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Subscribe to RSSWith anti-austerity protests across Europe resulting in civil unrest on the streets of Athens and Madrid, Switzerland -- the European country famed for its neutrality -- is taking unusual precautions.
It launched the military exercise “Stabilo Due” in September to respond to the current instability in Europe and to test the speed at which its army can be dispatched. The country is not a member of the union or among the 17 countries that share the euro.
Swiss newspaper Der Sonntag reported recently that the exercise centered around a risk map created in 2010, where army staff detailed the threat of internal unrest between warring factions as well as the possibility of refugees from Greece, Spain, Italy, France, and Portugal.
The Swiss defense ministry told CNBC that it doesn't rule out having to deploy troops in the coming years.
“It's not excluded that the consequences of the financial crisis in Switzerland can lead to protests and violence,” a spokesperson told CNBC.com. “The army must be ready when the police in such cases requests for subsidiary help.”
Some 2,000 troops were part of the drill exercise in eight different towns across the country. Infantry soldiers were used as well as the air force and special forces personnel in an assignment that took years to organize.
The decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize to the EU was met with confusion among those who have witnessed Europe's economic crisis, and deep unrest. NBC's Brian Williams reports.
Quoted in a Schweizer Soldat magazine, Defense Minister Ueli Maurer warned of an escalation of violence in Europe.
"I can’t exclude that in the coming years we may need the army," he said.
Does the EU deserve the Nobel Peace Prize?
According to the minister, some European countries - under pressure to save - didn't renew their armies as they could no longer afford the upkeep of modern systems.
He said that the situation could amplify dramatically, with countries that couldn't defend themselves facing the possibility of “blackmail.” In the paper, he also asked how long the crisis could be calmed with money alone.
Der Sonntag newspaper also reported that army chief André Blattmann is set to submit a proposal in December to utilize four battalions of military police. This will consist of 1,600 soldiers guarding strategic points in the country including the airport, industrial plants, and the international organizations in Geneva.
Protests have taken place in numerous European cities since the financial crisis hit the continent in 2008. In September, 70,000 people marched to the Greek Parliament in Athens and the protests ended with demonstrators clashing with police.
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Last week, at least 7,000 plainclothes police and hundreds more undercover agents were mobilized to lock down Athens. Snipers, commando seals, frogmen, and helicopters were also present as German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited the country and thousands of protesters streamed into Syntagma square.
A reason to exist?
The military is a hot topic in Switzerland, which has mandatory military service. Under Swiss law, all able-bodied men at age 19 have to undergo five months of training, followed by refresher courses of several weeks over the next decade.
Countries with the highest unemployment rates
A referendum is likely to take place next year to decide the fate of this conscription policy. The current number of recruits stands at 200,000 — the biggest army in Europe relative to population size.
While Greece gears up for more protests against austerity cuts, the health care system is in tatters with little cash for drugs or doctors. ITV's James Mates reports.
Josef Lang, the vice president of the Swiss Green Party and leader of the country’s pacifist movement, told CNBC.com that the defense ministry was using the euro zone crisis for political purposes ahead of this key vote.
“They’re using social unrest and instability in Europe to give more credibility to the army,” he said. “Switzerland for many years has never fought anyone else. This is what we call in Switzerland interior actions — actions by the Swiss army against their own citizens. There is a long history of this in Switzerland.”
Lang added that he didn't believe the streets of Switzerland would see the unrest that has been seen in Spain or Greece. GSOA, a group working to reduce the military activities of Switzerland, had similar thoughts.
Austerity upon austerity doesn’t work: IMF’s Lagarde
“The Swiss army is looking desperately for a reason to exist, this is why they always try to find new tasks,” a spokesperson said. “There are some very small groups which like smashing up windows, but this happens only two or three times per year and the police can handle it more or less well.”
One former soldier in the Swiss army told CNBC that his superiors would often ask him to use ammunition liberally in training scenarios.
