Social issues

Who benefits from age verification on social media?

When child abusers want to protect children from TikTok, it’s probably about something else

by Norbert Häring*

(6 March 2026) A ban on social media for children and young people is being pushed worldwide, supposedly to protect them. It is being driven by a global “elite” that has abused and tormented young people and children for decades and continues to protect the perpetrators to this day. In reality, they want to put an end to unmonitored use of the internet.

Benefits, freedom, self-government

Peter Blickle analyses communalism in Switzerland and Europe

by Beat Kappeler*

(27 February 2026) (CH-S) Renowned journalist Beat Kappeler draws on the research of historian Peter Blickle to explore what makes Switzerland so unique. How did the Swiss manage to preserve so many rights and avoid organising their state in a hierarchical manner, unlike France, Germany or Italy? How did the independent and wealthy cities and municipalities of Europe come to submit to centralised power?

A trip to Moscow – in the service of people’s diplomacy

by Anita Meyenberger

(20 February 2026) The Eurasia Association invited “upright Swiss citizens” to Moscow on a dialogue trip for peace to engage in diplomacy from a citizen’s perspective. On 24 January, the participants met at Kloten Airport near Zurich to begin their journey. Tickets from “Turkish Airlines” for the flight via Istanbul to Moscow, an electronic visa for Russia, hotel reservations and a metro card provided the material requirements for the trip – the participants felt the costs were worth it. Roubles could only be purchased in Moscow.
Greece

“Exodos” – Panhellenic movement against digital totalitarianism

(6 February 2026) (CH-S) A movement against “digital totalitarianism” has formed in Greece. “Exodos” opposes mandatory digital identity with the aim of preserving human dignity. The founding declaration, which is also available in English, warns of the danger that digitalisation will not only destroy fundamental democratic rights, but also undermine the substance of human coexistence.

“Undeclared martial law in the EU”

Banishment of critical journalists traces back to NATO

by Norbert Häring,* Germany

(30 January 20269 (CH-S) The Swiss administration’s barely audible sympathy for the fate of Swiss citizen Jacques Baud after EU sanctions were imposed on him, the misguided statement in the “Allgemeine Schweizerische Militärzeitschrift” (ASMZ) on this case, and finally the borderline statements made by Federal Councillor Pfister on freedom of expression at the Swiss Media’s Epiphany Conference on 8 January, were initially attributed to the power centre in Brussels.

Nathalie Yamb explains what it means to be on a sanctions list

Sanctioned by the EU, abandoned by Switzerland

(23 January 2026) (CH-S) Several EU citizens have already been sanctioned by the European Commission. Two Swiss citizens have also been sanctioned: Jacques Baud – about whom “Swiss Standpoint” has already reported several times – and Nathalie Yamb. Ms Yamb was born in La Chaux-de-Fonds in the Neuchâtel Jura and has dual Swiss and Cameroonian citizenship. For years, she has been campaigning for the sovereignty of African states. In this context, she criticises France’s influence in its former colonies.