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Swiss War Game Envisages Invasion By Bankrupt French
An anonymous reader writes "The Telegraph reports, 'Hordes of bankrupt French invade Switzerland to get their hands on their "stolen" money — such is the imaginary scenario cooked up by the Swiss military in simulations revealed over the weekend. Carried out in August, the apparently outlandish army exercise was based on the premise of an attack by a financially stricken France split into warring regions, according to Matin Dimanche, the Lausanne-based daily. ... Operation "Duplex-Barbara" went as far as imagining a three-pronged invasion from points near Neufchâtel, Lausanne and Geneva, according to a map published in the Swiss newspaper. Behind the dastardly raid was a paramilitary organization dubbed BLD, the Dijon Free Brigade bent on grabbing back "money that Switzerland had stolen from Saônia". "For its credibility, the Swiss army must work (to ward against) threats of the 21st century," Antoine Vielliard, Hauate-Savoie councilor, told Matin Dimanche. However, Daniel Berger, captain of the Swiss armored brigade, sought to play down the specificity of the threat. "The exercise has strictly nothing to do with France, which we appreciate" he told the Swiss press. ... "French towns were cited to provide soldiers with a real scale," he said. ... Neutral Switzerland has not been invaded since the Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th century. '"
The last time Switzerland was invaded was by the French. Nah... it won't happen again. It's like lightning, the French never strike twice.
Science advances one funeral at a time- Max Planck
So if you have a relatively homogenous population of Western Europeans, a high standard of living and a major banking sector that is known internationally as a haven for corrupt money, your paranoid fear centers around the idea of someone will invade and take all that money away. It's guilty knowledge: your situation was not fairly earned, it results from bad behavior. Therefore, the guilt is turned outward and ascribed to hypothetical predatory French economic terrorists who plan on looting Switzerland, or refugees overwhelming your homeland.
This should be familiar to anyone listening to US political rhetoric: it's the Republican attitude towards immigration. You know, all those inferior (i.e dark skinned) people who can't do OK on their own, so they are coming here to steal from all the decent hard working people (i.e. white Christians) who made the country great.
To preempt right wing whining, I refer to Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) on Latinos: "there's another 100 out there that weigh 130 pounds and they've got calves the size of cantaloupes because they're hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert." http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57598020/rep-steve-king-stands-by-divisive-immigration-comments/ By the way, this asshat thinks he has a shot as the next Republican President.
Although not quite as blatant, the looming government shutdown over Obamacare/Affordable Care has a similar foul stench. Republicans support Social Security and Medicare for white conservatives (it's not welfare for them), but will wreck the economy to keep them damned minorities from laying their filthy paws on "our government" i.e. federal spending.
That's what the Tea Party types were saying when they spouted "I want my country back." Ask yourself "back from who?" The best response I heard was: "You can't have your country back since the South lost the Civil War."
Ultimately that's what it's about: is the US a country for everyone, or only for white Christian conservatives?
Why is Snark Required?
That's not true anymore. The explosives has been removed year ago.
Probably safer. All it takes is for one of the guards to convert to Islam and BOOM