Aqua Vita
Seldwylereien II
JUSTICE, PIRATE-STYLE
Sternstunden & Eigentore
Swiss Bankers - & Tax Laws - Evolve
QI, BSI, SWIFT and other foot-shootings
Qui protège "les intérêts essentiels" de la Suisse?
Revisiting Das Kapital while some dance on the Titanic
TEURE SELDWYLEREIEN oder: Der Fluch der bösen Tat
Zum Bilateralen Vertragsnetz der Schweiz  (annotiertes Teilverzeichnis)
QUELQUES  TRAITES  D'ACTUALITE CONCLUS PAR LA FRANCE
Was ist aus dem "begründeten Verdacht" & andern Rechtshilfe-Voraussetzungen
geworden, welche im CH/USA Rechtshilfevertrag von 1973 festgeschrieben worden sind?

28 Apr 08    Pariah Diplomacy, NYT, Jimmy Carter, comment
28 Apr 08    On ex-President Carter's parallel diplomacy, NYT, comment
27 Mar 08   "Some call it hot pursuit of shareholder value, others compare it to sucking the seal's life-sustaining fat."
12 Oct 07   Observations on current Turkish-Iraqi border issues
21 Feb 07   War probability: ~60%, doomsday clock was recently advanced to 5 min to 12pm
21 Jan 07   Reflections & questions on Iraqi's common denominators
9 Jan 07   On Israel's alleged plans to nuke Iran: Out-of-the-box thinking is called for!
1 Jan 07   Thinking Things Over
13 Dec 06   "It takes only a few good men to do nothing for evil to succeed"
5 Oct 06   Innocent Canadian Citizen Maher Arar's rendition to Syria by way of Swiss airspace?
27 Sep 06   How not to react to US pressures on Bank Secrecy, Iran, etc.
8 Sep 06 From Hijacked Anti-Terrorism Laws to Promoting Individual Responsibility
28.Aug 06   Schweizer Neutralitäts-Beiträge, z.B. im Nahen Osten & im UNO-Sicherheitsrat
21. Aug 06   Schweizer Soldaten im Libanon? Ja, aber nur als diplomatischer & politischer Katalysator
1 Aug 06   When an almost existential myth like invincibility crumbles: is the Masada experience foreboding?
4 July 06  QI, BSI, SWIFT and other foot-shootings
5.Juni 06  Keine Guten Dienste zum Atomsperrvertrags-Fiasko?
11.Jan. 06  WAK entgleist Bankgeheimnis-Initiativen mit lex helvetica - ohne Banken?
4.Jan. 06  Aufnahme des Bankgeheimnisses in der Verfassung? Weniger wäre mehr!
3.Jan. 06  Gold-Vorstösse im Parlament
13.Dez 05  Kein Vermögensarrest bei Verdacht von diplomatischer Immunität ohne vorausgegangene EDA-Zustimmung!
13.Dez 05  Überreizung durch degressive Steuermodelle
20.Nov 05  Offener Brief aus Harvard, Laßt die Universitäten endlich in Ruhe!
16 Nov 05  The profit motive may be universal but virtue is not
7 Nov 05  Mission creep at OECD - the incarnation of bureaucratic lawmaking is no fatality!
7.Okt 05  Confoederatio Europae
7.Okt. 05  Verletzung der Menschenrechte unter UNO-Schutz mit Beihilfe der Schweiz? Interpellation 05.3697
29.Sep 05  Wenn wir die Gesetzgebung Steuerfahndern überlassen ...
25 Sep 05  More Light & Less Flat-Earth Missionaries! - NPT observations
9 août 05  Nettoyer le rétroviseur est plus utile que sombrer avec des reflexes de gabelous
     mais Berne, en accord avec Paris et Bruxelles, a d'autres agéndas!
14 June 05  QUO VADIS EUROPA HELVETICA?
