On Mon, 22 Mar 2004 11:45:55 +0000 (UTC), "Franz Heymann"
wrote:


"martin" wrote in message
.. .
On Mon, 22 Mar 2004 08:24:49 -0000, "Andy Hunt"
wrote:

I've heard that Switzerland is quite civilised. Must be
all that Nazi gold
and general confiscated holocaust booty that enables them
to pay for their
stupendously clean and beautiful country.

It could be just that the Swiss are hardworking and have
low taxation
and haven't wasted their assets on wars for about 400
years.

In fact, they have reaped a considerable income from hiring
out people to other countries for making war.

As has the British Army in the Gulf States and elsewhere.

(I cannot remember whether it was Liechtenstein or
Switzerland from where 80 mercenaries went out to fight in a
war somewhere and 81 returned.)

not forgetting the Swiss Guards ( guards not gourds spell checker
trying to get OT) in the Vatican

On Mon, 22 Mar 2004 11:45:56 +0000 (UTC), "Franz Heymann"
wrote:

Could be . . . unlike certain countries for whom wars ARE
an asset - those
which host huge weapons manufacturing companies, like
ours, for example.

I am reasonably certain that the Swiss beat us at that game.

It seems not, Contraves have been on the verge of going bankrupt for
some time.

On Mon, 22 Mar 2004 11:45:56 +0000 (UTC), "Franz Heymann"
wrote:

Could be . . . unlike certain countries for whom wars ARE
an asset - those
which host huge weapons manufacturing companies, like
ours, for example.

I am reasonably certain that the Swiss beat us at that game.

It seems not, Contraves have been on the verge of going bankrupt for
some time.

"Andy Hunt" wrote in message
...


Would you call a country in which female circumcision is
practiced civilised?
Would you call countries like Ruanda and Congo
civilised?
Or indeed would you call any country which has an army
consisting of boy-soldiers civilised?
Would you call a country in which women are treated like
second class citizens and/or chattels civilised?


. . . or a country which executes the mentally ill, has
the highest gun
crime rate in the world, has the highest proportion of its
population in
prison (mostly ethnic minorities) of any country in the
world, produces 25%
of the world's pollution whilst having only 4% of the
world's population,
produces and exports the highest quantity of lethal
weapons in the world, is
the only country ever to have used nuclear weapons against
civilian
populations, has over 50% of its population suffering from
obesity, is
responsible for attacking more countries in the 20th
century than any other
country in the world, and has kept hundreds of foreign
nationals imprisoned
for years on end without charge, trial or representation
in cages exposed to
the elements, in violation of the Geneva Convention? A
country which
provided targeting information for Saddam Hussein's
chemical weapons in the
Iran-Iraq war, uses radioactive waste in its battlefield
munitions, and
whose covert operations have resulted in the deaths of
millions of civilians
worldwide, and the destabilisation and overthrow of such
democratically
elected heads of state as Salvador Allende of Chile? A
country whose use of
chemical and biological weapons has left the soil of
countries like Vietnam
and Cambodia poisoned for generations after its genocidal
attacks, producing
horrific birth defects to this day?

Thanks for putting it quite so eloquently.
You forgot two items:
And has not paid its subscriptions to the UN for many years
now
And has had subverted the function of the UN by bugging the
office of its Secretary General.

Franz

On Mon, 22 Mar 2004 11:45:55 +0000 (UTC), "Franz Heymann"
wrote:


"martin" wrote in message
.. .
On Mon, 22 Mar 2004 08:24:49 -0000, "Andy Hunt"
wrote:

I've heard that Switzerland is quite civilised. Must be
all that Nazi gold
and general confiscated holocaust booty that enables them
to pay for their
stupendously clean and beautiful country.

It could be just that the Swiss are hardworking and have
low taxation
and haven't wasted their assets on wars for about 400
years.

In fact, they have reaped a considerable income from hiring
out people to other countries for making war.

As has the British Army in the Gulf States and elsewhere.

(I cannot remember whether it was Liechtenstein or
Switzerland from where 80 mercenaries went out to fight in a
war somewhere and 81 returned.)

not forgetting the Swiss Guards ( guards not gourds spell checker
trying to get OT) in the Vatican

"Andy Hunt" wrote in message
...


Would you call a country in which female circumcision is
practiced civilised?
Would you call countries like Ruanda and Congo
civilised?
Or indeed would you call any country which has an army
consisting of boy-soldiers civilised?
Would you call a country in which women are treated like
second class citizens and/or chattels civilised?


