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European leaders join Zelensky at the White House, Russia rebuffs Swiss offer of immunity for talks and US tariffs imperil 100k Swiss jobs

European leaders join Zelensky at the White House, Russia rebuffs Swiss offer of immunity for talks and US tariffs imperil 100k Swiss jobs

This week, the big action concerning Alpine security happened in America, or where so-called "strategic autonomy" went to die. While the myth that Europe can somehow do without America in defense played itself out into oblivion between last Friday's Alaska meeting between US President Donald Trump and the Russian leader Vladimir Putin, it also became rather clear by Monday that there could be no discussion about Ukraine without Ukraine. 

That was the day Volodymy Zelensky, President of Ukraine, materialized in the White House, this time in a suit, flanked by European leaders including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and even Finnish President Alexander Stubb, who earlier this year donned his golfing attire for a round with Trump in Florida. By the end of the day, there was talk of security guarantees but little concrete to show for it. The following days would only serve to further dilute any such promise. 

But while some mythos fade from fashion, others endure in the minds of those most invested. The next day, Switzerland's Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis was offering up his country's "good services" and dangling immunity from arrest for Putin (due to an outstanding warrant issued by the International Criminal Court). While Russia's diplomats and intelligence agents have not been expelled from Switzerland, the Swiss have joined in EU sanctions against Russia. Geneva, despite being a comfortable base of operations for Russia in Europe, as a venue for peace talks – or even the very notion of peace talks – remains distant as long as Russia believes it is winning by force. 

Welcome to the new Alpine Security Monitor. Currently in its pilot stage, you can still sign up and subscribe (and become a paid subscriber!) for weekly updates on security and geopolitics as it concerns the Alpine region, namely Austria, Czechia, France, Germany, Italy, Slovenia and Switzerland (ok, little Liechtenstein and Monaco too when merited).

If you find the Alpine Security Monitor useful, perhaps tell a friend or two, and then maybe they will tell a friend or two, and so on and so forth until maybe someone or a few folks help to plug this gaping, Alpine-size security vacuum in the middle of Europe.

One housekeeping note: last week's intro misidentified Fiona Hill as Trump's former National Security Advisor, in fact her title from 2017 until 2019 was Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior Director for European and Russian Affairs. The correction has been made in last week's edition online.

WASHINGTON, DC – European leaders join Zelensky for meeting with Trump

  • Politico reports European leaders including several Alpine heads of state: French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni flanked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House for a meeting with US President Donald Trump after he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska last Friday.
  • So what happened? Zelensky wore a suit and delivered a letter addressed to Melania Trump who had written one herself for Putin expressing concern for the fate of children Russia had abducted, in a sharp nod to reality by someone who once visited children in US migrant detention wearing a jacket that asked, "I don't really care, do u?" Trump told Zelensky, "There will be a lot of help when it comes to security," in the form of a "very good security guarantee". The Financial Times adds Ukraine also agreed to purchase $100 billion (€86 billion) in US weapons with financing from other European countries. And "the Transatlantic alliance survived a nerve-racking test".
  • "Strategic autonomy" this was not. As Gérard Araud, France's former ambassador to the US, Israel and the UN, pointed out on X, "It was the triumph of empty vagueness and meaningless commitments." By Tuesday, Pentagon Policy Chief Elbridge Colby was told allies the US will play "a minimal role in any Ukraine security guarantees," according to Politico. And by Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Russia and China would have to be involved along with the US, the UK and France (so all permanent members of the UN Security Council) for Ukraine to be "really secure," pouring cold water on any flickering embers of substance that remained, according to The Financial Times.

 

BERN, SWITZERLAND – Swiss offer Putin immunity if he materializes at a peace event

  • Le Monde reports Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis offered Russian President Vladimir Putin "immunity" if he materializes at a peace conference despite the warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) stemming from aggression against Ukraine since 2022.
  • Speaking at a press conference during a meeting of Swiss diplomats in Bern alongside his Italian counterpart Antonio Tajani, Cassis said he was ready to organize a peace confab, something he has "constantly reminded" Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov of in recent months. Lavrov replied by expressing his dismay over Switzerland's decision to join in European sanctions against Russia, iterating that as a result, Russia has "naturally lost some of the desire to do so in Switzerland." Politico reports French President Emmanuel Macron "suggested" Geneva as a potential venue.
  • However recently, Russian Senate President Valentina Matvienko, a close Putin ally, was in Geneva for an Inter Parliamentary Union meeting despite sanctions against her over her support for Russia's war against Ukraine.