“That meant: ‘Use up everything, have fun, if we don't use it all up they're going to think we need less and cut the budget,’ ” he told CNBC.com. “Sometimes they make up a kind of alternate Europe with made-up countries and stuff, just to give a frame for tactic games and exercises.”
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They better get ready. It goes right along with history. People often do flee from a nation that cannot manage it's finances to a nation that can.
"Lars, you got your knife ready?"
Please, tells us what nation is managing its finances???
Fiji?
The entire world will fit nicely on that tiny little island for sure, LMAO!
And yet we vote in people who don't manage our finances year after year, all the while complaining about them. I read posts saying we need a third party candidate, we need someone not beholden to special interests, we need someone who will implement common sense solutions, and I'm betting these same people still cast their votes for a D or an R.
The primary process that gives up far right or far left ideologues to choose from is to blame. The only solution is to abolish primaries and vote directly for candidates, then the moderates will win because most people want answers, not extremism.
@ Dawg Pound: Poland. They are managing very well.
Protests have taken place in numerous European cities since the financial crisis hit the continent in 2008.
Do not elect republicans or you will have a disaster ! they, are the cause of the world's crise !
I LIKE Switzerlands idea and I AM GLAD THAT THE PREDIDENT HAS TAKEN SIMILAR MEASURES WITH PATRIOT ACT AND OTHER LEGISLATION REGARDING OUR NATIONAL GUARD.
I AM ALREDY UNDER SEIGE FROM OTHER PARTIES THAT WANT MY ENTITLEMENTS AND PRESIDENT OBAMA RECOGNIZES THAT I NEED STRONG YOUNG MEN TO PROTECT ME!!!!
VOTE OBAMA/BIDEN . . . KEEP THE DREAM ALIVE . . YOU PAYING FOR ME!!!!
Yes, HandsOffMYMedicare!! an Army to make sure the population pays their medicare bills! The Army is well trained for crowd control and keeping those medicare payments coming. Medicare is a right, am I right or what?!!
I'm Swiss and get bashed on "the Vine" for carrying a gun with me all the time.
Things are changing. There is a shift coming. Not paranoid, just aware.
Americanfools
What a very appropiate moniker! The Contries in question here have Governments fashioned very like the one Obama is attempting to foist on America! Their , and our, failures are due to the lack of Republicans not any abundance!
In reading the article, the Green party that purports pacifism (which I already thought Switzerland was) says that the small incidences of "rock throwing" occuring "only" a few times every year are handled "more or less well" by the police. I guess so so is ok to a pacifist until said pacifist gets the rock thrown at him/her.
Considering Switzerland's neutrality through two world wars that raged around them and a myriad of other conflicts, that they are worried worries me.
US should be a lot more like Switzerland in every way!
I'm not sure that the Swiss are 'worried' in a military sense but they want to be prepared. And regular drills are the key to any preparedness plan. Being able to seal the borders to guard the internal stability of a country is something US desperately needs - not waging useless wars in faraway places for decades. But the crooks and traitors in Washington DC want you to believe is scary boogie monsters in Middle East that demand a trillion dollar per year defense budget while they can't keep the Mexican drug cartels from moving in and out of our own country almost at will.
The Swiss are taking precautions,something the U.S. should have been working on decades ago.Mexico has such a high crime rate due to the drug cartel and I am surprised that we are not seeing more people flee from there to the U.S. than what we've seen already.If that country ever collapse we could very well be in for a huge influx of people.
the swiss are cool they even let you keep your machine gun when you finish serving the swiss army ,bet they will come in handy when EU collapses and the invading thugs attack, turn them into"SWISS CHEESE" with them
@ somebefuddledperson - The Swiss managed to stay out of 2 world wars BECAUSE they were well armed and well trained, NOT because they were pacifists.
A country without an army?
How novel. New York City has 41,000 heavily armed police. It has several thousand State officers, It has corrections officers. It has SWAT teams, aircraft, tanks and even subs.
