4 Burst results for "Florian Egle"
Monocle 24: The Briefing
"florian egle" Discussed on Monocle 24: The Briefing
"NATO for that matter has a whole lot of stomach right now for boots on the ground, a big fight over Ukraine, even if Ukraine, perhaps may like the attention and may like the idea that being sort of a pawn in between gives them an opportunity to get foreign direct investment to get military help all those kinds of things. Well, to that point, then flow in. Aside from this current military buildup we have the key issue clearly for Russia at least is also just NATO's involvement in the Ukraine, whether Ukraine would believe even a majority of the public would like to join NATO, is that a valid concern here? Do you think for Vladimir Putin? I mean, historically, I think it's been a very long, it's been a very long story. Vladimir Putin and, you know, actually Russia as a whole has always feared the expansion of NATO, and there were promises made or broken depending on which side you listened to. About the extensions towards the east. I think at the moment, at least I can not see how the Ukraine could come anywhere close to joining NATO. There is even a territorial dispute that currently ongoing. So I think there is no real, there is no real chance I think of that happening. But again, in a sense, it's just, I think Vladimir Putin, trying to figure out, I also don't think there is a larger strategy behind this. I think it's kind of poking. It's poking here and there, trying to figure out how much attention can I get? How much relevant can I stay? And speaking to your point Robert, the end of oil and gas as well. I think the only real token of negotiation that the Biden administration apparently discussed with Germany as well is north stream two. If that pipeline is really suspended, I think that's the only thing that is really in that in that thing going to hurt Russia and Vladimir Putin. You look at these economic consequences. Biden has basically said, is the sanctions of any would be quite stinging? One of them would have to be Nordstrom too. Of course, it's not that easy. Germany is really going through the world's history's largest re-engineering project from the combustion, the internal combustion engine and coal. If you look at the German economy, it's the next few years are going to be pretty tough. So the idea that you don't have cheap natural gas coming in or cheap ish natural gas as a transition energy source, that could be a huge problem. But that said, you have a new government there that has the greens if I'm not the greens are part of the sort of whatever they call it the stoplight coalition. They have the new economy and climate ministry. So that will be powerful. So you know, there is so there's probably it's probably more likely that that could be a bargaining chip than it was under the merkle era. There is a lot to lose here, plus the convertibility of the ruble and the dollars that seems to be on the table, and the usual. Billionaire can't come and visit their homes in Hawaii and the upper east side. There was occasional options. And just quickly to end. Rob mentioned the European Union as well. What is your take on that? It seems like Vladimir Putin almost went over the EU's head to go directly to Joe Biden. Do they have a role? Does a Germany, as we talked about, but also of France, other countries have a role in this stuff. I think they have a very important role but kind of second row, right? Whatever real threat Biden can issue, perhaps beyond convertibility of dollars in rubles is contingent on what the European Union does and convention on whether friends and Germany say yes to it in a sense. But you're right in pointing out that the fact that I think the European Union has no common military has no military power really puts it in the second row, even in these conflicts that are really at their doorstep. And that is something that within the European Union has been brought up again and again, time and again by the French mainly. Now that the UK is no longer part of the EU, perhaps it's going to be somewhat easier, but military capabilities are certainly lower. So I think that's the debate that's going to come again and again and again unless it's being resolved eventually. Robin Florian, thank you very much for joining us. That was rob Cox from Reuters and Florian egle from the think tank for us. You are with the briefing on monocle 24. Now.
