#7 Some additional information I gleaned from Swiss media:
Merz signed a formal treaty that will empower a presumably international "Panel of Arbiters" to adjudicate "guilt" and "innocence" in this affair.
The hostages are not mentioned in the treaty, however Merz has promised their release next week.
Like the states in the US each Swiss canton has its own code of criminal law, and law enforcement is a cantonal matter.
The canton of Geneva is now trying to rally the other cantonal governments to protest this infringement of their constitutional sovereignty.
The lawyer who represented Hannibal Gaddafi's victims has stated that the Libyan government had assassinated the brother of one of the victims.
Prior to today I had not heard of that claim, so I don't know any details.
As to the moral judgment of Swiss behavior:
The Swiss (across the political spectrum) are very critical of Israel so there was some irony to Switzerland suddenly being treated like Israel by an Arab regime.
However, the Swiss got into this pinch because they did something that was right, morally and legally. Their sovereignty was challenged by one of the vilest regimes in the Arab world. They were openly threatened with a WMD attack.
The western world's reaction to this was the release of the Lockerbie, not to a "Death Panel", but to a hero's welcome in Libya.
What the Swiss showed may be realism, not cowardice. 9/11 has ended the Pax Americana and by electing Obama the American electorate has ratified that development.
Everyone has to readjust now, maybe the Swiss made some sacrifice to gain time for building up some minimal nuclear deterrent. Who knows?
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;" |
Libya has won a formal apology from Switzerland for the arrest last year of Colonel Gaddafi's son.