Even without our National Guard, we would have a police force larger than half the worlds national standing armies.
A nation without an army? How about a city with one???????
Hang on to them.. you are probably going to need them when the economic apocalypse hits.
A city should have no army unless it is its own country.
NYC has "aircraft, tanks and even subs." ...wow...
Pickett13
Unfortunately, they also have Blooming Idiot for Mayor!
I have a friend who is Swiss. He keeps sharpening His knife but It won't hold an edge. And them gwaddamn scissors! Whoa!!!!!!!
That is because we live in a police state. We waste more money on the so called security and defense than the rest of the world combined.
Interesting that when I was in the Army in the 70s, We would shout "Kill"
This was very foreign to my family. For us it was always "Defend!" Just cultural differences, but who is at war, and who is not. Just a point to consider.
There's money, it's just in those swiss bank accounts. Hmmmmm, ready made solution.
Oddly, the Swiss have the right idea, just at the wrong time in history. if all countries where so anti war as these people,there would be no need for a military.
I think it is vary unwise of their green party to say that the military has no reason to exist. Just because you do not want war dose not mean that other countries don't want war with you.
Poor people are coming. Fix your bayonets.
Just look to Europe and see where Obamaism is taking us.
Checks for people who don't work, medical for anyone and everyone and only a handful pay the taxes.
Housing for everyone and if you can't pay, so what, the other guys taxes will take care of it. No need to go out and find a job. Any kind of job.
That is the Obamaism mentality. Why should I give an honest days work, for pay. Let the other guy support me and my kids, usually up to 5.
It is a house of cards and it has to come down. When you have more people in the system than people who work and pay into the system, it has to come down.
How about paying those hard-working poor people that you hate so much-- you know, the ones waiting on your table at the restaurant, cleaning your hotel room, washing your car, and so forth-- a living wage with health insurance benefits? Then they won't need any governmental assistance. Otherwise, expect to pay taxes to help them out to compensate for your greed.
It has little to do with greed. The problem occurs when lazy people attempt to use jobs that are transitory in nature for a permenant source of income!
You just keep thinking like that, Steven100. I have several homes in europe (also in the U.S.), and I have to say that both my companies and my neighborhoods are functioning much better in industrialized Europe than their counterparts in the U.S. have been -- for since long before obama took over. the previous administration saw to that. my partners, employees, and portfolio company constituencies all pay taxes, work hard, and prosper here. In the U.S., everyone is too busy shouting at each other about presidential politics without really knowing what they are talking about to be productive anymore. sorry to burst your bubble. the vigilent swiss notwithstanding. obama has been dramatically improving things for everyone in the U.S., in the aftermath of the nuclear winter and its incredibe job losses, bank losses, real property losses and disruption in every aspect of our formerly-stable economy, all thanks to the cronyism of the BushCheneys. If you want more of that, please be my guest.
Steven-
This all started long before Obama, its just he hasn't done anything to help the situation. The problem now is that there is no solution. We are bankrupt and can not pay it back. What is propping us up is the huge military. If you don't go along with the US, u stand the chance of being invaded or overthrown.
The hardest working people in this country are Amish.
Shouldn't you be occupying something LCG?
You're right, our whole economy and political system has become a house of cards, or, more like a long domino layout; when the first one falls, they all wil.
The American public has been hoodwinked by Chicago gangsters roaming the halls of Congress and the White House; we need a clean sweep on Nov. 6.
Mr. Obama is dragging us into the abyss as well as he continues to spend money we don't have and put us further and further into debt. Time for REAL change.
Thats funny. You think its Obama. I hope Romney gets elected so you can remove the blinders and see the bigger picture of how @!$%#ed things really are. It is not a matter of a simple change in presidents or any public office for that matter. If we keep voting for this people instead of taking to the streets nothing will ever change. I know for a fact no matter who is in charge the next four years will suck even more and you can count on that.