Monocle 24: The Briefing
"florian egle" Discussed on Monocle 24: The Briefing
"Had a plan to go around and didn't turn up. And I think that's a sign that there is a gap at the moment in the government's communication strategy. And whether someone like Sajid javid can fill the gap that Boris Johnson is basically created. It's a big test I think for him and the government. Well, we'll definitely continue to follow this George. Thank you very much. That was the FT's political editor George Parker in Westminster. Now here's Monica's car lot of rubella with the days other news headlines. Thanks, Chris. A spokesman for the World Health Organization has said existing vaccines should still protect people who contract the omicron variant of COVID-19 from severe illness. The WHO's doctor Mike Ryan added that there was no sign on Macron is better at evading vaccines than other strains of the virus. Australia has said it will join the U.S. in a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in China. Prime minister Scott Morrison said the decision was in response to human rights abuses in China's Xinjiang province. Australia, like the U.S. will still allow athletes to compete at the games. And the French fashion powerhouse Chanel has opened its new 19 M facility in Paris. It's home to a wealth of artisans working with long-standing specialist manufacturing techniques. You can find out more about the sprawling building, which is set to formally open next year by heading over to Monaco dot com for slash minutes. Those are today's headlines. Back to you in Zürich, Chris. Thanks very much. And we can report that in the last few minutes, Johnson has denied once again that any rules were broken at the Downing Street Christmas party, but he has also apologized for the video of his staff and ordered an inquiry. We'll continue to follow that story as it develops. But for now, we're going to turn to Russia and the U.S.. It is fair to say that tensions between the Ukraine and Russia reached another fever pitch in the last week, and the level of tensions between the U.S. and Russia is probably not that far behind. Yesterday saw Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin hold a more than two hour conversation with Biden voicing deep concerns over the Russian troop buildup along the Ukrainian border and threatening robust responses if Russia were to invade. The Vladimir Putin for his part is seeking guarantees that NATO will not gain a foothold in the Ukraine, leaders in Kyiv have praised Washington's unwavering support, but the big question, of course, is will all this be enough to restore a degree of normalcy on the Ukraine Russia border. Well, I'm joined here in the studio now by Florian egle and he's a senior associate at the Swiss foreign policy think tank for us and also by rob Cox editor of Reuters breaking views. Welcome to the briefing. Both of you could have your back back on. Florian, let's start with you. What do you look for, I suppose from such big set meetings between world leaders. Do they really achieve anything or is it more about both leaders talking tough? In this case, I think it was really, I guess, kind of, again, after they've met in person in Geneva, in summary, it was again Vladimir Putin trying to get on the map. And in some sense, you could say, almost the more and more desperately trying to get on the map, you know, and that with a troop buildup and with all of these signs that did Russia is still a very, very strong country. And I think in some sense, this put Biden administration in a difficult position because there isn't really anything to negotiate and yet there is some sign some accommodation signs to be made, but not really anything to concede. So I think not much was expected from this two hour talk. And as far as I read now, not much came out either because in a sense, all the threats on both sides are probably not very credible. So it is kind of a political it's a bit of a political show to some extent and yes, there is not much negotiations or concessions either side can make at the moment, I think. Well, then given that rob, what do you think of how Joe Biden managed this meeting as Florian said it's a bit of an almost manufactured tension that we have at the moment, perhaps how does he toe that line? I think a lot of the theater is you describe it Florida is for domestic consumption. This is Vladimir Putin, as you say, needs to show that Russia a an economy less than a tenth the size of the United States. Smaller indeed than South Korea with a huge COVID problem with the end of the hydrocarbons era, basically spells goodnight to rush over the next 20 years. So you have to see this as it's about bulking himself up domestically. But also with the same could probably be said about Joe Biden, his approval ratings are quite low. He's going into 2022, there's going to be a congressional election. I don't see any way that the Democrats don't get absolutely plastered in November. I don't mean drunk. Shellacked. They lose seats and they probably lose the house. So I think the idea that he's kind of taking on a muscular response to this buildup probably plays pretty well. He did his usual Joe Biden smiley. He was quite it sounded like it wasn't exactly contentious, despite the fact that we're talking at least some people like to consider it like a potential war. But this makes Joe brings us back to the Joe Biden standing in front of the Corvette with his sunglasses on looking like the tough guy, which probably also helps him politically at home. What do you think in that sense it's a miscalculation just rob on that? In a way that the fact that Russia wanted this even though they're not actually the superpower that Biden is in a way, giving them credit for being. I don't know. There's certainly this The Pentagon probably didn't mind him going and suggesting that there is a potential threat here. It is, look, he is like a gnat on the back of Europe's behind. He's here on the edge of Europe. This is a problem actually more for the European Union. Frankly than it is for NATO or the U.S. and it is a problem for NATO, because they are amassing troops. There has been this conflict or state of no peace between the eastern Ukraine. But I don't think anyone could imagine that the United States or NATO for that matter has a whole lot of stomach right now for boots on the ground, a big fight over Ukraine, even if Ukraine, perhaps.
