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Qaddafi proposes abolishing Switzerland

A UN spokesman tells the Swiss News Agency that Libya submitted a proposal to the General Assembly calling for the dissolution of Switzerland last month. The proposal was never accepted or circulated because the U.N. Charter prohibits countries from threatening the existance of other member states. In case you hadn’t gotten the message, Qaddafi really ...

581350_090904_qaddafi2.jpg
581350_090904_qaddafi2.jpg
ROME - JUNE 10: Libya's leader Muammar Gaddafi attends a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi at Villa Madama on June 10, 2009 in Rome, Italy. Gaddafi, making his first visit to Italy arrived at the head of a 300-strong delegation to strengthen ties between Libya and Italy. (Photo by Franco Origlia/Getty Images)

A UN spokesman tells the Swiss News Agency that Libya submitted a proposal to the General Assembly calling for the dissolution of Switzerland last month. The proposal was never accepted or circulated because the U.N. Charter prohibits countries from threatening the existance of other member states.

In case you hadn't gotten the message, Qaddafi really hates Switzerland:

Gaddafi first mentioned the idea of dismemberment during the G8 summit in Italy in July. Switzerland "is a world mafia and not a state", he said, adding that it was "formed of an Italian community that should return to Italy, another German community that should return to Germany, and a third French community that should return to France".

A UN spokesman tells the Swiss News Agency that Libya submitted a proposal to the General Assembly calling for the dissolution of Switzerland last month. The proposal was never accepted or circulated because the U.N. Charter prohibits countries from threatening the existance of other member states.

In case you hadn’t gotten the message, Qaddafi really hates Switzerland:

Gaddafi first mentioned the idea of dismemberment during the G8 summit in Italy in July. Switzerland “is a world mafia and not a state”, he said, adding that it was “formed of an Italian community that should return to Italy, another German community that should return to Germany, and a third French community that should return to France”.

The source of the Libya-Switzerland beef is an incident last year involving Qaddafi’s ne’er-do-well son Hannibal. (See more about him in our list of the World’s Worst Sons.)The young Qaddafi was arrested at a hotel in Geneva for aggravated assault on two of his servants. His father responded by lodging a formal diplomatic complaint, expelling Swiss diplomats, and shutting down Swiss-owned businesses in Libya. 

Franco Origlia/Getty Images)

Joshua Keating was an associate editor at Foreign Policy  Twitter: @joshuakeating

Tag: United Nations

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