No, David. They are blinded by crazy ideology, hate and racism. Here is what's going to happen when and if Romney gets elected; All military spending will quadruple overnight and we will spend more on "defense" than the whole galaxy put together. We will go to war with Iran and probably a couple of other countries at the same time, and completely eliminate taxes for multi millionaires while throwing poor people in the gutter or prison. But then, deficits won't matter...
It's neither Obama nor Romney. Presidents don't make spending bills. Put the blame where it really belongs: Congress.
Jay you might try to read the Constitution, as AG99 clearly has! Spefically in your case Article 1 Section 8! 8 of the 19 clauses in that Article are about our National Defense! Far and away the largest single issue addressed there! Clearly it was always intended that the bulk of our tax dollars were intended to go towards our National Security!
Support for AG99's position is found in the previous Article, specifically the first clause!
jay,
you are right. but, now, think about the next phase after president romney puts all the bushcheney people back into place, we crash again -- only worse, suddenly we will see an outpouring of anti-mormonism like we've never seen before. we are nothing whatsoever like our founding fathers. we have developed a pathological need to hate. that rarely works out well.
If we can avoid the incompetent leadership(?) that prevaded the 109th, 110th and 111th, Congresses, a crash might well be avoided. It will however be true that the next President will truly have inherited a terrible environment from the previous President!
David -
You are exactly right. Its not black and white (obama/Romney)...its all grey...both groups are to blame. They play everyone as the puppet masters (corporations/wealthy) play us all as they gain more and more.
The future looks very bleak...
David . . You seem like thoughtful person so I just have one question for you . .
ARE YOU PAYING YOUR TAXES YOUNG MAN???
YOU DO REALIZE POLITICIANS ARE THE MAIN AGENT FOR DISPERSING OUR NATIONS MONEY . . AND YOU BETTER BELIEVE THEY KNOW IT!!
AND WE ARE ALL IN COMPETITION FOR A PIECE OF THE PIE . . STUDENT LOANS, HOUSING SUBSIDIES, MEDICARE, SOC. SEC. UNEMPLOYMENT . . THE LIST GOES ON.
WHEN I SEE A YOUNG PERSON LIKE. YOU I SEE SOMEONE WHO NEEDS TO BE PAYING!!!!
VOTE OBAMA/BIDEN 2012 . . . KEEP THE DREAM ALIVE!!!
Grannie, take your OBido pill. Your overdue, and funny as all *ell.......................
Are they bringing their knives??? lol
Did anybody catch the line about many 'euro nations dropping their military...'. Many of those countries could only support their socialist systems because WE were providing much of their defense. Once we started cutting, they started the EU and now the military is the first thing they can't afford.
Not true. During world war two a lot of countries also cut their military budget for other reasons which is why the germans had such swift and fast victories. @!$%# dude the army is socialism. Why dont they just make every able citizen join the military. They would have their socialism and protection. Socialism is not the issue because many capitalist are just as apathetic and lazy. The problem is nobody has a sense of civic duty or pride anymore. They just think someone else will handle it. If you think Romney or Obama are going to fix your problems before you can yourself, you are crazy.
That's right. Example: While poor kids all over the US, and from all ethnic backgrounds were being forced to go to Vietnam and die there, Mr. Romney was eating caviar and partying in Paris. Now through a cruel joke of history, people like him are really close to be in a position to order thousands of soldiers to their deaths.
That is always the first place Progressives cut, they are afraid to tell the "useful idiots" they have been buying that the Goose is nearly dead, and they can no longer continue to pay them for their votes!
Jay
The "poor kids....from all ethnic backgrounds" you refer to "were being forced to go to Vietnam and die there" by a PROGRESSIVE President, after they removed a Liberal President that had no intentions to do so !
Drop your army and you will soon find out why you needed it all along.
Just ask Poland, the netherlands and France. It wasnt socialism that did it back then. People didnt want to pay taxes so they cut the military and the germans mad them pay.
