March 3, 2007

FOXNews.com - Swiss Troops Accidentally Invade Liechtenstein - International News | News of the World | Middle East News | Europe News

Too funny... You guys might notice its about half serious here... I love weird stuff. Liechtenstien is one of the smallest countries in the world. They have no army and they struggle each year to get up enough people for a national soccer team...

Josh

From WIKIPEDIA:

The Principality of Liechtenstein (German: Fürstentum Liechtenstein) is a very small, doubly-landlocked country in Central Europe, bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east. Mountainous, it is a winter sports resort, although it is perhaps best known as a tax haven. Despite this, it is not heavily urbanized (in the way that the Principality of Monaco and Gibraltar are). Many cultivated fields and little farms characterize its landscape both in the north (Oberland) and in the south (Unterland). Not only is it the smallest German-speaking country in the world, but also it is the only German-speaking country besides Luxembourg to have a Royal head of state.




FOXNews.com - Swiss Troops Accidentally Invade Liechtenstein - International News News of the World Middle East News Europe News:

"ZURICH, Switzerland — What began as a routine training exercise almost ended in an embarrassing diplomatic incident after a company of Swiss soldiers got lost at night and marched into neighboring Liechtenstein.
According to Swiss daily Blick, the 170 infantry soldiers from the neutral country wandered more than a mile across an unmarked border into the tiny principality early Thursday before realizing their mistake and turning back.
A spokesman for the Swiss army confirmed the story, but said that there were unlikely to be any serious repercussions for the mistaken invasion.
'We've spoken to the authorities in Liechtenstein and it's not a problem,' Daniel Reist told The Associated Press on Friday.
Officials in Liechtenstein also played down the incident.
Interior Ministry spokesman Markus Amman said nobody in Liechtenstein had even noticed the soldiers, who were carrying assault rifles but no ammunition. 'It's not like they stormed over here with attack helicopters or something,' he said.
Liechtenstein, which has about 34,000 inhabitants and is slightly smaller than Washington, D.C., does not have an army."

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