Switzerland Today
Dear Swiss Abroad,
The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) is beginning amid shock. The United States’ demand to purchase Greenland is dominating talks in Davos. In their speeches, the Swiss president and the president of the European Commission both referred to geopolitical upheavals.
On a lighter note, a Swiss-backed study suggests that cows may be more intelligent than previously assumed. How did researchers reach this conclusion?
The 2026 World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos is overshadowed by the Greenland crisis. US President Donald Trump’s demand to purchase the island, coupled with threats of new punitive tariffs against the European Union, has triggered diplomatic tensions, while protests against his policies led to violent unrest in Zurich.
The forum opened amid extreme geopolitical strain. Despite the motto “A Spirit of Dialogue”, events have been dominated by Trump’s ambitions, particularly his push to acquire Greenland, which has sparked a trade dispute with the EU. Washington is threatening European countries with tariffs of up to 200%, while Denmark and other EU states are pushing back. In her speech in Davos on Tuesday afternoon, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU would respond to Washington’s threats “firmly, united and with a sense of proportion”.
Switzerland, meanwhile, is seeking to turn the situation to its diplomatic advantage. Economics Minister Guy Parmelin, who holds the rotating Swiss presidency this year, wants to advance negotiations on a trade agreement with the US, with the aim of significantly reducing tariffs on Swiss goods. In his speech at the WEF, he stressed the importance of unity and strong international relations.
At the same time, serious unrest broke out in Zurich on Monday evening. During an anti-Trump demonstration involving several thousand people, police used water cannon and rubber bullets against members of the so-called black bloc after shop windows were smashed and barricades erected. The activist group Campax criticised the WEF as a gathering driven purely by “money and power”.
The Swiss Federal Audit Office (FAO) has accused the army of wasting millions of francs of taxpayers’ money when decommissioning outdated weapons.
Despite repeated warnings, binding rules for the economical use of military equipment remain lacking – a particularly sensitive issue at a time when the armed forces are seeking billions in additional funding.
The Swiss Armed Forces have been heavily criticised by the FAO for wasting taxpayers’ money on decommissioning obsolete weapons. In a critical report, the FAO notes that, despite a “Priority 1” recommendation, little progress has been made since 2020 in ensuring cost efficiency. According to the auditors, there are still no binding internal guidelines to guarantee the economical handling of military assets.
One key criticism concerns the disposal of material. Instead of selling equipment with residual value, the army has often donated it to museums in the past. Given the ongoing calls for substantial new defence loans, the FAO describes this as a “systematic gap”.
Defence Minister Martin Pfister wants to respond by strengthening financial oversight within the department. A first test case for the new approach will be the planned decommissioning of the F-5 Tiger fighter jets. In this case, the FAO expects the aircraft to be sold in order to comply with the legal requirement of economic efficiency, as reported by Blick.
How much online presence should public authorities have? While Swiss municipalities are rapidly expanding their use of social media, the Social Democratic Party is calling on the government to withdraw from platform X.
A recent survey shows that social media has become standard practice for local authorities. Almost every second Swiss municipality now uses at least one platform, with Facebook and Instagram leading the way, according to the Keystone-SDA news agency. Rural regions in particular often achieve surprisingly high reach and engagement.
At the same time, political pressure is mounting on the federal government to leave X. The left-wing Social Democratic Party describes the platform as “dangerous to the public”, warning that continued presence risks indirectly supporting right-wing extremism, reports SRF News.
The left-wing Green Party backs this position and is calling for stronger regulation to protect young people. Centre-right parties, including the Radical-Liberal Party and the Centre Party, oppose withdrawal. They argue that official Switzerland must remain present even in difficult digital environments. Leaving the platform, they say, would hand the space over to extremists, while active engagement helps maintain the state’s visibility.
Forget everything you thought you knew about “stupid cows”. A cow named Veronika has demonstrated to researchers that cattle can do more than graze – they can also use tools in a targeted and strategic way.
Veronika, an Austrian cow of the Swiss Brown breed, does not simply scratch herself with branches or brooms. Researchers observed that she deliberately uses the bristles of a broom for her back, while choosing the smooth handle for her more sensitive udder. Such flexible and purposeful tool use was previously thought to be almost exclusive to primates, particularly chimpanzees.
According to researchers at the Research Institute for Human-Animal Interaction in Vienna with support of a Swiss foundation – many cows may be capable of similar behaviour. However, their daily lives in standardised barns offer little stimulation or opportunity to demonstrate such abilities, reports Germany’s Tagesschau.
The findings suggest that our understanding of farm animals may need to change. If a cow can grasp how a broom works, the researchers argue, it raises broader questions about modern livestock farming, and whether animals are being underestimated.
Translated using AI/amva/ts
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