As usual most people get it wrong. Having just toured Switzerland Austria and Germany (Bavaria) I say if they have a sluggish economy, i hate to see a booming economy. These are busy places, with endless trucks on the road and good deals in accomodation and restaurants, except Switzerland. Good love them, but they are in it for money. People there are unaware of a "crisis" .They are just busy.
Paul,
I spend most of my time in the places you mention, for the reasons you mention. I don't understand why Americans have allowed themselves to be dumbed-down by the career, crony politicians who have stolen our country and feed us such nonsense about how we work so much harder and are so much more productive than the rest of the world, when it is simply no longer true. It seems to me that if we were only more aware of how we are getting our butts kicked in economic production, we would do something about regaining our former position of strength, instead of spending all our time wallowing in ignorance and pretending we are what we once were by telling ourselves lies about how much trouble everyone else is in, and about how much the other political party is the enemy.
All the King's Horses and All the King's Horses couldn't put Humpty Dumpty together again. Coming Soon to Country Near You. Keep Printing IMF. Your game is up.
Why does are debt with china really matter that much anyway? What are they going to do? Shake us down? We spend 15 times what they do on military and its the best. I say keep the military budget big and default on foreign debts. Who is going to stop us? We are america damnit!
David-
I agree completely. I also don't get the whole foreign debt thing. We keep sending them grain/products/services and they keep sending us more money in return...if they don't like it...tough... go get your food from someone else. What are you going to do about it? Sure...China could probably damage the US economy if it wanted too...but it would damage its own economy and might also starve its billion+ people in the process.
There is a reason no one has invaded a modern Switzerland.... Having a well trained national Army might have been an effective deterrent.
The Europeans should be preparing to take on the real enemy of the states, the banksters.
Apparently the posters on here don't seem to get it. Every nation.. including this one.. is preparing for civil upheaval and unrest. The few cannot support the weight of the many, once the "wealth redistribution" takes place there will be nothing left. Those who have been dependent on government for their very survival will soon face a world where they must try and survive on their own. It is not going to be pretty
Everyone remembers the detention camps of Nazi Germany but too few even know that we once had detention centers in this country. Habeas Corpus was suspended in regards to National Security and families were rounded up and detained based on their ethnicity.
All the government has to do is declare a crisis and it can happen again. What are the U.S. plans. Under what circumstances would they declare martial law?
It truly does seem that the time is at hand when the Tens of millions who have been voting for a living will need to try to begin working for one!
In the case of the Greeks, some of the people there are fighting to take back control of their country from the banksters, the IMF,and the Federal Reserve. That's a cause I'm sure we'd all find well worth supporting.
Yes i would be willing to support BOTH of them! The bulk are fighting to retain their entitlements!
They're busy sharpening their pocket knives.
The really interesting thing here is that, except for the ability to use the military against the citizens, Switzerland has what the Framers of the Constitution intended for the USA to have. A citizen militia to defend the homeland from external invasion. The only standing organized military the Framers showed any support for was a Navy to protect our commercial shipping. Today they would probably support an Air force as well. Certainly they would support missile defense systems and systems to defend against enemy aircraft.
For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well-organized and armed militia is their best security. Jefferson
Washington, Madison, Jefferson and others were clear about it that the USA should stay out of the affairs of other nations, most notably, Europe. We were never to do what we did in Vietnam. But we did it and didn't learn the lesson the Framers already knew. The desire for liberty must come from within a country. It cannot be exported to a country or imposed from the outside.
Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliances with none. Jefferson
Since we didn't learn the lesson from Vietnam, we repeated the mistake in Afghanistan and Iraq. Both of the actual threats posed by those countries were just the leaders and both could have been simply taken care of without massive invasion forces that did nothing but inflame an otherwise disengaged populace.
Unlike during WW1 and WW2, we had the ability during Vietnam and now have even better ability to take out any world leader any place anytime.
