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> "can the US government compel a swiss national to make false statements" I don't think anyone can compel Switzerland to do anything. They've been militarily

> "can the US government compel a swiss national to make false statements" I don't think anyone can compel Switzerland to do anything. They've been militarily neutral since as long as I can remember and if Wikipedia be believed, every male in the country has military training. I'd say there's very little the U.S. (or anyone else for that matter) could do to compel them to do anything. Especially being as if the U.S. wanted to do anything more than issue a stiffly worded letter, they'd bring the entire wrath of Europe crashing down on their heads... which may or may not include a number of their greatest allies. That wouldn't be very bright politically.

wutbrodo 13y ago
"a swiss national" does not mean "the swiss national government", it means a citizen of Switzerland. Nobody is talking about invading Switzerland to force the government to do something they're vehemently opposed to; they're talking about cooperating with the Swiss government to compel a swiss national to do something. Whether or not this is feasible in this case is another question, but I have no idea how you suddenly flew off into a fantasy world of conjecture about the US considering an invasion of Switzerland. As an example more in line with what the parent comment was describing, just look at what's happened to Swiss banking. Their reputation as a reliable tax haven has been horribly shaken by the US DoJ's pursuit of banks engaging in this kind of activity, and this was done with the cooperation of the Swiss government. This is the kind of compulsion that is being discussed here; compulsion with the express cooperation of the foreign government (even if this cooperation was gained through the application of diplomatic pressure).