Libya leader Moammar Khadafy to United Nations: Abolish Switzerland

[Hyper Squirrel]

According to Swiss minister Christa Markwalder, when Khadafy comes to New York Sept. 23, he will ask the UN to dismantle Switzerland and parcel out the land to neighboring France, Germany and Italy.


http://www.nydailynews.com/news/worl...itzerland.html

[Lainie]

The Libya-Swiss kerfuffle began a year ago, when Khadafy's trouble-making youngest son, Hannibal, was arrested in a Geneva hotel for beating two servants with a belt and a coat-hanger.

So Hannibal got in trouble in the Alps? Were elephants involved?

[Tarquin Farquart]

I'll be interested to see how this pans out.

[BringTheNoise]

Presumably with someone at the UN saying "We can't do that, you great loon".

[Tarquin Farquart]

Originally Posted by BringTheNoise

Presumably with someone at the UN saying "We can't do that, you great loon".

Well of course, but I wonder how exactly he's going to phrase it.

[Lainie]

Originally Posted by Tarquin Farquart

Well of course, but I wonder how exactly he's going to phrase it.

I'd love it if BringtheNoise's exact words were used, but I suspect they'll be more diplomatic about it.

[Hyper Squirrel]

Makes me wonder why he's doing it-- he has to know that the UN can't do that, and even if they could the answer would be no. What's the point other than ramping up hostility and making himself look like a total idiot?

[A Turtle Named Mack]

Originally Posted by Hyper Squirrel

Makes me wonder why he's doing it-- he has to know that the UN can't do that, and even if they could the answer would be no. What's the point other than ramping up hostility and making himself look like a total idiot?

Maybe he is trying to spark a war with one of the few European nations he thinks he could handle.

[Mama Duck]

Originally Posted by A Turtle Named Mack

Maybe he is trying to spark a war with one of the few European nations he thinks he could handle.

But Switzerland? They aren't going to you and good luck invading them. Maybe he should start with one of the smaller, less mountainous countries where one of his offspring beat people and was held accountable for it.

[Minstrel]

Originally Posted by A Turtle Named Mack

Maybe he is trying to spark a war with one of the few European nations he thinks he could handle.

Libya couldn't handle the Swiss army! Have you seen their knives?!

[A Turtle Named Mack]

Originally Posted by Minstrel

Libya couldn't handle the Swiss army! Have you seen their knives?!

The bigger problem is when the Libyan army faces the Swiss Guard: they'll die laughing.

[Tarquin Farquart]

They've all got guns as well. I wouldn't mess with the Swiss.

[E. Q. Taft]

I admit I've often considered making a wargame named "Invasion of Switzerland." This isn't because I have any animosity towards the Swiss, but I think a lot of wargamers are probably sick of games set in Europe where you can have France invade Spain or have Germany and Great Britain combine to invade Finland if you want, but you absolutely CANNOT attack or move any units into Switzerland. So some kind of imaginary scenario where everyone goes in and stomps on the place on general principles could be amusing...

As for Khadafy, I refuse to credit anything he says until he approves one universally-accepted spelling of his name...

[JoeBentley]

Yeah for a neutral country Switzerland would be nigh impossible to take out. Even ignoring the fact that it's a member in good standing in the UN, which means attacking it would be sure to draw the ire of several superpowers, its located in the middle of Europe which means any attack on it would require going through at one or two countries that probably wouldn't be too keen on the idea, and basically the entire country is a mountain fortress. It would be like attacking the lair of a Bond villain. You know the trouble the Persians had attacking Greece through the pass at Thermopylae? That's pretty much every route into Switzerland. And they issue every adult in their country a fully automatic assault rifle.

[AnglRdr]

Originally Posted by E. Q. Taft

As for Khadafy, I refuse to credit anything he says until he approves one universally-accepted spelling of his name...

That is why I can't take him seriously.

[Tarquin Farquart]

Originally Posted by E. Q. Taft

As for Khadafy, I refuse to credit anything he says until he approves one universally-accepted spelling of his name...

معمر القذافي not good enough for you?

[Broken Sword]

Originally Posted by JoeBentley

Yeah for a neutral country Switzerland would be nigh impossible to take out. Even ignoring the fact that it's a member in good standing in the UN, which means attacking it would be sure to draw the ire of several superpowers, its located in the middle of Europe which means any attack on it would require going through at one or two countries that probably wouldn't be too keen on the idea, and basically the entire country is a mountain fortress. It would be like attacking the lair of a Bond villain. You know the trouble the Persians had attacking Greece through the pass at Thermopylae? That's pretty much every route into Switzerland. And they issue every adult in their country a fully automatic assault rifle.

Fully automatic? Really? How odd.

[Wicked Tinkerbell]

Originally Posted by Lainie

So Hannibal got in trouble in the Alps? Were elephants involved?

Nah, just the A-Team.

[JoeBentley]

Originally Posted by Broken Sword

Fully automatic? Really? How odd.

Yep the Sig SG 550, with settings for single shot, 3 round burst, or fully automatic. And 50 rounds of 5.56mm ammo in a tamper evidence case. About 400,000 of them. A large number of Sig 510 automatic rifles and Sig P220 pistols issued to officers.

You even get to keep it (modified into semi-auto only) after you leave the service.

I got to shoot one a few years back (a semi-auto civilian version). It's a very effective weapon.

[UEL]

In 2006 I had the opportunity to go to Switzerland for a conference. One of the benefits of this conference was that we got to visit the defences that Switzerland built and maintains for the defence of the country. I got to see first hand the difficulty any military would have in trying to take Switzerland.

The country really only has three viable ways of military entry, and each of these can be sealed off by their army at will. Once inside, every adult will be able to muster to a defensive point and fight from there. Their artillery is dug into the side of mountains and is relatively impervious to any attack an invading force might throw at them.

It would be very, very difficult, which is what the point of the defensive plan was.