    De-Rusting and Revving-Up the Wheel - or Re-Inventing It?
30 mai 05  GENEVE ET LES ZONES FRANCHES ENVIRONNANTES -
    extraits d'un inventaire des zones franches en Europe
27.März 05  Remedur
20.März 05  Initiative
30 Jan 05  Drifting from freedom
1.Jan 05  Vom Bilateralen-GAU zur Wohlstands-Erhaltung
29 Dec 04  Si vis pacem para bellum!
28.Okt 04  Die Gegenrechtsprüfung als Etappe zum Arrest fremder Staatsvermögen
10 Sep 04  War on Economic Crime: Qualitative Cost-Benefit Considerations
10 Sep 04  The Iconoclast's Ten Economic Commandments
29.Aug 04  Ergänzungsvorschläge zur Ausländer-Gesetzesnovelle AuG
12.Aug 04  Freundschafts-, Handels- & Niederlassungs-Verträge vs. Verwaltungsabkommen:
     Verfassungsmässige Rechtsetzung, Rechtspraxis und Rechtsprechung oder
        opportunistische Praxis, Rechtsprechung und/oder rückgratlose Rechtsetzung?
8.Aug 04  Hintergrund-Erwägungen zur Ausländer-Gesetzesnovelle AuG und zur Revision des Asylgesetzes AsylG
1 août 04  Est-ce que le Procureur peut convertir une amende d’ordre en arrêts?
4 Feb 04  BSI/FBC Saga: Not Exactly Reassuring
12 Jan 04  Untangling Mideastern Gridlocks
1.Jan 04  "Wegweiser" - Anregungen zum Amtsantritt der Bundesräte Blocher und Merz
15 Oct 03  FDA anti-bioterrorism regulations on „food for humans and other animals" -
    or: how to choke off more of the remaining productive forces by the FDA‘s Tower of Babel,
    as inspired by G.B. Shaw’s Animal Farm and George Orwell’s 1984
28.Aug 03  MEMO zur Bewirkung einer hilfreicheren Praxis i.S. Niederlassungsverträge
2 July 03  AKTIVE STERBEHILFE FÜR DEN FINANZPLATZ SCHWEIZ
12 Nov 02  ICONOCLAST on POST-9/11
13 déc 00  un Conseiller national indigné par l'ABS / ein SBVg-erschütterter Nationalrat
6 Dec 99  ICONOCLAST  ON WEALTH  PRIVACY – Project Billiard
6 déc 99  La loi doit mieux soutenir la propriété privée, anonyme et non divulgée, AGEFI
7 Oct 99  ICONOCLAST ON IRAQ
26 June 99  Waking Up to the OECD
7 June 99  Kosovo with or without Metohija?
28 April 99  Draft Agreement on Kosovo and Metohija
9 March 99  Towards Regaining Stability and Dignity in the Cradle of Europe
20 Feb 99  Golden Rules on Y2K Immunization - Continuity Recommendations
13 Jan 99  *S*L*M*: Common Linguistic, Cultural and Religious Roots
1 July 98  Y2K Immunization / Motion Schmid
30 avril 98  LEX AMERICANA - l'Iconoclast observe
21 mars 98  "bons offices" d'une certaine presse en faveur de l'UBS
20.März 98  UBS-GV-Kritik im Tages-Anzeiger
20 March 98  UBS/SBC Merger
24 Jan 98  Phone Tapping
1.Jan 98  SASEA-(Un)Fall
1 Jan 98  Active Investor Protection
Jan 98  Outline of an Emerging Solution
Jan 98  On Some Loose Ends of the Gulf Conflict
Jan 98  On Parallel Diplomacy
Jan 93  On Humanitarian Monopolists
6 April 92  UN Resolution 688: A Mandate for "Exceptional Responses"
28 Feb 92  Indicators for a Revised, Active Kurd Policy
11 June 91  On the Ideal Nation
March 68  On the Economic Implications of the Proposed Nonproliferation Treaty

