Rick,

Thank you for your interest for the "sorrows" of a small country in the middle of Europe.
Don't misunderstand me. I do not think that the Peak Oil theory is nonsense. When I met Daniele Ganser a few years back, I became and ardent admirer of his research. That was also the first time I came in contact with Peak Oil theory. But over time I became more and more sceptic about his work. Additionally Ganser made some grave mistakes in his research, especially about what he called the Swiss Stay behind Organisation (P26/P27); but that is a different story. Nor did he make many frieds with his 9/11 conspiracy theories. Therefore, his credibility as a serious scientist suffered.
One of my main problems with the conference was that although the focus was on the impact of Peak Oil on Switzerland it mainly dealt with the global issue. There is nothing wrong with that, but I expected more information or hints on how Switzerland should act. You have to know that for months or better for years now Switzerland is struggling with its security policy. We had a new review on security policy this year. One of my main criticism on that review is that it completely lacks the strategic perspective of security policy. It seems as Swiss politics is reluctant to define strategic goals and how to achieve them. In my opinion, energy security should be one of these goals.

About the tendentious character of the conference: I personally think that one can make his point/argument even stronger if one confronts it with serious counterarguments. Unfortunately, most of the presentations only reinforced ASPO Switzerland's position, i.e. Gansers position. That gave me the impression that Ganser and ASPO Switzerland are shying away from opinions that are challenging their opinion. By that they are creating a circle of indoctrinated "freaks" which do not question things. As a consequence people with serious background will stay away from the discussion.
By the way, I will post the links for the presentations from last Saturday during the next days. They were all held in German, but maybe you and others will find some interesting facts in there anyway.

Polarbear