From reader M.:
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What's the deal with Switzerland? They seem a little Jekyll & Hyde. On the one hand they do good stuff like this, on the other I've seen reports of government oppression of the people, Swiss Nazi Templars ( http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?read=5965 ), etc.

Other things I find weird is Switzerland's seeming neutrality to everything going on in the world, the 'elite's' Swiss bank accounts, even the Swiss Guards at the Vatican.

What's special about Switzerland?
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MrF responds:

Let's start with the first paragraph. What country is not "Jekyll and Hyde"? Certainly the U.S. is at least as bad in this regard as Switzerland. As to "oppression of the people", they say about Switzerland, it doesn't have an army, it is and army. With few exceptions, every adult male is required to do two years(?) active duty and then be in the reserves, with two weeks summer service, up until some age that I don't recall. This creates a society that is rather conformist and rule conscious. Some Swiss chafe at this, of course. On the other hand, for controversial issues, they have national plebiscites, such as a recent one for increasing gun controls, which the people voted down. (Which brings up another Swiss oddity: did you know Swiss women did not get the right to vote until 1971?)

As to the "Swiss Nazi Templars", I'm not going to watch that two hour video (is there a text executive summary somewhere?), but it starts out with the Priory of Sion, which I would say is not inherently Swiss, but has connections all over Europe, particularly France.

As to banking, the one-line blurb for that video implies that it is primarily Swiss banks that profit from war, but I would say it is all large banks around the world which lend money to governments to wage war. As to the "elites' Swiss bank accounts", several countries have similar banking secrecy laws (Caymans, Bahamas, Mauritius[?]), but of course Switzerland was the first and is conveniently located in the scenic heart of Europe, and so has traditional been a favorite of country-looting despots everywhere. Lately the secrecy laws have been weakened due to international pressure, largely from the U.S., so it is not quite the haven it used to be.

As to the Swiss Guards at the Vatican, it is basically a mercenary arrangement. Centuries ago, when the popes were having trouble hiring reliable guards who would not turn on them at to drop of a bribe, they discovered that Swiss mercenaries tended to have much more of a sense of honor and duty, and that has been the arrangement ever since.

So, to summarize, I chose in my post to point out Switzerland's different outlook on guns, which is basically an outgrowth of their status as a nation-army, which in turn was an outgrowth of their ancient need to defend their breakaway from the Habsburgs of Austria. The problem of shadowy elites is one that Switzerland shares with practically every other significant nation.

Very good book about the quirks and idiosyncracies of Switzerland:
La Place de la Concorde Suisse by John McPhee