. . . or a country which executes the mentally ill, has
the highest gun
crime rate in the world, has the highest proportion of its
population in
prison (mostly ethnic minorities) of any country in the
world, produces 25%
of the world's pollution whilst having only 4% of the
world's population,
produces and exports the highest quantity of lethal
weapons in the world, is
the only country ever to have used nuclear weapons against
civilian
populations, has over 50% of its population suffering from
obesity, is
responsible for attacking more countries in the 20th
century than any other
country in the world, and has kept hundreds of foreign
nationals imprisoned
for years on end without charge, trial or representation
in cages exposed to
the elements, in violation of the Geneva Convention? A
country which
provided targeting information for Saddam Hussein's
chemical weapons in the
Iran-Iraq war, uses radioactive waste in its battlefield
munitions, and
whose covert operations have resulted in the deaths of
millions of civilians
worldwide, and the destabilisation and overthrow of such
democratically
elected heads of state as Salvador Allende of Chile? A
country whose use of
chemical and biological weapons has left the soil of
countries like Vietnam
and Cambodia poisoned for generations after its genocidal
attacks, producing
horrific birth defects to this day?

Thanks for putting it quite so eloquently.
You forgot two items:
And has not paid its subscriptions to the UN for many years
now
And has had subverted the function of the UN by bugging the
office of its Secretary General.

Franz

On Mon, 22 Mar 2004 11:45:56 +0000 (UTC), "Franz Heymann"
wrote:

Could be . . . unlike certain countries for whom wars ARE
an asset - those
which host huge weapons manufacturing companies, like
ours, for example.

I am reasonably certain that the Swiss beat us at that game.

It seems not, Contraves have been on the verge of going bankrupt for
some time.

On Mon, 22 Mar 2004 11:45:55 +0000 (UTC), "Franz Heymann"
wrote:


"martin" wrote in message
.. .
On Mon, 22 Mar 2004 08:24:49 -0000, "Andy Hunt"
wrote:

I've heard that Switzerland is quite civilised. Must be
all that Nazi gold
and general confiscated holocaust booty that enables them
to pay for their
stupendously clean and beautiful country.

It could be just that the Swiss are hardworking and have
low taxation
and haven't wasted their assets on wars for about 400
years.

In fact, they have reaped a considerable income from hiring
out people to other countries for making war.

As has the British Army in the Gulf States and elsewhere.

(I cannot remember whether it was Liechtenstein or
Switzerland from where 80 mercenaries went out to fight in a
war somewhere and 81 returned.)

not forgetting the Swiss Guards ( guards not gourds spell checker
trying to get OT) in the Vatican

"Andy Hunt" wrote in message
...


Would you call a country in which female circumcision is
practiced civilised?
Would you call countries like Ruanda and Congo
civilised?
Or indeed would you call any country which has an army
consisting of boy-soldiers civilised?
Would you call a country in which women are treated like
second class citizens and/or chattels civilised?


. . . or a country which executes the mentally ill, has
the highest gun
crime rate in the world, has the highest proportion of its
population in
prison (mostly ethnic minorities) of any country in the
world, produces 25%
of the world's pollution whilst having only 4% of the
world's population,
produces and exports the highest quantity of lethal
weapons in the world, is
the only country ever to have used nuclear weapons against
civilian
populations, has over 50% of its population suffering from
obesity, is
responsible for attacking more countries in the 20th
century than any other
country in the world, and has kept hundreds of foreign
nationals imprisoned
for years on end without charge, trial or representation
in cages exposed to
the elements, in violation of the Geneva Convention? A
country which
provided targeting information for Saddam Hussein's
chemical weapons in the
Iran-Iraq war, uses radioactive waste in its battlefield
munitions, and
whose covert operations have resulted in the deaths of
millions of civilians
worldwide, and the destabilisation and overthrow of such
democratically
elected heads of state as Salvador Allende of Chile? A
country whose use of
chemical and biological weapons has left the soil of
countries like Vietnam
and Cambodia poisoned for generations after its genocidal
attacks, producing
horrific birth defects to this day?

Thanks for putting it quite so eloquently.
You forgot two items:
And has not paid its subscriptions to the UN for many years
now
And has had subverted the function of the UN by bugging the
office of its Secretary General.

Franz

"Andy Hunt" wrote in message
...


Would you call a country in which female circumcision is
practiced civilised?
Would you call countries like Ruanda and Congo
civilised?
Or indeed would you call any country which has an army
consisting of boy-soldiers civilised?
Would you call a country in which women are treated like
second class citizens and/or chattels civilised?


. . . or a country which executes the mentally ill, has
the highest gun
crime rate in the world, has the highest proportion of its
population in
prison (mostly ethnic minorities) of any country in the
world, produces 25%
of the world's pollution whilst having only 4% of the
world's population,
produces and exports the highest quantity of lethal
weapons in the world, is
the only country ever to have used nuclear weapons against
civilian
populations, has over 50% of its population suffering from
obesity, is
responsible for attacking more countries in the 20th
century than any other
country in the world, and has kept hundreds of foreign
nationals imprisoned
for years on end without charge, trial or representation
in cages exposed to
the elements, in violation of the Geneva Convention? A
country which
provided targeting information for Saddam Hussein's
chemical weapons in the
Iran-Iraq war, uses radioactive waste in its battlefield
munitions, and
whose covert operations have resulted in the deaths of
millions of civilians
worldwide, and the destabilisation and overthrow of such
democratically
elected heads of state as Salvador Allende of Chile? A
country whose use of
chemical and biological weapons has left the soil of
countries like Vietnam
and Cambodia poisoned for generations after its genocidal
attacks, producing
horrific birth defects to this day?

