It is no secret that I have serious doubts about Switzerland with its much-acclaimed neutrality. Let me explain some Swiss history to you. During World War Two, the chief of the Swiss Army, General Henri Guisan, entered into negotiations with France to assist Switzerland in case of a Nazi German attack. This attack never came. Now this was not because of fear of the Swiss Army but because the place has nothing worth conquering. It has no minerals, no oil, no gold, no diamonds, no strategic value, and is simply not worth having. I might in a future blog write on exactly why I rate the place so low on their so-called “military prowess which prevented a Nazi invasion,” but for now, on subject, let me stay with the so-called neutrality. Let me show you their pattern of deceit.
After the 1940 French defeat (and that is another story too, not what you read in the schoolbook histories written on behalf of Winston S Churchill) the Germans found the Guisan correspondence breaking Swiss neutrality. Yes, as so often, in the French archives (or, some say, in an abandoned truck). Berlin was obviously annoyed because it was much more than just talk, as is claimed falsely today. The Swiss did indeed improve the roads and build the revetments for heavy artillery for the French army’s use as agreed to during the Guisan talks. That was a clear breach of neutrality and for a time very worrisome to them. They speculated that the Germans would use it as a reason to attack them and if attacked, the end was always going to be a disaster for Switzerland. That fear was nothing but a grave indication of a guilty conscience. The Guisan talks should never have happened if they were genuinely neutral. But then again, we must bear in mind that Nazi Germany never needed a pretext to attack or lacked the capacity to manufacture one as was demonstrated in Poland in September 1939, the Polish Gleiwitz Incident. Something which I write about in Code Name Cadillac, and Code Name Jen. This is not the place to repeat it.
Then, something else happened. Swiss financier Francois Genoud. This fellow, in life from Lausanne, Switzerland, met Adolf Hitler in 1932 whilst a teenager. He was so impressed that he joined the pro-Nazi National Front in 1934 and stayed a forceful Nazi supporter all his life, stating in 1992 to a London newspaper, “My views have not changed since I was a young man. Hitler was a great leader, and if he had won the war the world would be a better place today.” There is no doubt that he financially supported the escaping Nazis after the war ended (the “Odessa Project,” later known as “The Spider”) or that he was closely involved in the laundering of ill-gotten SS money during the war. He also worked with the Nazi Era Abwehr (German Military Intelligence) to set up the Oasis nightclub in Lausanne to serve as a covert operation front to entrap whoever visited it. There were many that ran to Switzerland, the rich, they could bribe their way in. About 25,000 Jews were not so lucky, yet another story, soon to be told in a book that my wife wrote. It is ridiculous to say that the Swiss counter-espionage agents did not know about Genoud’s activities breaking Swiss neutrality or supporting the Nazi cause. They stripped 50 citizens’ of their Swiss passports by the end of the war for supporting the Nazis. Genoud was not one of them. He never faced any justice. Why not? It is bizarre and demands an explanation. Genoud, I am glad to say, committed suicide late in life.
But it gets worse. In 1989 it came out that the Swiss espionage service, FIS, the Swiss Federal Intelligence Service, kept files on 900,000 people. That is one in every twenty Swiss and one in three foreigners. They had zero legal basis to do so. They learned nothing from their mistake. In 2010, they had a database, again without any legal basis, of more than 200,000 people. The ones they spied on were those that criticized their army and nuclear power (of which they have very little to begin with) and trade unionists. If the FIS had any successes it is not known. As an intelligence agency they are rated with that of Cameroon or perhaps I should be kind and say not rated highly.
In my circles, we know that the Swiss entered into a deal with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) not to hijack Swiss aircraft or aircraft on / from Swiss airports. That was after the Swissair Flight 100 hijacking in September 1970. That airframe, with three others, were later blown at Dawson's Field, a desert airstrip near Zarqa, Jordan, formerly Royal Air Force Station Zerqa. You can see videos of it on YouTube if interested. So they paid the PLO to ensure that it never happens again. Yes, Switzerland paid, according to Swiss journalist Marcel Gyr (see https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35384354) to have its aircraft left alone. You might say “so what?” Note please, once you pay a terrorist, you are not neutral anymore. The money that you pay will be used to pay for operations against someone else. Therefore, that is the end of your claim of neutrality. You are as guilty as the terrorist that you supported. That is what the law says and how it is seen. It must be noted that the Swiss are denying this too but there is really very little doubt. I heard about it in the 1980s already. It is an open secret. And I wonder who laundered that money, Genoud? What about influence? Recognising perhaps a terrorist organisation as a political one? Yes, that was part of the deal.
And then there is the Crypto AG saga about which can be read at https://www.moonofalabama.org/2020/02/us-warms-up-old-spy-story-to-warn-of-foreign-espionage.html#more. Basically, the company manufactured supposedly unbreakable cipher machines. Being Swiss, and neutral, more than 120 countries bought the machines and used them for decades. Sadly, the company was nothing but a CIA / West German Intelligence front. Yes, those idiots that used the Crypto machines had their correspondence read at will. This came out in the 1990s during the wave of CIA bragging that buggered them ever since. So much for Swiss neutrality. By doing this, and allowing it, see the pattern please, link the dots, they took sides yet again. Based on the above, I will then state that the entire Swiss Neutrality is just so much nonsense not to be taken seriously. And if you wish to hear a joke, in 2014 an aircraft was hijacked and flown to Geneva. Sadly, the Swiss Air Force could not escort it, nope, they don’t work on weekends or after hours. Nor do they fly at night. Yes, true story.
PS Much more came out since the above - I will keep you posted.