Switzerland invades Lichtenstein... by mistake!

Zurich, AP: 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 article 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 An 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, does not have an army.

So far goes the Associated Press article. When I first read this I LMAO. The very day that Iraqi “terrorists” post a video clip on Internet showing off a cold-blooded execution of 18 abducted security forces, and US Forces in Afghanistan shoot anything that moves after being attacked by a suicide bomber, and in the process, “help” another sixteen Afghanis on their way to the Prophet... 170 bored Swiss soldiers lose their way in the night and end up in... Liechtenstein! Did they blame the moon eclipse for lack of visibility for that? But, I guess, the eclipse was total in Belgium, not in Switzerland, right? Liechtenstein is so pathetically small that you risk driving past it even with the latest GPS. Really, you’ve got to admire the Swiss army skills. It’s hundreds of years since they fought any battles at all (as mercenaries, that was) but they are still ready to go in a heartbeat, if attacked. And they can even find Liechtenstein in total darkness! I visited Liechtenstein only once in my life. I was in the neighborhood with Chris Binkert, my super trooper Swiss Sales Manager for JMA/TI, visiting Winterthur Insurance in early nineties; since the meeting didn’t last long, we had some time to spare and Chris decided to show me Liechtenstein. There was a narrow stream I remember, not a river, and as we walked over the bridge... there we were, in beautiful Liechtenstein. Very picturesque, German style, with a cute narrow street moving up-mountain. We wasted a few minutes window-shopping, drank a coffee in a bar-restaurant at one corner of that same street and walked again out of “the country” thirty minutes later, quite stoically. It was daylight indeed, so we had no real problem finding the “country” and eventually getting out of it. Experience of a lifetime, believe me... not?