Monocle 24: The Globalist
"florian egle" Discussed on Monocle 24: The Globalist
"Design team commissions entirely new prints from different designers around the world. And the printing factory also operates as a testing laboratory today for new innovation. So we have, for example, experimented with printing on innovative wood based fibers and currently we are looking at different botanical dyes made of onion or sumac, for example. Since we're talking about prints, I do have to ask you, of course, what your own personal favorite print is. This is probably the hardest question. You can ask from a employee. But if I have to pick, I will choose one of our first and most iconic prints by work on our mast from 1953. Big color is a print that exists in over 500 colorways. And it is used, for example, in the yokai shirt, which is our classic unisex garment that has been in continuous production since the 1950s. And while this product is a classic, it has been reinvented on many occasions and it has come out in plant based die this summer and just recently in an upcycled version. And I feel that this is truly what is about. So staying true to your heritage, but always reinventing ourselves. For monocle enhancing, I'm Peter reports of. You're listening to the globalist on monocle 24 with me, Georgina godman coming to you live. From Midori house in London. And we're going to cross over now to our Zürich studio for today's newspapers with Florian edgley, who is a senior associate at for the Swiss foreign policy think tank. Good morning to Florian. Good morning to our Gina. Let's start with having a look at the Swiss government because there is government reform on the table. The National Council wants to enlarge the state government. Why is that? And is it likely to go ahead? Indeed, so this government reform in Switzerland has been tried 12 times over at this morning and it was never successful now let's see if it is this time. The proposal on the table is to increase the size of the government from 7 to 9. So we currently have 7 federal councillors. They act as ministers, but effectively together they form the executive branch of the government. And the proposal is to increase this to 9. Now, why is this proposal on the table? I think what really exemplifies as well is that today only 70% of the voters are represented in the federal council. So 30% do not have a representative of their party in the federal council. And that's mainly the Green Party and the green Liberal Party. And so this kind of has been on the table on and off. But now it is actually debated in parliament and of course there are pros and cons to that. And I'm not sure so it went through the first chamber it will probably not go through the second chamber because it's more conservative. But I think there is really because of these new parties gaining strength. There is new momentum for this for this motion. I'm just surprised it's not a referendum, isn't that what Swiss people always? We might get a vote India and you know you never know you never know. Let's have a look at the Winter Olympics because these are proving highly contentious. There is a threat of a diplomatic boycott and do you think that that is going to go ahead? And what does that mean for the future of China's soft power and indeed the politicization of sport? First up, we're ten weeks from the Winter Olympics which I didn't know where I wasn't aware of. So it's pretty soon. They're going to happen in Beijing. After they happened in Russia in 2014 and we're also kind of ahead of the World Cup in soccer in Qatar. So we kind of have a streak of autocratic games I would almost say. Until then, afterwards it brightens up a bit with Paris and Los Angeles for some Olympics and the 2026 World Cup soccer World Cup in the U.S. and Mexico. So we might have to hold on tight for a bit until until it gets a bit better. But to your question, so the U.S. government is contemplating issuing a boycott is maybe too strong of a word, but a general ban of U and government U.S. government representatives to attend the Winter Olympics. So to in order not to provide a stage, of course, to the Chinese government to present itself to the world as a accepted and somewhat I would say progressive government, which is what governments tend to do in big sport. I'm a sport events. So I think we've seen kind of a period where sports was really sports. And now it becomes more politicized again. So just this week or late last week, the squash World Cup was canceled in Malaysia because Malaysia didn't allow the Israeli Israeli players to enter the country. So again, there was more of a religiously motivated ban. Now it's a politicized ban from the U.S.. I just think that these stages are going to become more contentious again as we see different blocks in here in the U.S. and China struggling to be portrayed as the progressive as the accepted world were leaders. So it's interesting. And I think the U.S. government will go ahead. I think we won't see government representatives in Beijing. And I think they will really try to keep the ball very, very low and not have a very large and broad coverage of these Winter Olympics, which will probably be the case in the western world, but of course some China has its own channel. So it will also be a communication struggle in that sense of how much broadcasting and how much attention these games will get. It seems to me that the International Olympic Committee needs reform because they decide where these games are going to be. And we have a string of places which have been have had terrible human rights standards. And surely, that should be under consideration when the IOC decides where the next game is going to be. Is it just driven by commerce and business decisions? I mean, it should definitely, and you know, there is a role that Switzerland has to play in this. The IOC sits in Lausanne. The FIFA for the world cups sits in Zürich. So a sport, even the way of us sits in Switzerland. A lot of these sports organizations sit in Switzerland, which is Switzerland is also a hub for human rights, a hub for diplomacy for international negotiations and all of that. So I do think that the Swiss government traditionally has been extremely has had a hands off approach and said, these decisions are what they are and we will never interfere in any way with these or lobby for anything. But I think there is really something to be said that sports shouldn't be all for business and commerce. But human rights considerations must really be taken into account. Absolutely. Let's look at outsourcing jobs because there's a big example of this. Novartis, which is actually moving away from Switzerland to eastern Central Europe. Tell us more about this. Yeah, so Novartis is one of the biggest companies in Basel, so it's really at the heart