The forgotten underground world of Swiss bunkers
swissinfo.ch
The forgotten underground world of Swiss bunkers
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Re: The forgotten underground world of Swiss bunkers
#2The swiss are an inspiration.
I hope that the swiss spirit is not submerged in the ever-rising tide of internationalism.
Re: The forgotten underground world of Swiss bunkers
#3The swiss are an inspiration. I hope that the swiss spirit is not submerged in the ever-rising tide of internationalism.
Swiss bank secrecy is in part what allows criminals and dictators around the world to ruin and enslave entire nations for money.
Re: The forgotten underground world of Swiss bunkers
#4The swiss are an inspiration. I hope that the swiss spirit is not submerged in the ever-rising tide of internationalism.
Swiss bank secrecy is in part what allows criminals and dictators around the world to ruin and enslave entire nations for money.
Is that still the case? I thought Swiss secrecy isn't what it used to be.
Anyway, some people would argue that strong privacy protections are a good thing even if they help bad guys.
Re: The forgotten underground world of Swiss bunkers
#5The swiss are an inspiration. I hope that the swiss spirit is not submerged in the ever-rising tide of internationalism.
Swiss bank secrecy is in part what allows criminals and dictators around the world to ruin and enslave entire nations for money.
You could make the same invalid argument for encryption.
Re: The forgotten underground world of Swiss bunkers
#6The swiss are an inspiration. I hope that the swiss spirit is not submerged in the ever-rising tide of internationalism.
Swiss bank secrecy is in part what allows criminals and dictators around the world to ruin and enslave entire nations for money.
As someone who has worked at a Swiss bank: This might have applied a couple of decades ago. Especially in the last decade, Swiss banks introduced rules to overcome this problem with international customers. Smaller banks started to turn down US customers right away (like the one I worked at). It has become dangerous for bank employees and banks themselves to support criminals like you mention. There is zero tolerance for money laundering. While it is far from perfect, the financial sector has matured in that regard.
Re: The forgotten underground world of Swiss bunkers
#7This one in Stockholm, Sweden is also sized for 20k people. It also predated the Swiss one by about 20 years. (!)
https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katarinabergets_skyddsrum
Google translate link: https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=sv&tl=en&js=y&prev...
In a typical Swedish utilitarian way it was designed with two uses in mind:
a) peace-time: parking cars
b) war-time: securing people
Here's a sketch: http://hjak.se/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/kbgt-ritn.jpg
Re: The forgotten underground world of Swiss bunkers
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
Swiss bank secrecy is in part what allows criminals and dictators around the world to ruin and enslave entire nations for money.
You could make the same invalid argument for encryption.
No you can't, encryption doesn't have awareness or morals.
The Swiss made their fortune on the misfortune of others from Nazi gold to modern dictators they have an entire industry around cleaning effectively blood money.
Re: The forgotten underground world of Swiss bunkers
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
Swiss bank secrecy is in part what allows criminals and dictators around the world to ruin and enslave entire nations for money.
As someone who has worked at a Swiss bank: This might have applied a couple of decades ago. Especially in the last decade, Swiss banks introduced rules to overcome this problem with international customers. Smaller banks started to turn down US customers right away (like the one I worked at). It has become dangerous for bank employees and banks themselves to support criminals like you mention. There is zero tolerance…
To my knowledge, these rules came from intense diplomatic pressure from the US, not from some internal realization that it wasn't ethical. I wouldn't be at all shocked if subtler approaches to dealing with tainted money have been adopted.
Re: The forgotten underground world of Swiss bunkers
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
Swiss bank secrecy is in part what allows criminals and dictators around the world to ruin and enslave entire nations for money.
As someone who has worked at a Swiss bank: This might have applied a couple of decades ago. Especially in the last decade, Swiss banks introduced rules to overcome this problem with international customers. Smaller banks started to turn down US customers right away (like the one I worked at). It has become dangerous for bank employees and banks themselves to support criminals like you mention. There is zero tolerance…
What about all the damage that has been done?
Indian politicians used it for decades to hide their money
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_black_money#Black_money...