 

ZÜRICH, SWITZERLAND – US tariff of 39% imperils 100,000 jobs in Switzerland

  • Swissinfo reports Swiss business federation economiesuisse warned last Friday that the 39% tariff imposed by US President Donald Trump on Swiss imports places 100,000 jobs in the country at risk, mainly in the watchmaking, machinery, metals and food industries.
  • Pharmaeceutical products remain exempt for the moment though Trump has said he would impose tariffs of 250% if prices do not come down.
  • Economiesuisse said that many companies "have more employees on average" than is absolutely necessary, "which is why the actual number of people affected could be higher".

 

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Jailed French researcher faces new espionage charges in Russia

  • France24 reports a jailed French researcher, Laurent Vinater, who worked for a Swiss conflict mediation organization, Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, faces new espionage charges in addition to his three year sentence he is already serving, which leaves him facing a potential 20-year sentence in a Russian prison.
  • The court filing, seen by Agence France Presse, shows Vinater facing a new hearing on August 25. Last October, he was found guilty in a Russian court of gathering information on the Russian military in violation of the country's "foreign agent" law.
  • A veteran researcher of Russia, Vinater is one of a number of Westerners who have been arrested since the Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. For his part, Vinater said he wanted to "present Russia's interests in international relations".

 

PARIS, FRANCE – Macron and Netanyahu feud over Palestine recognition, antisemitism

  • Politico reports Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent a letter to French President Emmanuel Macron Sunday obtained by Politico which decries "the alarming rise of antisemitism in France and the lack of decisive action by your government to confront it," adding that due to "your public statements attacking Israel and signalling recognition of a Palestinian state, it has surged."
  • On Tuesday, when the letter surface in French media, Macron's office responded that the decision to recognize a Palestinian state was fueling antisemitism in France was "erroneous, despicable and will not go unanswered."
  • Last month, France said it would recognize a Palestinian state during the UN General Assembly in September. After France's announcement, the UK, Canada and Australia announced similar plans, enfuriating Israel which has been at war in Gaza since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on the country.

 

ÉPINAY-SUR-SEINE, FRANCE – Macron vows to 'punish hatred' after memorial tree felled

  • Le Monde reports French President Emmanuel Macron vowed to punish "hatred" after the memorial tree that was planted for Ilan Halimi, the victim of a 2006 antisemitic hate crime, was chopped down last week.
  • The olive tree was planted in 2011 and likely felled a week ago last Wednesday with a chainsaw in the northern Paris suburb of Epinay-sur-Seine. On X last Friday, Macron said the incident was "tanatmount to killing him a second time." Perhaps the point – or more likely a message to the living? Several other ministers also commented.
  • Halimi was kidnapped and tortured by 20 young people in January 2006 in a "low-income housing estate in the Paris suburb of Bagneux." Twenty three years old at the time, he was discovered three weeks later and died en route to the hospital. The incident stirred debate in France at the time as police initially refused to classify it as a hate crime while tens of thousands took to the streets to demand justice.

 

CHÂTEL, FRANCE – 'Free Palestine' spray painted on cars of vacationing Jewish families

  • The Jerusalem Post reports Wednesday nine cars belonging to "Haredi vacationers" were spraypainted with "free Palestine" in the French Alpine village of Châtel near the Swiss border.
  • A complaint was filed with local police and one of the holiday makers from Vienna said he did not think the police were taking the case seriously, calling it "a horrifying feeling".
  • The Jerusalem Post also covered the case of a Jewish family that was "violently ejected" from an Uber last week in Vienna after an antisemitic driver labeled them "child murderers," highlighting the depths to which the Israeli press is covering "the rising wave of antisemitism in Europe," based in part on ancient tropes but also the flood of footage from Israel's military operations in Gaza on social media and elsewhere. On the Israeli side, such tales also reinforce the Staatsräson or the reason for their being a state of Israel.

 

CONTES, FRANCE – Investigation opened into man's death on live stream

  • Reuters reports French authorities have opened an investigation Wednesday after Raphael Graven, known online as Jean Pormanove, 46, died during a live stream on the Australian-registered Kick platform where he was regularly featured enduring violence and other abuses by fellow live streamers.
  • On X, Kick Francais said it was cooperating with authorities and that other livestreamers who had participated in the man's abuse were banned from the platform as the investigation is ongoing. French media have shown "hours-long videos during with Pormanove is seen suffering blows, insults, strangulation, dousing with paint and oil and being shot at with a paintball gun."
  • While a judicial investigation is underway, the lawyer for one of the banned livestreamers said that the violence in Graven/Pormanove's videos was not real but staged and that Graven/Pormanove had cardiovascular problems.