of the pharmaceutical industry in Basel, and also the broader economic area around Basel, which comprises France and Germany. And their outsourcing jobs of their announced this already some years ago, they're going to cut down 2100 jobs in Basel, and they're going to move the majority of these to Slovenia. And now I think this is interesting for two reasons. First, they're moving jobs to Slovenia, which is kind of the Switzerland of Eastern Europe, right? So stable, small country, everything works very well. But salaries are dramatically lower. So the targets on cycle writes today that the average person in Basel that has lost his or her job made around CHF 8000 a month plus a bonus, whereas this person is replaced by a worker in Slovenia, making €2500 without bonus. So that's dramatic. That's about a quarter or a third of the salary cost. And yet everything will probably just work fine in Slovenia too. So I think the pandemic has shown that a lot of jobs can be outsourced, and there is two trends, so one is that service centers are probably even more outsourced also smaller companies can outsource now because of the experiences we've made in the pandemic, but on the other hand production jobs are actually moving back to Switzerland because transport costs have skyrocketed and there is more optimization. So it's interesting that these two sectors behave very differently now after almost two years of a pandemic in terms of outsourcing. Florian, thank you very much, indeed. That was Florian egle, and this is the globalist. 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Monocle 24: The Briefing
"florian egle" Discussed on Monocle 24: The Briefing
"Those days headlines back to emmer and Zürich. Thank you very much indeed, Emma in London. We're going to get a round up now of the stories making news in Switzerland with our regular monocle 24 contributor Florida Florian is senior associate at the Swiss foreign policy think tank for House. And he joins me here in Zürich hello. Lauren good to have you with us. Hello, Emma. Right, let's begin with a very strong business related story that's in the targets and Tiger today. We were talking a moment ago about the decisions and the complicated paths that businesses have to tread in this resurgence of COVID. But one company has decided to strike out on its own in terms of the admissions policies. Yes, indeed, and I think it reflects well with Tyler has said before in terms of companies trying to second guess what's happening. So this weekend actually the first event was publicly announced that is officially two G so tests not allowed. So you have to either be vaccinated or you have to have had or have to have been tested positive with COVID. And just ask you to explain to us, those who might not know what two G and three G is what the system is in Zürich. In Switzerland. In Switzerland is three G, which is infant gene or get tested, which means either vaccinated or tested positive in the past or negative now, right? Okay. And so in Austria, that's a huge debate in Germany as well of whether to take away that third cheese or that testing G and Switzerland, there is clearly no majority for that, also the experts are advising against for the moment even one of the most vocal experts Christian altars of the university of Bern, who was always a very strong supporter of very strict measures and even quit the official task force because it was too lax in his opinion. So even he is against us now, but yet still be learned. The major business magazine in Switzerland is launching this event on 2nd December, where negatively tested people will not be admitted. So you have to be vaccinated or you have to have had COVID in the past. And one of the guests is even a vocal opponent of the certificate. So I just think that this is going to stir a lot of controversy as to what extent businesses are free to be more street restrictor than the general rules. Because they are striking out alone with this decision. They are. It's the first of its kind. It's the theory that if you can only go in if you're either recovering or vaccinated against COVID, that it actually is a stricter policy than merely a test. That is the idea, but as I said, experts are really not so sure whether that's actually stricter or not. So I think it's really also a political sign to some extent to be strict, whether it is really strict or underground is really doubly, I think, and the effectiveness of these measures is data able to. But perhaps, again, to speaking to what Tyler has said, again, somebody had to make these decisions so you see CEOs of these companies or hear a business magazine. Actually asking themselves, a lot of these questions of how to host events or how to open up stores and businesses to people so that people are actually feeling confident attending and going there. And so being placing stricter rules then overall might be one of the things that people think they can attract more people into their businesses or two their events. Let's look at a campaign now by one of the oldest organizations in Switzerland to get everybody to was it enough of hostility threats and violence better constructive than aggressive. There's a nonprofit society, telling everybody in Switzer to be Switzerland to be nicer to each other. What is that all about please? This is just this is just an amusing story that has caught my eyes because at the top of the show we've heard them bicycle piles up in the Netherlands. So that must be about the maximum of rage in the Netherlands, right? As if bicycles pile up. So I think everything around these COVID restrictions or policies is still very civilized in Switzerland we've had a demonstrations of just 2000 people outside the city center in Zürich. Yesterday. So that was about as angry as it gets. And yet, the Swiss society for the common good. Which owns directly with funny enough is the alleged place where the three Alpine cantons 1291 swore the oath of the confederation. So it's a very mystical and historical place where also the national day is celebrated prominently et cetera, et cetera. So this institution that owns this kind of founding place of Switzerland has now issued a call for a more tolerance for more respect and for more dialog. And already I think about 20,000 people have signed it. It was all across the newspapers, the TV. There are ads everywhere. And I just find it striking that even in such a civilized kind of situation as we are now, I would argue in Switzerland, there is really already the civil engagement coming up and organizations popping up trying to remind everybody to be polite and to discuss without accusing the other side. So I just think it's a nice picture of this country. Florian, thank you so much for joining us. That was Florian egle from the think tank for us. Yeah, listening to.