The Wall Street Journal posted an interesting article here about what some would say are recent lapses in neutrality by the Swiss government.
The Swiss have had a tradition of neutrality for centuries, which is why all the Swiss banks, most notably the UBS, is so famous for its secrecy. However, it seems that President Obama and the US government are trying to through centuries of tradition of another nation down the toilet.
For the record, I have no illegal Swiss bank accounts, however, I still disagree with the US government's actions a couple months ago of in essence forcing the Swiss banks, notably UBS again, to hand over the names of the US citizens who had bank accounts there. It should be irrelevant that these Americans were breaking US law, they were not breaking Swiss law. And the US government's decision to force individual companies from other nations to comply with President Obama's demands seem to be a very ill-advised move.
President Obama criticized President Bush for taking too much of a go-at-it-alone approach, and his criticism has merit, however this forccing of the Swiss banks to reveal some of their accounts is just as much a brazen, "I'm bigger than you and dont care what you think" approach.
Switzerland's attempts to remain neutral, and act as a mediator between conflicting nations is rather admirable, but if Switzerland is seen as a lackey of America, its important role of mediator in the world would likely be diminished. The Swiss have a history of brokering peace, as the multiple Geneva Conventions point out, as well as the numerous pro-humanity organizations that call Geneva home. I feel that any attempts by America to use its influence to force the Swiss government to act in any certain way could have potential negative consequences for the world at large.
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One point that needs to be addressed here as well is that the EU is equally working to get the Swiss banks open. Swiss banks have long been the homes of criminals, enforcers of genocide, terrorists, and those who simply don't want to pay taxes. With the globalized world, enormous sums of money have been transferred to these banks with those behind the sums of money feeling no fear for the laws of the civilized world. If you ask me, the Swiss have simply been taking advantage of their reputation as a neutral party to make easy profits through these banks. Since no one else will hold the money from these people, the Swiss banks can charge anything they want and charge high interest rates for loans to the same unsavory individuals who have no other sources of capital. With the increased level of globalization that has overtaken the world and the danger of small time people with large bank accounts to global security, isn't it time for some traditions to change for the social good?
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