The guidelines for this are easy to explain and defend. If a world leader makes threats against us and then attempts to carry them out, he and any of his supporters that happen to be close to him, get taken out. Period. End of problem. The rational for going into Afghanistan and Iraq were that the replacement leader would be worse than the one we took out. I don't see that as a problem. Simply keep taking them and their supporters out until someone comes into power that doesn't want to die or can't recruit enough supporters to actually be able to do anything because no one else in the country wants to be close to the leader because they don't want to be collateral damage.
Brutal?? Yes!! But, we simply cannot be the worlds police force. We don't have either the population or the population growth to waste American lives for anything other than defense against an actual invasion.
BHO wants to disarm us and turn our national defense over to the communist, socialist, Marxist tyrants through the payment of protection money to the UN. Romney wants to continue to waste money on expensive ground forces equiped to carry out massive invasions. Either way we end up bankrupt and subjugated by foreign countries.
Turn in a blank ballot. Embarrass both parties. Encourage the formation of a new party dedicated to the time test ideas and wisdom of the Framers of the Constitution.
blankballot.us
There is a time and place for everything, and this is very definately NOT the time for this! To do as you recommend, at this time, would not be acting in a responsible manner, but rather in an immature, petulant manner!
Amen, drop the bombs and save American lives. To act any in other way then you suggest is unconstitutional and to disregard Americans soldiers lives.
Swiss army prepares for euro zone unrest - World News.
Switzerland is quite literally and figuratively in the middle of Europe. It is surrounded by the eurozone.
The country has been the recipient of billions of euros of deposits over the last two years as rich Europeans hedge their bets on a currency breakup. Only Switzerland knows the true extent of eurozone woes through the increasing cross-border currency flows.
What does it believe? Well, it has begun preparing its army for a possible euro meltdown. Troops are engaging in training exercises to seal the border from refugees and to maintain civil order in the case of a financial crisis.
The Swiss are doing their part to contribute to the eurocrisis. The SNB has established a floor on the value of the euro versus the Swiss franc and is spending gobs of francs to defend the floor. This action has helped to maintain the high value of the euro, which is hurting the countries that desperately require a competitive devaluation.
Keep those troops ready, William Tell.
dareconomics.wordpress.com
Swiss are always prepared- since Wilhelm Tell. They have excellent skier patrons too (military)and toes being frostbitten -those soldiers (yearly exercises)are taken to the Kanton hospitals-which are specialists with frostbitten extremities. One is very safe in Switzerland - languages French,German (Switzerduetsch),Italian and Retoromanian (in Graubuenden). Who is trying to get into Switzerland if calamities ensue- French-Brits-Belgians-Greeks-Italians-Spanish-Portuguese-certain Germans. Then come the Americans if Obama is re-elected- there are already some who have taken the plunge. Uf Wiederloge .
When the crap hits the fan, these forces will get wiped out. There's a lot more civilians than police and military. And they are armed too. And you know how well armies do against guerilla warfare tactics. Not very.
I think government and authorities would better off doing what the people want, rather than trying to dictate. Because they dont hold the real power, and never did. The people do. And once the people are pushed to violence, the crap is going to hit it hard.
If our military can barely manage the populous of a 3rd world nation. Imagine how they will fair in modern nations against educated people with many more resources.
The Swiss sealed their borders and interned and or expelled 100s of thousands of Italian, French, Jewish, Gypsies and other refugees during WWII. They've done it before. If they are preparing to do it again I would be real worried about the Euro Crisis.
NAZI LAPDOGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You sicken me you claim neutrality, wrong, you wait out conflict then side with who will benefit your banks. You are luke warm and I spit you out..... Thieves, how much Jewish wealth still sits in your coffers.
Globalization is the problem....politicians are all 1% ers.....ceo's take all of the money from a company....declare it unprofitable and move it to where people are starving and willing to work for pennies an hour....Politicians turn a blind eye and declare globalization is necessary to keep wall street afloat....Meanwhile the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.....and the middle class goes to war....Anybody remember the French Revolution?
Who benefits when American Oil is sold overseas to keep the price up?