In view of the Iraqi Government's outright rejection of the UN Security Council Resolution 688, and in light of its persistent practices which are seen to be compatible neither with humanitarian law nor with Iraq's statutory and other international obligations, the Office of the UN Secretary General's Executive Delegate is looking into the "interesting possibilities" outlined by Kurdish leader Sardar Pishdare, has taken note of his plan (2) "to demonstrate the technical feasibility of making these wells [located in Kurdish-controlled Iraq North of the 36th parallel] produce, and of applying the proceeds to Iraq's humanitarian needs" and is awaiting "the technical feasibility results" (letter of Nov. 19, 1991).

NOTE: Apparently in response to this non-military enforcement of humanitarian UN Resolution 706, the Iraqi Petroleum Minister Oussama al-Hitti, at a Baghdad press conference December 25, 1991, revealed the Iraqi government's conditional willingness to consider applying this "non-applicable" - and thus repeatedly rejected - key UN Resolution 706; nevertheless, he wanted it to be re-negociated by the Iraqi Foreign Minister in line with Iraqi policy. Yet, a corresponding February meeting with UN officials in Vienna was called off unexplained by Iraq.
...

The sudden collapse of Communist dogmas, institutions and networks comes at an unexpected moment in history on top of basic questionings and re-orientations notably among Muslims living in societies which, due to economic or social gradients, have not been noted for their stability. Like in the case of Algeria and some former USSR republics, the free flow of things might thus aggravate already volatile political, economic and social conditions - to the point of entirely uncontrollable developments possibly affecting the basic regional setup and, for some years at least, Western oil supply interests. The clear-sighted search for and the determined promotion of a generally and mutually stabilizing catalyst for the Mideast is thus urgently called for.

NOTE: Traditionally pragmatic, open and Western-friendly Muslims, the Kurds with their strong European roots, in most relevant ways, would seem to avail themselves best for this key rôle, even from the point of view of their Iranian, Turkish and Arab neighbors. The powers that be might thus want to consider supporting the above-mentioned "UN feasibility study" regardless of what actions and inactions the Iraqi Government may pursue ... and to seek inspiration from the somewhat analoguous case of Switzerland where, in 1815, the powers that were agreed to what is still valid and mutually beneficial (3).

_______________

(1)    "Dominent Middle East oil reserves critically important to world supply" Oil & Gas Journal, 9/23/91, p.62
(2)     Indications are that all Kurdish tribes and leaders (Massoud Barzani, Ali Homam Ghazi, Jalal Talabani, etc.) support both this plan and Sardar Pishdare's leadership for its development and execution.
(3)    Austria, France, Great Britain, Prussia, Russia, at the Paris Congress on November 20, 1815, adopted the time-tested Swiss neutrality formula devised by Charles Pictet-de Rochemont:

"The neutrality and inviolability of Switzerland and its independence of all foreign influences are in the true interests of the politics of Europe as a whole." (reproduced in: CPJI 1930, C 17-1 II, p.1191)

This paper (for full text click here) reviews UN Security Council resolution 688 (1991) in light of actual conditions and foreseeable needs in Iraq. The effects of, and the options concerning the Memorandum of Understanding are discussed. Also, the conditions under which Iraq acquired independence on 3 October 1932 (date of termination of Britain's Mandate and Iraq's admission to the League of Nations) are reviewed with particular regard to the people of the Mosul Vilayet. Iraq's violations of these "obligations of international concern" open the way to appropriate solutions reflecting Iraq's limited sovereignty.

THE SOLUTION: Baghdad-independent alternative or complementary legal instruments to those now in place, ie. 688 and the MOU. The latter will run out automatically 30 June 1992. It should not be prorogated, even if Baghdad deigns to extend it, lest the people it is designed to protect are to be left without effective protection and minimum human rights standards, and the world community be subjected to still further humiliations and complications. Such new legal instruments may consist of corresponding Security Council texts which may be making creative use of existing texts, such as the UN Statute on Trust Territories, in combination with the still valid IRAQI DECLARATION of 30 May 1932. And they may be brought to bear in the sense of the "exceptional response" recommended by the Special Rapporteur of the UN Human Rights Commission. That Commission, on 5 March 1992, with 35 votes for and Iraq's vote against, adopted a resolution condemning human rights abuses in Iraq, and requesting its Special Rapporteur "to develop further his recommendation for an exceptional response" notably to the policies of "genocide-type" treatment of the Kurdish people by the Iraqi authorities. Measures short of formally withdrawing recognition from the present Iraqi Government: enforcing international minority rights and protection guarantees with Human Rights Monitors, National Sponsorship for Non-Self-Governing Territories, Trusteeship System, UN troops, Neutralized Zones, etc; Security Council review of the conditions under which Iraq gained independence, under which the League of Nations attached the Mosul Vilayet (northern region) to Iraq rather than to Turkey, and under which Iraqi oil property rights were - or were not legally - acquired by the State of Iraq; etc.
..
NOTES

    (1)      The Iraqi Government has thus been allowed to encroach on the prerogatives of UN officials in Baghdad and the field who, in the execution of their tasks, now depend to an unhealthy degree on the goodwill of Iraqi officials. Some of the adverse effects of this state of affairs have been described lucidly by David HIRST in The Guardian (e.g. "Kurds stuck in UN Mud", 11 December 1991), and by Paul KORING in a series of articles of The Globe and Mail (e.g. February 12: "Mass graves reflect Hussein's horror", February 14: "Once-mighty protective shield shrinks", February 15: "Catastrophe feared after UN pulls out").
    (2)      see notably the Report of the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights (S/23685, 18 February 1992), and the "FURTHER REPORT OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL ON THE STATUS OF COMPLIANCE BY IRAQ WITH THE OBLIGATIONS PLACED UPON IT UNDER CERTAIN OF THE SECURITY COUNCIL RESOLUTIONS" (S/23687, 7 March 1992).

