December 16, 2009

In front of Migros on Meierhofplatz, kreis 10, can you buy a Christmas tree imported from Denmark nicely put into a net using the tube on the photo above. Apparently Denmark is a huge exporter of Christmas trees even though I personally have never seen anything close to a forest in Denmark. It is somehow ironic that the trees are transported all the way from Denmark as Copenhagen is trying hard to become the symbol of environmentalism. Trying hard but so far we have not seen anything promising coming out from the conference, only a polarization between the rich and the poor countries. Both sides think that the other part should take the burden of saving the planet. They have three days left but you have to be a very stubborn optimist to still believe that anything fruitful will come out of this.

Another chapter in the Swiss-against-the-world-saga has just started. As the last one in a long row of countries trying to get their hands on escaped tax-money kept safe in Switzerland due to the bank secrecy, France is now using illegally obtained lists of bank accounts from a Swiss bank to get hold of their fraudsters.

December 8, 2009

A misty morning on Hönggerberg, kreis 10. Unfortunately I forgot the UV-filter at home so I did not manage to capture the magic.

The conference on the climate in Copenhagen started on Monday. So much hope is being put into this conference, some people call it the last chance to save the earth before it goes under due to the global warming. If the politicians take the threat seriously let's hope that they really get to make some important decisions. At the time being I have the impression that the pressure on saving the planet is mainly lying on the shoulders of us as individuals when the real burden should be placed on companies and be guided by political decisions. However, there is no reason to worry about the planet, the planet will always survive. It is the human species that might get erased, that's all.

Tomorrow Barack Obama will receive the Nobel peace prize. Many voices has been raised against it as he does not yet deserve it and that he has recently sent 30'000 more soldiers into Afghanistan. However, I don't really see that he has got much choice as he has inherited all these problems from the Bush-administration. I really think that he deserves the price anyway, he has decided to close down Guantanamo and is clearly pushing for a peaceful solution in the middle east. His visions are clearly peaceful and his election gave to the world something that we so badly needed, hope of a better future.

December 2, 2009

In Kreis 5 around Langstrasse you can find the shops selling all the things you didn't know that you didn't need.

Switzerland is not living its most glorious days. After having once again shown their intolerance towards other cultures by voting for an interdiction for the building of minarets last Sunday the problems are building up internationally as well as within the country. Countries all over the world are condemning the outcome of the voting, from Muslim countries as well from the European Union. Switzerland is adding another brick to the wall isolating them from the rest of the world. It will be interesting to see the economical impact of the now even worsened reputation of Switzerland. Many Muslim countries are encouraging people to withdraw their investments in Switzerland. However, business is business and so far I have never heard of an idealistic businessman no matter what religion he's from, so as long as it is profitable I guess that the money will stay in the country.

The internal problem that Switzerland is now facing is where they should go from here. Is it possible to accept the vote and install the interdiction? It is against the Swiss constitution, the human rights and freedom of religion. Democracy is supposed to be secondary in the country after the Rechtsstaat. This means that the will of the people are never allowed to win over the fundamental values defined in the constitution, to prevent tyranny of the masses. However, it is not trivial to go against the public will within the country. What probably will happen is that the people building minarets will get their case tested in the European Court of Human Rights where the right to build the minarets will be approved.

In the end, this whole voting had very little to do with minarets and more about the prejudices against Muslims in Switzerland. The people who started this initiative have won nothing but a well earned sea of troubles. The Swiss government has done a huge mistake in allowing this voting to take place as they knew already from the start that a positive outcome would be anti-constitutional. The second part to blame for this situation is the 48% of the people with the right to vote who didn't show up at the ballots Sunday.

My remark above that business is business was also shown in the elections last Sunday. Everybody is against a war but when it comes to protecting Swiss jobs the Swiss (or at least the 52% who actually made the effort of voting) still chose to continue the weapon export.

November 25, 2009

The trees have lost their leaves in Kreis 10. Frauenmünster and Grossmünster in Kreis 1 are lightening up the dark and long nights in November together with the newly installed Christmas decorations.

In Switzerland the market of mobile telephony is heavily dominated by Swisscom. Their huge dominance is related to the extremely slow process in Switzerland of liberalizing the telecom market. This gave Swisscom plenty of time to build up their networks in peace and quiet. The late incoming alternatives to Swisscom have had an impossible task to compete against them. Today, the two main competitors, Sunrise and Orange, have announced that they will fuse to keep up. Having only two companies on the market will most likely not benefit the customers so we will probably continue being one of the most expensive countries in this sector as well for quite some time.

Roman Polanski, who was arrested when he was entering Switzerland to collect a price in the Zürich film festival for a crime that he committed over 30 years ago, has now paid 4.5 millions Swiss francs to spend his time in his luxury chalet in Gstaad instead of in jail. It is indeed nice to be rich. What I think is a bit funny with the Polanski story is the attitude of the majority of the Swiss people. Last year they voted for making sexual crimes against minors punishable for longer than 15 years after the crime was committed. However, when it comes to a famous movie director he should be allowed to rape 13-year old girls when he's 40 without being bothered with it when he's 70. Taking Polanski into custody is considered as an embarrassment by the very same people who voted for changing the law. Again, it is nice to be rich and even nicer to be famous.

