Anti-US attitude rooted in fear of superpowers Recent surveys show that a majority of Swiss are opposed to United States policy on Iraq. In an article first published in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung newspaper, security expert Karl Haltiner writes that Switzerland's anti-American attitude is rooted more in a general aversion to superpowers. "Opinion polls show that Switzerland is the most anti-American nation among other European countries, and the majority of the population is not only against US policies but also opposes the country's culture. http://www.nzz.ch/2003/02/20/english/page-synd1642415.html - Joy at Alinghi victory Celebrations are underway in Auckland after Swiss sailing team Alinghi, won the America's cup - the first European team to do so in the competition's 152-year-old history. The mood was also jubilant back in Switzerland with the Swiss president calling the win a historic victory. http://www.nzz.ch/2003/03/02/english/page-synd1666674.html
msfe, You probably do not even understand what you are posting, you just made our case: The swiss are anti-american and no matter what we do they will dislike this country, its policies and culture. That's pretty much the result of public opinion poll in Switzerland according to the article. Better yet, the article pinpoints the reason why the Swiss (and I guess rest of the Europe) are anti-american: "Overall, Switzerland's anti-American attitude is not so much about US culture and lifestyle, it is more about the country's fear of feeling inferior." Why should we ever take your opinion into account if the only reason behind it is your national inferiority complex?
skeptic123:`Why should we ever take your opinion into account if the only reason behind it is your national inferiority complex?´ don´t know - feel free to take your own opinion into account and enjoy your superiority complex
The Swiss. Significant only because of their role as tight-lipped bankers and gatekeepers to the wealth of all, bloody resume or not. Their "neutrality" gives them the luxury of lambasting any country they like, not to mention the protection from terrorism they receive for safeguarding the dinero of terrorists from around the world. No matter what happens, they always get paid. msfe's rantings and railings are a voice from a country whose contribution to the world is to act as its piggy bank, nothing more.
If the banks are Switserland's pride they must also accept the stigma that these very same respectable banks have been ruthless robbers, happy to steal. Shame shame shame freealways
Skeptic, if you ever go into quoting sources you should refrain from what the French call "corriger la fortune"! Nowhere does the article say anything about "the country's fear of feeling inferior." To the contrary, the writer clearly states: This trait normally surfaces when superpowers, such as the US, start flexing their muscles and treating smaller nations as inferior. This "David and Goliath" characteristic was last seen when the European Union's popularity in Switzerland took a dive after the EU imposed sanctions on Austria. There is a difference between an inferiority complex and the real fear of a small country like Switzerland (and Kuwait, to remember) of being bullied by a neighboring or otherwise superpower. This little correction is necessary, and the fact that it a correction is necessary confirms my view that many conservative (aka Republicans) people are simply not able or willing to seek the truth in the facts. Maybe it has to do with the American educational system which does not provide proper history lessons. And maybe also it is reflective of the horrific absence of any likeness of general knowledge in the ruling castes all over the world. The guy in the oval office is just the tip of the iceberg. But back to little Switzerland, a country with less inhabitants than New york City. Maybe not everything is to the liking of the participants of this thread, but this world is not a perfect place. So: to the best of my knowledge, Swiss banks offered to pay out whatever money there was in their coffers to the estates of holocaust sufferers. They did a very costly research and found that like any bank in the world that has existed for more than 100 years, there are huge absolute amounts of unclaimed deposits. To trace the rightful owners is a task that needs considerable effort. I have personally held in my hands a report by one large Swiss bank who had just listed those accounts and the names of the owners where the balance was more than 1000 Swiss Francs. Unfortunately I do not have that report anymore, but it was published all over the world and it called for members of the public to go through it and come up with claims. Perhaps someone here is cognisant of this report, it must be somewhere on the internet. So do not tell me the Swiss government has not done anything to get the banks working on this issue. But there is another more fundamental question: Where do we draw the line? Are profits from the opium wars in the 19th century to be repatriated to China? More than 150 years later? What about compensation for African slaves? Australian Aborigines? Manileños whose beautiful city was bombed into rubble by their liberating US friends under the guidance of General McArthur? Germans whose forefathers lost everything during the carpet bombings of their cities? Or to their eastern neighbors? Vietnam whose historic capital Hue was effectively destroyed, guess by whom? Where does it end? I think we should take a different perspective of that all. Yeah sure, Saddam is a rather unappetizing dictator who just does not fit anymore into the game the US plays and who now has to go. Probably most Iraqis will be glad to see him go, but at what price? I strongly believe that the kind of chauvinism that you display here is hopelessly reactionary. Why don't you get back into your cage and frighten the kids who come to look at you in the zoo on Sundays!
Roe is hilarious! What "real fear" does Switzerland suffer of being bullied by the US? How wonderful that the US recently started the system of having pre-schoolers register their party affiliation! As a result, as we all know, conservatives (aka Republicans) are funneled into schools that do "not provide proper history lessons." Liberals (aka Democrats), on the other hand, attend schools that DO provide proper history lessons. How noble! After a mere 50 + years after WWII SOME of the Swiss banks offer to pay out a few bucks! And yeah, they did that out of the goodness of their own hearts, NOT because of extreme international pressure. My goodness, one may expect that in another half-century Saddam's billions will be released to a hopefully democratic Iraqi government. "...the game the US plays"?!? Oh okay, so trying to ensure our country is not attacked by WMD supplied by SH is a "game"? Get off the crack pipe ASAP.
"Swiss banks offered to pay " , OFFERED to pay ? Who do you think you are kidding Roe ? On the one hand you are telling Skeptic to get his facts straight and in the next breath you too misquote (or ''refrabricate the trurth ' if you like). freealways
Sorry if your attention span did not let you finish the article, it does have the quote I provided in my previous post. http://www.nzz.ch/2003/02/20/english/page-synd1642415.html It is the third paragraph from the bottom of the article: 'Overall, Switzerland's anti-American attitude is not so much about US culture and lifestyle, it is more about the country's fear of feeling inferior.' You just read an article which clearly indicates anti-american sentiments in Switzerland. Yet, it did not occur to you to blame the Swiss of chauvinism. All msfe does on this board is looks for anti-american garbage all over the internet and posts it here. It did not occur to you to blame him/her of chauvinism either. Instead you blamed me of chauvinism for supporting my country. And I did not even attack the Swiss in my post. All I did was quoted their own public opinion poll. They are anti-american, they hate our culture, policies, people etc, their own poll shows it convincingly but I am the one who is a chauvinist.
Russia rules out abstention with veto call Russia made it clear to the US and Britain yesterday that it is prepared to use its security council veto against a second UN resolution authorising war against Iraq. http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,907794,00.html