Cold War

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The Crypto AG scandal, The Swiss neutrality is shaken?

It is hard to exaggerate how much the Crypto AG scandal has shaken Switzerland .

for decades by U.S. and German intelligence, The Swiss company uses the encoding devices to spy on other countries, and the revelations of This Week have provoked outrage.

From the Cold War , in The 2000S , Crypto AG sold the devices to More Than 120 governments around The World . The Machines were encrypted, but it emerged This Week that the CIA and the German BND had rigged the equipment so they could crack to intercept The Codes and thousands of messages.

rumors had spread in The Past , but now everyone knows.

Why The Swiss neutrality matters

There are only a handful of States on The Planet who have chosen the neutrality, of Austria, of Sweden, of the other. But no country has a status-symbol of neutrality like Switzerland .

Now that the Crypto AG scandal in all its gaudy detail, there is not a newspaper or TV station in the country, this is not a survey of Switzerland 's neutrality.

"It is shaken," is a common phrase.

A Federal judge on the case, and politicians across The Spectrum are calling for a parliamentary Commission of inquiry.

This is a country whose neutrality has represented allowed it to, the interests of the USA in Iran for 30 years, and in Tehran's interests in Washington. Switzerland is negotiating hard behind the scenes with the US to allow, to facilitate deliveries of humanitarian aid to Iran, the worst effects of the sanctions.

It is also a country that sold faulty encryption machines, bearing that in Switzerland label in Iran so that Washington listen to could.

The Swiss company Crypto made, CX-52 encryption machines

is revered Swiss neutrality, As If it is in the country's DNA, which is part of a unique national identity, and not the pragmatic politics of a Small Country that hired mercenaries to fight the rest of Europe, until their leaders decided, maybe this is safer.

"We survived two world wars," is a phrase you often hear, in Switzerland . It can be irritating to citizens from other EU countries who survived these wars, in quite a shocking way.

But it is true that The Swiss neutrality kept it out of these wars, and 1945 in Switzerland , the economy and infrastructure emerged, phoenix-like, and unharmed, while its neighbors are swept, the ash and the rubble.

The Swiss people have not made themselves useful to all the

neutrality, however, is some kind of force field keeps the enemies. No magic, the sing can, and The Bad guys leave you alone.

In the second World War , Switzerland has all kinds of things to ensure that his neighbors stayed away.

mass-mobilisation, send every man between the ages of 18 and 60 for the defence of the frontiers, the removal of the tunnels and Alpine passes, it was a thing until recently, a honor took place in The Swiss history books.

But was there Something Else that is just as important: the Switzerland was useful to all sides.

Switzerland 's troops barricaded their borders in the second World War ,

Nazi Germany was a safe place for his looted art and gold in Swiss banks. He sent trains full of weapons in the whole of Switzerland for the support of the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini . to fight

At the same time, Switzerland 's chief of The Armed forces, General Henri Guisan , with secret chats with the French was, for both countries should be invaded. There is a road named after Guisan in every Swiss city.

in the Meantime, the U.S. intelligence services body, The Office of Strategic Services, sent Allen Dulles to Europe.

Dulles Set Up his office in The Swiss capital of Berne, and remained there for the rest of the war, of spying for the Germans. Later, he was head of the CIA.

Who Knew what?

In the 1990s, The Swiss have a lot of soul on the first World War Two.

The history books have been rewritten to include the shameful policy of turning Jewish refugees back at the border. Commissions of inquiry were Set Up , instead of memorials, and a Federal minister, Kaspar Villiger , officially apologized.

this is the same Kaspar Villiger , the accused now to know during his time as Defence Minister in the 1990s, that the CIA controlled, Crypto AG, and the sale of deficiency was encryption machines around The World to spy on foreign governments.

Mr Villiger, it must be emphasised, denies this. But many questions were raised about Crypto in Switzerland in the 1990s, so it is strange that the Minister of defense listen to you or follow you up.

Kaspar served Villiger as defense Minister in the 1990s,

Lord Asked Villiger, Swiss television, turning the Federal President Simonetta Sommaruga , said the has made speculation pointless. "We will discuss it when we get the facts," She Said .

Can the Switzerland , have it both ways?

How on earth can these two concepts of neutrality and co - operation - together?

Perhaps in the same way that Switzerland is not a war of pride, but sold lots of weapons.

not to say the way the bankers "money smells". In other words, you were happy to take care of it, what is the bloody conflict, the brutal dictator, drug baron, or taxes, it amounted to had to come.

wanted to survive more charitably, Switzerland the Cold War . His values were Western, Why Not turn a blind eye to a couple of Covert Operations by Europe's protector in chief, the United States, in Switzerland , is a world-class precision engineering company?

To be fair, there are a million Swiss , who believe, who fought deeply about these things, and hard for a less selfish policy, especially when It Comes to banks and the arms trade, both of which are now under much stricter regulation.

But still, every few years it seems The Swiss are getting a Wake-up call about their neutrality.

you have to learn all over again that it is not a shining beacon of hope in The Heart of Europe. It is, rather, a pragmatic and often grubby tactic of survival in a continent with a very bloody history.

And sometimes, as in the case of Crypto AG, the pragmatism, together with the desire, The Myth of neutrality rather than the reality, to some very questionable decisions.

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Source of news: bbc.com