Thanks for putting it quite so eloquently.
You forgot two items:
And has not paid its subscriptions to the UN for many years
now
And has had subverted the function of the UN by bugging the
office of its Secretary General.

Franz

"Andy Hunt" wrote in message
...


Would you call a country in which female circumcision is
practiced civilised?
Would you call countries like Ruanda and Congo
civilised?
Or indeed would you call any country which has an army
consisting of boy-soldiers civilised?
Would you call a country in which women are treated like
second class citizens and/or chattels civilised?


. . . or a country which executes the mentally ill, has
the highest gun
crime rate in the world, has the highest proportion of its
population in
prison (mostly ethnic minorities) of any country in the
world, produces 25%
of the world's pollution whilst having only 4% of the
world's population,
produces and exports the highest quantity of lethal
weapons in the world, is
the only country ever to have used nuclear weapons against
civilian
populations, has over 50% of its population suffering from
obesity, is
responsible for attacking more countries in the 20th
century than any other
country in the world, and has kept hundreds of foreign
nationals imprisoned
for years on end without charge, trial or representation
in cages exposed to
the elements, in violation of the Geneva Convention? A
country which
provided targeting information for Saddam Hussein's
chemical weapons in the
Iran-Iraq war, uses radioactive waste in its battlefield
munitions, and
whose covert operations have resulted in the deaths of
millions of civilians
worldwide, and the destabilisation and overthrow of such
democratically
elected heads of state as Salvador Allende of Chile? A
country whose use of
chemical and biological weapons has left the soil of
countries like Vietnam
and Cambodia poisoned for generations after its genocidal
attacks, producing
horrific birth defects to this day?

Thanks for putting it quite so eloquently.
You forgot two items:
And has not paid its subscriptions to the UN for many years
now
And has had subverted the function of the UN by bugging the
office of its Secretary General.

Franz

On Mon, 22 Mar 2004 11:45:56 +0000 (UTC), "Franz Heymann"
wrote:

Could be . . . unlike certain countries for whom wars ARE
an asset - those
which host huge weapons manufacturing companies, like
ours, for example.

I am reasonably certain that the Swiss beat us at that game.

It seems not, Contraves have been on the verge of going bankrupt for
some time.

"David Hill" wrote in message
...
Whilst flogging away yesterday taking Dahlia cuttings, there was an item
on
Radio 4 about terrorism, and they said that all parts of the Civilised
World
were now at risk.
I just wondered ....What countries make up the Un-civilised world?


Countries where they don't propagate Dahlias?

Steve

On Mon, 22 Mar 2004 11:45:55 +0000 (UTC), "Franz Heymann"
wrote:


"martin" wrote in message
.. .
On Mon, 22 Mar 2004 08:24:49 -0000, "Andy Hunt"
wrote:

I've heard that Switzerland is quite civilised. Must be
all that Nazi gold
and general confiscated holocaust booty that enables them
to pay for their
stupendously clean and beautiful country.

It could be just that the Swiss are hardworking and have
low taxation
and haven't wasted their assets on wars for about 400
years.

In fact, they have reaped a considerable income from hiring
out people to other countries for making war.

As has the British Army in the Gulf States and elsewhere.

(I cannot remember whether it was Liechtenstein or
Switzerland from where 80 mercenaries went out to fight in a
war somewhere and 81 returned.)

not forgetting the Swiss Guards ( guards not gourds spell checker
trying to get OT) in the Vatican

On Mon, 22 Mar 2004 11:45:55 +0000 (UTC), "Franz Heymann"
wrote:


"martin" wrote in message
.. .
On Mon, 22 Mar 2004 08:24:49 -0000, "Andy Hunt"
wrote:

I've heard that Switzerland is quite civilised. Must be
all that Nazi gold
and general confiscated holocaust booty that enables them
to pay for their
stupendously clean and beautiful country.

It could be just that the Swiss are hardworking and have
low taxation
and haven't wasted their assets on wars for about 400
years.

In fact, they have reaped a considerable income from hiring
out people to other countries for making war.

As has the British Army in the Gulf States and elsewhere.

(I cannot remember whether it was Liechtenstein or
Switzerland from where 80 mercenaries went out to fight in a
war somewhere and 81 returned.)

not forgetting the Swiss Guards ( guards not gourds spell checker
trying to get OT) in the Vatican