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According to Wikipedia [1], you have ~160k active military with ~1.5M that could be conscripted. That's not huge, but it's enough to give an enemy a bad time, e

According to Wikipedia [1], you have ~160k active military with ~1.5M that could be conscripted. That's not huge, but it's enough to give an enemy a bad time, especially with the Swiss terrain and strategic defenses. And I'm sure they'd have a bunch of other countries willing to back them up, depending on the belligerent. I highly doubt it'll come to that. It would be much easier to just infiltrate the fab and replace stock going to an important destination. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_Armed_Forces https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_Armed_Forces

microtherion 7y ago
160k may have been accurate 2 years ago, but the number is shrinking continuously: https://interaktiv.tagesanzeiger.ch/2019/militaer/bestand.svg https://interaktiv.tagesanzeiger.ch/2019/militaer/bestand.sv... > it's enough to give an enemy a bad time That depends a lot on the objective, I think. The defenses against an enemy controlling the transalpine transportation axes are fairly strong. But I think this scenario gets talked up a lot for exactly that reason. The defenses against an enemy controlling 80% of the population and 90% of the economy are much weaker. Then again, it might only take a few sysadmins armed with SQL queries to deal significant economic damage against any attacker. > It would be much easier to just infiltrate the fab and replace stock going to an important destination. True. And if I've understood the article correctly, no fabs would be changing location. RISC-V is an open source design, so the fabs in question would probably be located in the "enemy" countries anyway.
K0SM0S 7y ago
> ~1.5M that could be conscripted. That's not huge, but it's enough to give an enemy a bad time, especially with the Swiss terrain and strategic defenses. Switzerland is filthy rich, too. Private fortunes thought to rival or surpass the biggest public billionaires, money pipes throughout the world beyond measure — the result of centuries of diligently building a discrete but very real financial empire... all of that has to count for something in the age of PMC's and acts of surgical retaliation projecting force accross the globe. Taking on a too-rich enemy in modern times is choosing an all-out, extremely mobile, stupidly costly, and above all likely painful war. You'll lose a lot at the hand of the best weapons and talents money can buy.
- lotsofpulp 7y ago
  Rich doesn't mean anything if the currency is worthless. Switzerland has value in a consistent, trustable system and educated population. But without a larger military standing behind it, such as other European countries or the US, it's not going to be able to defend against a larger aggressor. That's why an extremely indebted USA is still very valuable. Because they can park a few aircraft carriers off the coast of whomever they desire (although this may be changing, namely due to China).
  - pgeorgi 7y ago
    Off the coast of Switzerland? O_o
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]

microtherion 7y ago

160k may have been accurate 2 years ago, but the number is shrinking continuously: https://interaktiv.tagesanzeiger.ch/2019/militaer/bestand.svg https://interaktiv.tagesanzeiger.ch/2019/militaer/bestand.sv... > it's enough to give an enemy a bad time That depends a lot on the objective, I think. The defenses against an enemy controlling the transalpine transportation axes are fairly strong. But I think this scenario gets talked up a lot for exactly that reason. The defenses against an enemy controlling 80% of the population and 90% of the economy are much weaker. Then again, it might only take a few sysadmins armed with SQL queries to deal significant economic damage against any attacker. > It would be much easier to just infiltrate the fab and replace stock going to an important destination. True. And if I've understood the article correctly, no fabs would be changing location. RISC-V is an open source design, so the fabs in question would probably be located in the "enemy" countries anyway.

K0SM0S 7y ago

> ~1.5M that could be conscripted. That's not huge, but it's enough to give an enemy a bad time, especially with the Swiss terrain and strategic defenses. Switzerland is filthy rich, too. Private fortunes thought to rival or surpass the biggest public billionaires, money pipes throughout the world beyond measure — the result of centuries of diligently building a discrete but very real financial empire... all of that has to count for something in the age of PMC's and acts of surgical retaliation projecting force accross the globe. Taking on a too-rich enemy in modern times is choosing an all-out, extremely mobile, stupidly costly, and above all likely painful war. You'll lose a lot at the hand of the best weapons and talents money can buy.

lotsofpulp 7y ago
Rich doesn't mean anything if the currency is worthless. Switzerland has value in a consistent, trustable system and educated population. But without a larger military standing behind it, such as other European countries or the US, it's not going to be able to defend against a larger aggressor. That's why an extremely indebted USA is still very valuable. Because they can park a few aircraft carriers off the coast of whomever they desire (although this may be changing, namely due to China).
- pgeorgi 7y ago
  Off the coast of Switzerland? O_o
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]