 

BERLIN, GERMANY – Draft budget for 2026 includes €350 billion in defense spending

  • Defence Blog reports the German Defense Ministry submitted a draft of the federal budget to the Bundestag Monday, outlining a "multi-decade framework" for €350 billion ($409 billion) in defense procurement.
  • The draft includes "commitment authorizations" running from 2027 until 2041 worth €325 billion ($379 billion) that would give the Defense Ministry authorthization to sign contracts for "major systems such as tanks, ships and aircraft". The commitment authorizations would still require the Bundestag's approval.
  • According to the draft, "the largest annual tranches" would be scheduled for the end of this decade, with over €52 billion ($61 billion) allocated for 2029 and 2030.

 

BERLIN, GERMANY – Germany announces plans to establish a national security council

  • Deutsche Welle reports last Saturday that Germany plans to establish a national security council, something it has lacked until now.
  • Some 60 nations worldwide have a national security council or a security committee resembling one that advises leadership on policy and threats. The goal is to "empower Germany to act more decisively in times of crisis."
  • The agreement between the coalition government comprised of Christian Democrats (CDU) and Social Democrats (SPD) "ends decades of discussions." In the postwar period, "Germany was rarely called upon to take a leading role in security matters," meaning the country could "afford to deliberate more slowly."

 

MAGDEBURG, GERMANY – Christmas market car ramming suspect charged with murder

  • The AP reports the 50 year old Saudi doctor responsible for driving his car into a Christmas market in an attempt to kill as many as possible resulting in the death of five women and a boy was charged with murder Tuesday in an indictment in state court.
  • The doctor had arrived in Germany in 2006 and received permanent residency. In addition to six counts of murder, he faces 338 counts of attempted murder and 309 counts of bodily harm. His full name has not been released in accordance with German privacy law.
  • The man "doesn't fit the usual profile of extremist attacks" in that he had renounced his Islamic faith and was highly critical of the religion but "expressed support for the far-right" on social media. He had not previously come to the attention of the authorities nor was he known to have exhibited violent behavior in the past.

 

PISA, ITALY – Evacuated woman from Gaza dies of malnutrition in Italian hospital

  • The BBC reports a severely emaciated 20 year old woman from Gaza, Marah Abu Zuhri, was was flown to Pisa with her mother on an overnight flight a week ago last Wednesday died in the hospital last Friday, "less than 48 hours after arriving."
  • The University Hospital of Pisa announced Abu Zuhri died of cardiac arrest after suffering "severe loss of weight and muscle," with Italian agencies reporting that she suffered "severe malnutrition."
  • "More than 180 children and adults" have been evacuated to Italy since the start of the war following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. Thirty one, patients "all with serious congenital diseases, wounds or amputations," arrived last week along with their companions to hospitals in Milan, Pisa and Rome, according to the Italian Foreign Ministry.

 

MALPENSA AIRPORT, ITALY – Man sets fire to check-in area at Terminal 1

  • The BBC reports part of Malpensa Airport in Milan had to evacuated Wednesday around 11:00 am after a man set fire to check-in desks at Terminal 1.
  • Video footage posted to social media showed "chaotic scenes" after the fire was set and the man attacked digital screens with a hammer prior to his arrest, though no injuries were reported.
  • The Lombardy Airports Association said the man was detained and the situation brought under control. It is "yet unclear" what motivation if any was behind the incident.

 

BRINDISI, ITALY – Plane makes emergency landing after fire erupts near engine

  • CBS News reports a Condor Airlines plane traveling from Corfu, Greece to Düsseldorf, Germany was forced to make an emergency landing Saturday after "Passengers saw flames" near the plane's engine at approximately 8:30 pm.
  • While the airline would not confirm an engine fire, Condor Airlines said there was "a reaction near the engine that normally takes place in the engine's combustion chamber leading to a visible reaction at the rear of the engine" and that the engine was shut down "in a controlled manner".
  • During an emergency landing in the southern city of Brindisi, air traffic was closed for thirty minutes while firefighters waited on the tarmac. All 273 flight passengers and crew were safe. As hotels in Brindisi were at capacity, some passengers had to spend the night at the airport with blankets provided by the airline and shops remaining open "to provide supplies."

Stay safe and take care especially if you're flying the friendly skies!

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