Editor's Note

Granted, there is good reason for the texts [the ICRC's] Dr. Sassoli was asked to play up. Granted every private initiative risks to succede before established apparatus rev up. Which can explain the intense unhappiness of some officials who may see themselves as gardians if not of the Holy Grail then of some monopoly in humanitarian affairs. That is what happened in the Falklands/Malvinas conflict, the hostage affairs in Teheran, Kuwait/Baghdad and, most recently again, in Afghanistan and Peru.  What is less understandable, what is saddening and less than acceptable - and what the public and their elected representatives grow less and less tolerant about with correspondingly reduced willingness to support solidarity projects - is that the real objectives of all humanitarian efforts thus become overshadowed, if not jeopardized, by petty turf objectives, with the victims additionally victimized at the hands of their purported saviors. That's what happened with our initiative for helping some Palestinian deportees, with our St.Moritz meeting and with related efforts. They were all brought to nought, not least with penal threats against the organizers who were taken by surprise by the long arms of some purported monopoly holders and their allies in many quarters. In a noted silent protest, a one-to-one reproduction of Andy Warhol's "Last Supper" was thus exhibited prominently over the frozen Lake of St.Moritz during January 1993 - as a silent message for the well-fed to be reminded of their less fortunate fellow human beings.
...

ICONOCLAST,  Editor's Introduction

Only future generations of historians can tell whether the private Swiss-based research group CORUM and its complement on the political scene, the Good Offices Group of European Lawmakers, have been more than generators of unfulfilled hopes.  Whether it was all justified, i.e. the attention arosen by their work (e.g. nuclear disarmament negotiators in the Kremlin in 1968 had sought to vilifiy what made the rounds then as the "red poison in green covers"), the probably unintended honor of being branded "diplomatic mercenaries" by some bad-tempered diplomats, and the UN's obliging honor to be formally associated with spies and modern Robin Hoods.  Whether, in retrospect, their often seemingly lost-cause efforts amounted to more than a waste of time and of scarce resources.  And, in the event, to what degree they have in fact served their designed purpose.

To be sure - and in as much as, in those functions, the editor was able to help it and was not undercut from without or from within - the objective has always been to help provide vision and guidance in an era of increasing confusion, to offer discrete, rapid and reliable documentary and intellectual muscle for conflict analysis and non-governmental services, and to avail informal political testing grounds for ideas aimed at avoiding or, as the case may be, obtaining a negotiated settlement of political conflicts of an international nature.

Having been involved in both groups, the editor prefers to let the record speak for itself.  And to concentrate his comments on current and foreseeable headaches and on ideas, elements and pathways which, conceivably, might contribute to avoid - if at all possible and desirable ⁽¹⁾ - the currently re-appearing logique de guerre particularly in the Mideastern and the European theatre.

After completion of our ground-breaking research on political and economic implications of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty ⁽²⁾ - which was as much vilified in Moscow, Washington and Berne as it was appreciated in Brazilia, Delhi, Paris, Teheran and elsewhere - we had been invited to lend our omni-directional expertise notably in the Teheran hostage crises of 1979/1981 and in the Falklands/Malvinas conflict.  An informal network of lawmakers from numerous countries thus availed itself for corresponding services when Iraq, on 2 August 1990, had invaded Kuwait and prevented thousands of stranded foreign nationals to leave either Iraq or Kuwait.  As director of CORUM and long-time adviser to Swiss and foreign parliamentarians, the editor became directly involved in those hostage-release and related efforts.  In turn, he was personally entrusted with minority protection missions for Northern Iraq and Yugoslavia, with good offices mandates in the constitutional crises in Algeria and the hostage affairs in Kashmir, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Afghanistan and Peru, and with the representation of the International Committee for European Security and Cooperation ICESC (non-governmental organization in consultative status with ECOSOC and UNESCO).

Some of these outgrowths have left their traces in statements made by representatives of both governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to various UN bodies - from working groups over the International Court of Justice up to the UN Security Council.  Those most relevant to currently still unresolved issues - Algeria, Baltic minorities, hostage-takings (e.g. in Kashmir), Iraq, Yugoslavia, etc. - find reflection in the present record of communications, with some documents being published also in the official UN collection (UN codes: E/CN.4/Sub.2/1992/NGO/27; E/CN.4/Sub.2/1993/NGO/27; E/CN.4/Sub.2/1993/NGO/29; E/CN.4/1994/NGO/48; E/CN.4/1994/NGO/54; E/CN.4/Sub.2/1995/NGO/27; E/CN.4/1995/NGO/47; E/CN.4/1995/NGO/51; E/CN.4/1995/NGO/52).

