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> Switzerland is a small, neutral country without a serious army. They would hardly refuse to hand the gold back on request. This guy is suggesting that German
by 21 10y ago
> Switzerland is a small, neutral country without a serious army. They would hardly refuse to hand the gold back on request.
This guy is suggesting that Germany could invade Switzerland if they refuse to give back their gold, so this is a good reason to keep it there. I'm pretty sure such action would be illegal under UN rules, ie: you can't invade a country because they don't give you back your posession.
And Switzerland neutrality is highly debatable given that it's surrounded by NATO and part in a lot of EU mechanisms.
Also, an invasion would make no sense under the writers own assumption, that something is wrong in the gold market. A war in the heart of Europe will tank a lot of markets.
- erikb 10y agoAs Russia-Ukraine has shown you can take stuff by force without creating big scale war. And remember how Hitler just went state shopping before there was a war? The thing about war is that most party's don't really want it. So sometimes it's possible to grab some advantage that theoretically should result in war.
- ekianjo 10y ago> And remember how Hitler just went state shopping before there was a war? Hitler went state shopping because the regions he started to invade had a majority of German speaking folks. As soon as he started to do something else (i.e. Poland) it started a war.
- 21 10y agoSo you are saying that Germany would begin military action against Switzerland for $50 billion worth of gold (rough value of 1000 tons of gold). How much damage to the Euro and to the European stock markets would such action cause? Not to mention other costs
- Iv 10y agoI think that if Germany tries again to invade a neighbor, EU is over.
- celticninja 10y agoSwitzerland don't have any German gold according to the article.
- erikb 10y agoNot 100% what I'm saying. I'm saying that if Switzerland holds a lot of Germanys gold and has promised to give access whenever and don't hold up to that promise, Germany just moving some tanks over, then taking the gold, then moving the tanks back, is quite a possible scenario. Yes that would harm the EU in short term (1-5 years). But so would it get hurt if a powerful member of that alliance is not able to enforce rightful demands. Anyways if we include the EU into the discussion, it's very likely that a lot of other steps would convince Switzerland before the first tank needs to get manned.
- NotSammyHagar 10y agoSuch an action would destroy trillions of dollars of wealth. For less than apple has in cash. It doesn't make sense, $50 billion of gold is still just $50 billion.
- vsl 10y agoThe point is, not really possible, given Swiss defense system. Have you been to Switzerland? That country is a fortress.
- secfirstmd 10y agoWithout a serious army? Are you kidding me? Yes its not exactly the US military but bloody hell, you would have a very very hard time trying to take over Switzerland - even these days. Road tunnels designed to be blown up, hundreds of thousands of modern trained soldiers with guns at home - fighting on their own terrain, ammunition dumps in individual towns, strong points, bunkers in every apartment block, supplies of modern anti armour weapons, lots of people trained in the use of explosives, etc etc Good luck getting in there.
- vapourismo 10y agoHow do airplanes work?
- geff82 10y agoFrom autobahns that can be convertef to airports.
- reitanqild 10y agoSame as Sweden then IIRC?
- SFJulie 10y agohttp://www.airspacemag.com/flight-today/dont-mess-with-switzerland-1833740/ http://www.airspacemag.com/flight-today/dont-mess-with-switz... Aircraft caverns :) F18/A Hornets and modern equipments.
- ptaipale 10y agoAirplanes can do air superiority, but you can't take over a country without boots on the ground. The idea of Germany invading Switzerland is surreal.
- tonfa 10y agoThat's said you only need to take over the Bundesplatz in Berne. (Still I'm not sure what it would achieve to start an open war...)
- Zak 10y agoThat Switzerland is a landlocked country surrounded by Germany and its allies, who are also Switzerland's biggest trading partners is a stronger reason they wouldn't steal from Germany. The consequences of doing so would be devastating. The US, on the other hand could get away with it, being too big to fail.
- snovv_crash 10y agoThis. Switzerland depends heavily on Germany (and the rest of Europe) for imports. Moreover, the one thing Switzerland has which is far more important than their pharmaceutical industry is trust. They are not in a strong-arm position like the USA, and any doubt in their solvency would cripple them back to the poverty they had in the 1950s.
- ars 10y ago> I'm pretty sure such action would be illegal under UN rules, ie: you can't invade a country because they don't give you back your posession. So? Since when would that make a difference to anyone? The concept of UN "laws" or "illegal" just makes me laugh. The UN has treaties - countries agreeing to limits on their own behavior. The UN is not a government, and does not enforce any law. So yes, you can just invade a country because they don't give you back your possession. Other countries might get mad at you, but the UN is quite irrelevant.