Tag Archives: Politics

Business trips are very different these days. It was a wonderful and intense week, but nothing beats coming back home with bags full of supplies! Day 79 May 13 The very real price Ukrainians are paying for other people’s imperial delusions: survivors of the Kramatorsk train station bombing. More than 30 people were killed, and more than 100 injured among about 1000 people waiting to be evacuated from the city.  ...

A major conference on cyber security took place in Switzerland last month with participants from the US government. © Keystone/Anthony Anex Defence Minister Viola Amherd has held talks with United States government representatives on international security cooperation. Amherd said the Russian invasions of Ukraine made it clear that Switzerland should seek closer cooperation, including the US, she told a news conference in Washington on Friday. But she reiterated that...

Day 73 May 7 This is Liza. She is 15 years old. After her town got shelled and two people got injured she volunteered to drive them to get some medical help, because no one else would. First she got through mines on the road, then Russian soldiers shot at the car, injuring both of her legs. But she kept driving until the car stopped. Fortunately, they got picked up by our guys, and this brave little girl and her passengers are recovering right now....

According to the price comparison website Comparis.ch obligatory Swiss health insurance premiums are set to rise by an average of 5% in 2023, in some cases as much as 10%. Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.comKey drivers of the rise are the impact of the pandemic and pressure by the federal government on insurance companies to refund reserves to policy holders, said Felix Schneuwly, a health insurance expert at the company. Before the refunds a number of insurance companies had...

Part II of II The big picture here is clear and it is essential to understand that it represents a very significant paradigm shift. Whether it is online or offline, whether it is through a mobile app, an exchange or even through physical contracts, ownership titles to gold holdings keep changing hands. And thus, no matter the vehicle that is used to facilitate these transactions, the fact of the matter is that it acts as a gold-backed currency. This alone...

Part II of II The big picture here is clear and it is essential to understand that it represents a very significant paradigm shift. Whether it is online or offline, whether it is through a mobile app, an exchange or even through physical contracts, ownership titles to gold holdings keep changing hands. And thus, no matter the vehicle that is used to facilitate these transactions, the fact of the matter is that it acts as a gold-backed currency. This alone is remarkable: After eons...

Part I of II For decades, physical gold investors have had to contend with superficial, naive and wholly ahistorical “arguments” from the mainstream financial press, from economists and experts of all stripes, claiming that gold is nothing but a barbarous relic. To them, the yellow metal is akin to investment superstition. It has no yield, it serves no practical purpose and the only attraction they could conceive of is merely symbolic, or perhaps,...

Part I of II For decades, physical gold investors have had to contend with superficial, naive and wholly ahistorical “arguments” from the mainstream financial press, from economists and experts of all stripes, claiming that gold is nothing but a barbarous relic. To them, the yellow metal is akin to investment superstition. It has no yield, it serves no practical purpose and the only attraction they could conceive of is merely symbolic, or perhaps, political. Thus, who in their...

Over the last two years, we’ve all witnessed state abuses of power and extreme overreaches the likes of which many average citizens had never imagined they’d see in their own lifetimes. This caused a great part of the body politic in many Western nations to revisit their previously held beliefs about what is and isn’t possible for their governments to do and to question whether there really is such a thing as going “too far” or whether anyone in the political class is subject to the...

Over the last two years, we’ve all witnessed state abuses of power and extreme overreaches the likes of which many average citizens had never imagined they’d see in their own lifetimes. This caused a great part of the body politic in many Western nations to revisit their previously held beliefs about what is and isn’t possible for their governments to do and to question whether there really is such a thing as going “too far” or whether anyone in the...