Covering a wide spectrum in the field some call paradiplomacy, related de-classified communications eventually may form the core and central archive of this netsite (for the time being, the complete index on the Mosul Vilayet subject will be maintained at the web address: http://www.solami.com/mvcindex.htm, while on the subject of ex-Yugoslavia it will be accessible at: http://www.solami.com/93-29.html).  Unavoidably, the subjects thus covered often overlap and with each reader having his own agenda, a generally useful classification may here be found only in a strictly chronological order.  Beyond that, the extensive name and subjects indexes should cover related deficiencies, as may the wonders of the net, e.g. fine-tuned hyperlinks.

The following communications are focussed on the Mosul Vilayet and cover the period of 1990 to 1998.  As in the case of other sections of this site, most of its elements have been selected for their value to shed additional light on its central subjects, i.e. mankind's common roots in monotheism and effective minority protection as universally agreeable vehicles for unlocking the increasingly evident - and dangerous - gridlocks in the Middle East, the Balkans and elsewhere, and for opening pathways towards mutually beneficial New Horizons, not least for Jerusalem.  Of course, the relevancy of these elements is not always apparent to "instant historians", and it will become so to the untrained naked eye only when looked at from a certain time distance and when considering parallel developments which may have no obvious links.  Moreover, even people in highest places - some say those even more so than others - are not always at ease with ideas running against the grain and the party line but who, as history shows abundantly, are often the only truly helpful ones.  Granted, in very tight situations it takes indeed an independent, visionary and bold mind to think and act unswervingly in line with the insights which can be gained from the universally applicable philosophy underlying our logo (i.e. the puzzle of the square with nine stars the solution to which requires you to break out of worn-out tracks by drawing one line beyond the square into the surrounding space and by turning around out there in order to cut across two stars).

Thus, together with these additional explanations, we have now added these further elements.  Sometimes despite the editor's reservations.  The texts originating from third persons have been integrated notably for reasons of comity, balance or fairness.  In so doing, the editor implies neither his agreement with or support of the statements thus made by others, nor does he otherwise engage his responsibility.  His sole objective is to avail this unique communication platform for documents and statements he considers to be useful and to advance the debate - if possible without adding to the confusion and complication of things, and hopefully for helping along certain developments which may benefit from such plugs.

All this being said, and as the rising sound of war drums pierces through the cold winter nights even this far away from its origin, the editor cannot but deplore the - only perhaps inevitable - neglect on all sides of practical, reasonable and dignified pathways out of the current mess in the Middle East and in the very cradle of Europe.  E.g. it appears that the leadership of thePalestinians never seriously considered - or perhaps was not even informed by their subordinates and friends about - some efforts made on their behalf in 1990 and 1992, and advices transmitted to them in 1992, 1993, 1994, 2006:

1. explore fall-back positions and look out for opportunities for strengthening your people's economic fundament independently of the goodwill of your mostly ephemeral benefactors;

2. study carefully the lessons to be drawn from the demise of the former Soviet Union whose leaders actively deprived their enemy of an enemy and thus lived to see their enemy disappear and disintegrate under its own weight, and watch out for Y2K;and

3. dig out your deepest cultural and other roots, analyse them thoroughly, and rid your people of all burdens, traditions and structures which are neither helpful nor in line with your - probably - monotheistic Egyptian roots.

To this effect, principled men and women of goodwill anywhere are solicited to do all that is in their power.  Of course, even with the best of intentions and the most powerful forces at hand, the reverse side of Victor Hugo's medal still applies: "no force is strong enough to push through an idea whose time has not come!"  Yet, "corriger la fortune" is no French monopoly, and anyway, the test of the pudding lies in its eating.  Indeed, and particularly in a moment like this the lithmus test of real leadership cannot pass he who uses his muscles divorced from his dignity, his moral fibres and his brainpower, he who uses them for selfish purposes while neglecting historic opportunities to help others, and he who in words and deeds doesn't recognize himself as being no more than a channel of and a servant to our all One God.