November 18, 2009

Gaswerk, Schlieren. Most people come here to climb overcrowded and overpriced artificial walls that have been constructed in the old Gaswerk. It is an old industrial area but with some unexpected sights, if you are in the neighborhood it is definitely worth a quick visit.

The swine flu has now had its first victim in Switzerland, a little baby boy that died on his way to the hospital. It is such a tragedy and the saddest thing is that it will most likely not be the last time in the months to come.

Sarah Palin has released her memoirs, Going Rogue - An American life. Most of us had sincerely hoped that we would never have to see her face again after the American elections but maybe we were wrong in wishing so. It might be scary to have the impersonation of the American conservationism and religious hypocrisy in reach of great power but as a book author safely stowed away in the far north she could very likely be a good laugh.

November 11, 2009

Affoltern, kreis 11. Affoltern is a part of Zürich in great expansion, new apartments for 5'000 people were built since 2006. Still parts of it has kept its charm.

The vaccinations have now started for the risk groups in Switzerland. Last week I was wondering why it took such a long time for the vaccinations to start. Now certain people are claiming that it is because Switzerland are not in the European Union.

For the very same reason Switzerland was not officially invited to the most fascinating event this week, the celebration of the fall of the Berlin wall 20 years ago on the 9'th of November. I was only 13 years old when it happened but it had a major impact of my vision of the world. Before the wall fell the world was black and white, it was good against evil with no shades of gray. In the east, behind the iron curtain, the poor people where living in gray concrete blocks suppressed by evil armies and it was continuously raining and misty. In the west the good, happy peopled lived and the sun was shining. In Sweden we were terrified of the Russian submarines that were said to be intruding our archipelago. Since then the vision of the world has become more complex, it is no longer so obvious who is good and who is bad and many of the Russian submarines in the archipelago turned out to be minks.

November 4, 2009

Zürich airport, Kloten. The airport opened in 1953 and is the largest airport in Switzerland and hub to Swiss International Airlines. Swiss, that rose from the ashes of Swissair, Switzerlands national airline, that collapsed in 2001. The grounding of Swissair was a huge chock to the Swiss people that for the first time made them realise that the Swiss economy wasn't as intouchable as they had always thought. In 2008, 22 million passengers passed the airport of Zürich. This is in average 60500 passengers per day (read more).

The Treaty of Lisbon has now been signed and it looks as if we will get a president in Europe. Maybe Kissinger´s old problem will finally be solved and Europe will get one phone number? It is still very hard to imagine Europe speaking with one voice but if Switzerland would join maybe Khadhafi would not play around with Merz as a mean older brother and finally liberate the hostages in Libya.

The vaccinations against the swineflu are now taking place all over Europe but for some strange reason Switzerland are weeks behind the other countries. Do we know something about the vaccine that the others don´t? Do we somehow consider the vaccination in the other countries as additional clinical studies? Should we be comforted about this or worried that the flu will get us before we´re protected? In Sweden a hockey team managed to be considered as a risk group and got the flu vaccine before everybody else, now they win the games in the national series as the other teams are short of players due to the flu.

October 28, 2009

Käferberg, kreis 10. An autumn walk on Käferberg with amazing colors and beautiful views over Zürich. It will remind you that we're not so far from the mountains after all.

The Swiss banks are under attack from all possible directions. After the US, France and Germany, now Italy are going after the tax fraudsters that up until now had a safe haven in Switzerland. It is a very interesting period right now, many changes will come to the Swiss economy but personally I'm confident that Switzerland can do very well without all the dirty money that the bank secrecy attracts.

"This is it", the film about the last days of Michael Jackson had premiere 3 a.m. Zürich-time all over the world and thousands of crazy fans were weeping at his memory. I never was a big fan and I have never fully understood the big hype about him but watching some of the pictures from the films somehow got to me anyway. I guess he really was a great artist after all.

October 21, 2009

Zürich HB, the main station. Did you ever stop to look how beautiful it is? Every Wednesday there is an international food market even though most of the food comes from Graubünden.

In the big world the elections in Afghanistan turned out to be manipulated and in little Switzerland we pay 30 times more for the same medicine than what they do in the Netherlands. I guess that this is quite typical Swiss mentality: more expensive must be better!

October 14, 2009

Werdinsel, kreis 10. It is sometimes too crowded in summer but in the autumn there is no better place for a quiet stroll.

In Switzerland four people commit suicide every day, this is the principal cause of death for young people between 20 and 24. However, today I think that people are more interested in the fact that Switzerland got qualified to the world championship in football in South Africa.

October 8, 2009

Gablerstrasse, kreis 2. On our way to Enge Treff next to the Rietberg park.

SVP makes a scandal with posters against the building of minarets. SVP has a long tradition of making posters in a spirit reminding us all of Germany 1939.

September 30, 2009

Market in Oerlikon, kreis 11. Every wednesday morning there is a market on the main square in Zürich-Oerlikon, the colors of the market lights up the gray, misty mornings in autumn.

Earthquake with following tsunami in Samoa and Tonga, disastrous earthquake in Indonesia.

September 23, 2009

Beautiful autumn day on the Hönggerberg, kreis 10.

SwissCube, the first swiss satelite is sent into space.