubuenden, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Two guides who have been on trial for their part in the deaths of six soldiers during a military mountain training expedition on the Jungfrau have been acquitted. They were on trial in a Swiss military court for involuntary manslaughter and for not observing military regulations.
The People’s Republic of China turns 60 Thursday 1 October, the country’s national day. This year’s festivities are larger and more colourful than ever, although the details are not being made public and security is tight for the military show, with reports that balloons and kites are even banned. Boston.com carries a large collection of photos, with military troops, theatre troupes, special lighting and more. Forty commemorative films are being shown around China and are expected to draw good cinema crowds. The party isn’t limited to Beijing or even China: New York’s Empire State building will be bathed in red and yellow light, China’s official colours. Other sites featuring the preparations: China Radio International (Eng), CS Monitor, Xinhua
Commandos on Swiss Raid. © 2009 Swiss Raid Commando
Valais, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Elite commandos from 19 countries and Switzerland will test their military skills against each other and against the elements in the 2009 edition of Swiss Raid Commando, starting today 24 September in the Chablais region of Valais, Vaud and Haute Savoie, neigbouring France. In all, 80 four-person troops (there is one all-woman troop), each led by an officer or non-commissioned officer, compete in tests of physical prowess, technical abilities and mastery of tactics.
General David Petraeus of the US, military regional commander for the area that includes Afghanistan, said 11 June that the level of Taliban attacks is the highest since 2001. The BBC reports that in the first week of June 2009 there were 400 attacks, more than eight times the rate in January 2004. US General Stanley McChrystal said, when asked in an interview with the BBC if Afghanistan will be a long-term operation, “It won’t be short.”
Robert Dreyfuss writes for Mother Jones in the US, which carries a series of articles on US involvement in Afghanistan, that President Obama’s gamble to win the war there is a “daunting” challenge.
The air strikes by US forces in Afghanistan 4 May 2009 that caused civilian casualties and provoked local outrage may have involved “significant errors” on the part of US military personnel, an investigation suggested 2 June. “The report represents the clearest American acknowledgment of fault in connection with the attacks,” notes the New York Times.
US military commanders plan to cut off the Taliban’s economic source, their multi-million dollar opium business in Afghanistan, by sending 20,000 Marines to the southern part of the country where the Taliban have poppy fields. The new effort to end the seven-year war in Afghanistan will double the number of troops already deployed. International Herald Tribune
Pakistan’s military launched a major assault on Taliban fighters in the lower Dir region, causing civilians to flee the area. Military officials say that they have killed at least 46 suspected Taliban fighters through a combination of air and ground attacks. The attack is in retaliation for Taliban violations of the recent agreement concerning the Swat Valley, according to Al Jazeera.
French officials denied claims of a relationship between nuclear weapons tests and health problems among the testers for decades. Defense Minister Hervé Morin told Le Figaro, Tuesday 23 March, that they will compensate those suffering from illnesses linked to radiation exposure from the test. French authorities carried out more than 200 nuclear tests between 1960 and 1996 that theoretically affected approximately 150,000 civilian and military personnel, according to Morin. International Herald Tribune
President Ravalomanana dissolved the government of Madagascar and handed over ruling power to the military under pressure from the army which then put Mayor Andry Rajoelina in the presidential seat. Rajoelina promises to hold elections within the next two years.
”If the military hands over power to the mayor, it is not constitutional,” Jean Ping, the African Union Commission Chairman. Ping says ti will be considered a coup d’etat by the African Union.
Madagascar army troops took over presidential offices in Antananarivo, the capital, at 18:00 local time 16 March, under orders from the country’s opposition leader Andry Rajoelina. President Marc Ravalomanana offered to test support for the government through a referendum, but he was refused. The president was not in the palace at the time of the attack. According to the UK’s Guardian, he is reported to be in another palace on the island. CNN, AllAfrica
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss Army has handed its first batch of new Swiss Army knives to recruits who begin training this week in Thoune.
Photo, ©2008 Swiss military aviation museum, Payerne
Payerne, Vaud (GenevaLunch) – A gynecologist from Lausanne became the first non-military person to fly in a Mirage, a Swiss fighter plane that was retired five years ago.
General David Petraeus handed over the responsibility for US troops in Iraq to his successor, General Ray Odierno, with praise from several quarters for the reduction in the level of violence in Iraq as well as a significant drop in the number of US soldiers killed, for which Petraeus is largely credited; he now becomes commander of US Central Command. CNN
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Armasuisse, the federal department that purchases supplies for the army, has opted for a new knife for its 2009 recruits, made by Victorinox. The famed Swiss Read more…
