Oh dear! We are not doing too well at the moment with our reputation as pacifists, staunchly avoiding the worlds conflicts and doing our best to be mediators.No, the worm has turned and Switzerland is kicking ass! Our first prod was to upset the world's most powerful nation by letting our biggest bank help US citizens tax plan, now we arrest the Libyan dictators son for alledgedly beating people up.
Not a good few months at the office for us.
The latest situation is that the Swiss authorities arrested Libyan dictator Gaddaffi's son, although he is now out on bail.
Col Gaddafi's government has recalled some of its diplomats from Switzerland, reduced flights between the countries, stopped processing visa requests from Swiss citizens, demanded the closure of Swiss firms in Libya, detained two Swiss citizens and probably stopped eating cheese and stamped his feet a lot.
The most worrying thing, however, is that he has stopped shipping oil to Switzerland, as we get 50% of our fuel supply from there this could be a problem.
Swiss foreign minister Micheline Calmy-Rey has formally complained about the moves to her Libyan counterpart and has advised citizens not to travel to Libya. Swiss International Air Lines said Libya has reduced its flights between Zurich and Tripoli from three per week to one.
The airline's spokesman said: "The notice from Libya was very surprising and short notice."
Libya also announced a similar cut in Geneva flights with Libyan airline Afriqiyah.
Col Gaddafi's youngest son Hannibal, 32, and his wife Aline were arrested last Wednesday after an incident in a five-star hotel in Geneva. He was released on bail two days later after posting bail of 500,000 Swiss Francs. His wife, who is nine months pregnant, was taken to hospital during police questioning.
The couple were charged with assaulting two of their staff, a Moroccan man and a Tunisian woman, with a belt and coat hanger. The woman was hospitalised.
Mr Gaddafi, whose real name is Motassim Bilal Gaddafi, and his wife deny the allegations. They had arrived in Geneva on July 5 for the birth of their child. Switzerland have dispatched a diplomatic delegation to Tripoli to provide the Libyan authorities with more details about the arrest and "to prevent a crisis between the two countries", the Swiss foreign ministry said.
Libya is the largest provider of oil to Switzerland. Hannibal Gaddafi has had previous run-ins with the law. In 2005, he was convicted by a French court for striking his pregnant companion in a Paris hotel. He was given a four-month suspended prison sentence and a 500 Euro fine.
He also was at the centre of a separate commotion in 2004, when Paris police stopped him for speeding on the Champs Elysees and his bodyguards attacked several officers. Two of the bodyguards were taken into custody but released after a delegation from the Libyan embassy showed up at the police station and apologised.
I am sure the Swiss will deal with this, but isn't this an indication of the switch in power caused by the oil price. Affectivley Gadaffi is using his oil power to pressure the Swiss government into dropping charges against his son. I don't know about you but to me that is outrageous.
I don't care if you are the richest man on the planet, or the most famous of celebrity... you are not above the law. Beat people up... go to jail... it is not that difficult to understand surely? Even for the rich, spoilt son of dictator and a sponsor of terrorism.
It was only a little while ago that Gadaffi was shaking hands in tents with Tony Blair and his hangers on telling the world he was changed man.
Time is a great healer, I guess. He is back on form... US take note...
Maybe we should retaliate and freeze the billions and billions of dollars that Gadaffi, no doubt, has salted away in his Swiss bank accounts, or better still post the information on the Internet.... That would get his attention......and that of his long suffering people.
Swiss foreign minister Micheline Calmy-Rey has formally complained about the moves to her Libyan counterpart and has advised citizens not to travel to Libya. Swiss International Air Lines said Libya has reduced its flights between Zurich and Tripoli from three per week to one.
The airline's spokesman said: "The notice from Libya was very surprising and short notice."
Libya also announced a similar cut in Geneva flights with Libyan airline Afriqiyah.
Col Gaddafi's youngest son Hannibal, 32, and his wife Aline were arrested last Wednesday after an incident in a five-star hotel in Geneva. He was released on bail two days later after posting bail of 500,000 Swiss Francs. His wife, who is nine months pregnant, was taken to hospital during police questioning.
The couple were charged with assaulting two of their staff, a Moroccan man and a Tunisian woman, with a belt and coat hanger. The woman was hospitalised.
Mr Gaddafi, whose real name is Motassim Bilal Gaddafi, and his wife deny the allegations. They had arrived in Geneva on July 5 for the birth of their child. Switzerland have dispatched a diplomatic delegation to Tripoli to provide the Libyan authorities with more details about the arrest and "to prevent a crisis between the two countries", the Swiss foreign ministry said.
Libya is the largest provider of oil to Switzerland. Hannibal Gaddafi has had previous run-ins with the law. In 2005, he was convicted by a French court for striking his pregnant companion in a Paris hotel. He was given a four-month suspended prison sentence and a 500 Euro fine.
He also was at the centre of a separate commotion in 2004, when Paris police stopped him for speeding on the Champs Elysees and his bodyguards attacked several officers. Two of the bodyguards were taken into custody but released after a delegation from the Libyan embassy showed up at the police station and apologised.
I am sure the Swiss will deal with this, but isn't this an indication of the switch in power caused by the oil price. Affectivley Gadaffi is using his oil power to pressure the Swiss government into dropping charges against his son. I don't know about you but to me that is outrageous.
I don't care if you are the richest man on the planet, or the most famous of celebrity... you are not above the law. Beat people up... go to jail... it is not that difficult to understand surely? Even for the rich, spoilt son of dictator and a sponsor of terrorism.
It was only a little while ago that Gadaffi was shaking hands in tents with Tony Blair and his hangers on telling the world he was changed man.
Time is a great healer, I guess. He is back on form... US take note...
Maybe we should retaliate and freeze the billions and billions of dollars that Gadaffi, no doubt, has salted away in his Swiss bank accounts, or better still post the information on the Internet.... That would get his attention......and that of his long suffering people.
No comments:
Post a Comment