The Director, The Dictator, & The Direct Democracy

Besides being a melting pot for not only its multicultural society but also some of the finest chocolate in the World, Switzerland is possibly best known for its staunch neutrality. For years, it has maintained this neutrality, but as time has gone by, piece at a time, their neutrality is waning.

All of this asks the question, without the neutrality Switzerland is famous for, what appeal will Switzerland hold? Sure there's Swiss Army Knives, Swatches, and Toblerone, but in all honesty, people like Switzerland because of Swiss Bank Accounts and it's a place to escape to with a certain amount of anonymity.

Recently, Switzerland has been the subject of much ado in the press when Filmmaker Roman Polanski was detained in Switzerland this weekend while attending the Zurich Film Festival. Officially invited by the Swiss government to attend, Mr. Polanski was greeted by a less than hospitable welcome as he arrived in the nation's largest city.

Roman Polanski's arrest in Zurich at the weekend has caused headlines around the world and anger among many.

But legally, Switzerland's extradition agreement with the United States is clear.

The US had issued an international arrest warrant for Mr Polanski. US officials apparently pointed out that the film director would be on Swiss soil on Saturday, and asked the Swiss authorities to detain him.

Switzerland's Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf did not hesitate.

"We have an agreement with the US to apprehend those wanted for offences," she said.

"When we knew Mr Polanski was here and the US asked us to act, it was our duty to do so."

The arrest has caused an enormous backlash and garnered fierce criticism and outrage around the World, but in particular amongst the Swiss citizens.

Many Swiss - especially those who turned up at Zurich's film festival expecting to see Mr Polanski receive a lifetime achievement award - feel the police action ordered by the government was clumsy, even cruel.

"How the Swiss can invite him to an official event to receive an award, and then arrest him, I can't understand it," said one visitor. "It's ludicrous, ridiculous."

"I think it is shameful, bothering an old man like that," said another. "I am ashamed to be Swiss."

Swiss political parties on the left and the right have their doubts too.

"For me this arrest is impossible to understand," said Ueli Leuenberger of the Green Party. "He was an honoured guest in our country."

On the Swiss political front, there is much anger from both sides considering this a political ploy and is being criticized as "Switzerland's eagerness to carry out US instructions."

"It's ridiculous and just shows what happens when we try to serve foreign masters," said Mr. Toni Brunner of the Swiss People's Party.

Notwithstanding all of the criticism and disapproval, the Swiss government is still sticking to its guns on the issue stating:

"What we are talking about is the statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl, one of the most serious crimes there is," said Christophe Darbellay of the Christian Democrats.

"I think Mr Polanski should be extradited to the United States as soon as possible."

It is very clear expeditious extradition will not be the case. In mere minutes of Mr. Polanski being detained this has already become a highly politicized international incident. The US has sixty days to serve its extradition request at which time not only can Mr. Polanski appeal it in the Swiss courts, but so can France and even Switzerland itself.

It is not clear whether the critics of this arrest condone the actions of Mr. Polanski or merely despise the deeper ramifications this action holds on the international reputation and intranational fundamentals of Switzerland.

It is suspected that Mr. Polanski's lawyer will request bail due to the length of time it will take for the Swiss courts to come to a final decision in the matter; however, given Mr. Polanski's prior history of fleeing, it is questionable whether or not it will be granted.

The All New MacGyver Snacks, direct from Switzerland.

Interestingly enough, Mr. Polanski's woes occurred three days after Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi addressed the U.N. General Assembly in New York City. In his address, he criticized the United Nations for being unfair to small nations. Even more interesting, a few weeks prior to his address, the Libyan dictator submitted a proposal to the U.N. to abolish Switzerland and divide it up into three parts, giving them back to France, Germany, and Italy respectively.

Gaddafi, who randomly gives improv performances as a fruitcake, has a new found angst towards the vanilla nation after Gadaffi's son Hannibal and his wife were arrested in Switzerland for alledgedly beating two servants at their hotel. He immediately retaliated by closing all Swiss interests in Libya and withrawing more than five billion dollars from Swiss bank accounts.

Public outrage grew from chocolate-covered pistachio lovers everywhere, then they realized pistachios come from Iran, and grew unanimously silent from the subsequent embarrassment.

Although the motion was thrown out because it violates the U.N. Charter, which states that no member country can threaten the existence of another, some Swiss leaders are still concerned that Libya could use its yearlong presidency of the U.N. General Assembly, which began on Sept. 15, to keep up Gaddafi's vitriolic attacks on their country.

It's hard not to chalk all of this up to an increasing feeling of a great negative change which is saturating life and the World as we know it. It's hard not to ask, what kind of World are we living in when you can't even trust Switzerland to be neutral anymore? Quintessentially, everything does change. In general, change is random, but as time moves forward it increasingly is not for the better.

Though this seems to be, in a way, marking an end of an era, one has to question the common sense of such a policy change. With a World which seems to be gearing up for the next World War on a day-to-day basis, is it really a wise decision for Switzerland to give up its neutrality?