That was really interesting and informative, don't blame yourself for long comments am exactly the same way. Add me to Google Talk at farhad.agza@gmail.com

I really loved Switzerland and would love to have immigrated there, my brother was there for a long time working for Reuters in Zurich.

In reply to your comment:
“Tanks for your post :"

Wow thanks for your post, thats was real informative it's odd that joedirt and I basically asked the exact same time of question...

When I visited my brother in Zurich I was struck by how on time, clean and nice everything looked. Then I met his girlfriend, Rachel, who turned out to be a sharp shooter and also like you had a rifle in her closet. I was fairly young at the time so I don't remember what they hell it was but for some reason FN Minimi keeps coming back to my mind....

How does Switzerland feel letting go off it's previous role of isolationist nation? It must be an interesting question that pervades the thinking, I mean imagine if Switzerland was part of NATO during the NATO assault on Serbia, would have the Swiss send their contingent of F-18 and F-5s?. And are you serious they still use F-5 Phantoms? Training? Wasn't it first used by the US in Vietnam?

Wish I could immigrate to Switzerland, but I heard that is hard and that the Swiss are a bit xenophobic. It was odd because one time walking around Bern, I saw these kids riding on their bikes besides me, and they were talking my language (uzbek), I was totally baffled as I never see people from my country anywhere else... I have been all over the world.

In reply to your comment:
“oops, sorry. maybe i took the german meaning of rhetorical (f***** false friend words). i was thinking of a question that stands for its own and doesnt't need (want) an answer...”

That's actually a good question. the swiss have always felt kind of being isolated in europe and it's still pretty much this way. first, in the middle ages, they were a bunch of farmers who ruled themselves (instead of having nobles to do so) and gained their independence in lots of wars against their neighbours (territories of noble families such as the habsburg-dynasty) between 1300 and 1525. (imagine how popular you get, when your "army" of 1500 peasants beat 4000 well equiped knights) and later, the swiss where the only one in europe to transfer their republic in a modern democracy (they basically copied the us-constituion in 1848) while the other countries were still monarchies. there were numerous occasions where a war could have broken out (with germany). only england and the "sister republic" USA (as ben franklin once called it) supported the tiny country (30'000 sq. miles(!) so this whole "not being a part of europe, being the lone wolf", is deep in the swiss psyche and manifests itself by switzerlands hesitation to join international organisations (un not until 2002, eu no, nato no) and vice versa by the lack of understanding by many european countries for the basic democratic system in switzerland (all important issues decided by referenda, no full-time members of parliamet, no single "leaders" - mayors, governors, presidents - but only collective bodies - town council, governmental council - federal council) with that in mind and especially the experience of being rounded up by a hostile force in the 2nd world war, it's no surprise that the swiss always felt they had to be armed and well prepared. but things were worse than today. during the cold war, (where switzerland strongly opposed the soviet union but wasn't part of nato) there were 650'000 (militia)soldiers, 500+ battle tanks, 1500 m113-apc and 300+ jet fighters awaiting the red invasion. nowadays, the army, reduced to 200'000 with 300 leo2 battle tanks and 50 F-18 and 100 f-5, shrunk considerably and is desperately looking for new tasks. (note: there's a peoples initiative called "gsoa - movement for a switzerland without army", that urged for a referendum to abolish the army that was approved by 30% of voters in 2001).
but it's a long way to go until we'll be a "normal" country, i'm always reminded of this when i see my automatic rifle in the closet. (they hand out the full equipment to the soldier - every man between 20 and 35 - to be able to fully mobilise in 48 hours). strange? yes, indeed. but of course, beside that, the country offers great things: the highest quality of living (according to a study, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zurich), extensive public transport - trains running to and from everywhere from 5am to 1am, low taxes, a liberal (gay marriage approved by referenda) and in general environmental friendly policy and a society, that is able to integrate 1 million refugees only with minor problems, one of the lowest crime rates in the world and so on....probably not the worst place to live - at least as long as more money is spent on public transport than on defence. and if life gets too boring, you're in paris, berlin, rome, within 4-8 h, by train or car...

and because of the ill-gotten wealth. that's an tough point. are your refering to the banking deals with the nazis? well, that's a point. but banks are not the most important companies that contribute to our wealth (i only mention insurances, chemical industry, tourism, machine industry, computer industry - guess where the tft-lcd display technology was researched and where logitech was founded). in 1848 - see above - switzerland was the poorest country in europe. with democracy and individual (economical) freedom there came growth and by 1914 it was an industrialised country just as the rest of europe. then this rest decided to go to war, to kill each other and to end the world as it was known. switzerland took care of the refugees and feared german invasion, but not more. so our country survived relatively unharmed. then a few years later, the nazis took power in our neigbour country to the north. the first anti-nazi comments where published the same day in the zurich based german language newspaper "neue zürcher zeitung" what had the consequence, that swiss newspapers where banned in germany from then on. switzerland was also the only country in europe, where extremist parties (left and right) were NEVER in the parliament. lot's of german (jewish or not) refugees came to switzerland but most moved to the US when the war broke out. when the war broke out, suddenly there were only germany and german occupied territory around. as a country heavily depending on imports (no natural resources except water and stone), switzerland had to arrange itself with germany. the swiss were guaranteed coal and steel imports and germany got the right to ship goods in sealed trains through the country to its ally italy. the swiss struggled to produce the necessary food that was needed. football stadiums, parks and gardens were used to plant potatoes. 20'000 bunkers and 10'000 km of anti tank walls were built because the only question in peoples minds was when the germans invade, not if. german air force planes flew into swiss airspace to provoke airfights. (ironically, the swiss shot down several of them). but as it was pointed out in recent years, other things happened. a super dutifully swiss bureaucrat suggested the "j" stamp in german passports for jewish citizens! a bunch of right wing politicians said "the boat is full", meaning that no more refugees should be allowed to cross borders. and banks (independent companies) made business with slaughters. but what did the government do? they tried their best to keep switzerland out of the war without giving up freedom and democracy - there was no censorship - facing the immense problem of imports. and the people? german speaking swiss (60%) are traditionally anti-german, french speaking (30%) saw the fate of france and the italian speaking strongly opposed the italian fascists as well - also because fascists both in italy and germany always kind of pointed out that the swiss who spoke their language should actually be part of their respective "reichs". and there were not at least brave individuals, such as border-guards who - risking their own lives - helped refugees whether jews, gypsies or socialists cross the border "illegally". after the war, sure, switzerland was the only country whose cities were not destroyed. and that gave us a advance in the economical recovery. but i think, much more than this cruel examples of immoral, disgusting and greedy behaviour, the fact that switzerland is a very stable country with grass-root-democracy and a highly skilled labour force (in minimum speaking 3 languages, 2 of the country and english) as well as its geographical position in the middle of europe are responsible for the economical success. of course, we should never forget what happened, and we must keep on studying our past, that such things will never happen again. but i think thats more or less true for every country or society....

sorry 'bout the much too long answer. hope your question was not a rhetorical one...