______________________

(1)    From almost all socially, culturally, economically and politically relevant points of view, and in the absence of genuine substitutes for the defining functions of war, peace may be something less than desirable.  This is the seemingly preposterous yet well researched and defended conclusion of the more-than-ever re-readable study commissioned by President John F. Kennedy: Leonard C. Lewin (editor), "IRON MOUNTAIN REPORT - On the Desirability and Feasibility of Peace", Dial Press New York, 1967 (traduction française: "La Paix Condamnée", Calman-Lévy, Paris 1968; deutsche Übersetzung: "Verdammter Friede", Econ, 1968).
(2) A.Keller, H.Bolliger, B.Kalff, "On the Economic Implications of the Non-Proliferation Treaty", Revue de Droit International, de Sciences Diplomatiques et Economiques (International Law Review, Sottile), I, 1968:  this research report of 47 pages, bound with a green cover, was also very acidly commented on by Radio Moscow in early 1968) ;  Anton Keller, Paul Bähr, Peter B.Kalff, "The Nonproliferation Treaty in Light of Nuclear Energy Developments", Revue de Droit International, de Sciences Diplomatiques et Economiques, III, 1975.  The editor acknowledges the numerous contributions made to these and related papers by Elizabeth Young and Lord Kennet.

ICONOCLAST,  Editor's introduction

     Eventually, the latest Gulf conflict - on the surface at least - was "resolved". The Iraqi troops were forced out of Kuwait and the war had been stopped - albeit by politicians and not when the generals were satisfied. Which is the way it is supposed to be when democracies go to war. Of course, the President of the United States may also have wanted to be remembered as the winner of the 100 hours war. For most of the world, it was a spectacle, an orgy of "smart bombs" - and an unprecedented deception. With its "life coverage", CNN provided what millions across the world watched in awe, i.e. a demonstration of 21^st century "clean" war technologies which supposedly avoid body bags - for one's own camp and for the moment that is. To be sure, there is no substitute for genuine leadership. Gimmicks of "no-casualty" strategies, methods and materiel are just that. And as professional errors and shortcomings can be hidden only in the make-believe world spies are used to, the victor of the 100 hours war was also lucky, sort of: he was merely not re-elected and that spared him a likely impeachment procedure. For while he succeeded admirably in mounting and leading history's biggest war coalition and Armada against a modern Nebuchadnezzar, the jury is still out on why he failed to utilize the formidable instruments at his disposal to keep an effective check on this modern interpret of ancient forms of violence who continues to upset regional peace and security.

     The story behind that failure is only now coming to light, at least partially. It is a story told by Gulf war veterans, their families and friends (incidently: why is it that French and Czech Gulf war veterans do not seem to be suffering from the conditions which reportedly have already gained well over half of their British and American comrades?). It is a story told by scientists who checked the records of the development, procurement, export and use of radiological, biological and chemical weapons or parts thereof, as well as of anti-dotes; they begun to worry where all this may lead to, in the former war theater no less than in neighboring countries and back home. And it is a story which, with ever-growing impact, is made to unfold by politicians who have felt obliged to question the bureacrats' official answers, their brief, related policies and on-going actions and inactions. U.S. Senator Don Riegle chaired extensive hearings on the subject and he is on record for saying:

     "These Department of Defense explanations are inconsistent with the facts as related by the soldiers who were present, and with official government documents prepared by those who were present and with experts who have examined the facts. ... To my mind, there is no more serious crime than an official military cover-up of facts that could prevent more effective diagnosis and treatment of sick U.S. veterans." (http://mediafilter.org/MFF/CAQ/caq53.gws.html, http://www.chronicillnet.org/PGWS )

Accordingly, the attentive discerning reader may thus come to more enlightened insights and conclusions when taking into consideration some of the apparently unrelated elements developed elsewhere on a parallel site - e.g. SASEA bancruptcy, EMRK-Beschwerde, Vorwort zum politischen Hintergrund des SASEA-Konkurses. All of which is to put things into perspective and is by no means intended to say that the world, in this writer's opinion, should have caved in to blackmail - wherever it came from.

     So, the thousands of Baghdad's hostages had finally been released, apparently without the undignified discriminating merchandising initially proposed and carried out by some who let themselves be guided by fear. The war was over and out of the headlines. Not really put to rest were its undercurrents - i.e. essentially the ethnic, religious, language and nationalistic wounds which have been left festering for generations since the breakup of the Ottoman Empire, including the neglected minority rights of the Alewites, Armenians, Assyrians, Christians, Jews, Kurds, Palestinians and Turkomans. They had been the subject of particular attention of our research group and its lawmaker friends in Europe and elsewhere. But there were many hurdles for continuing the related research - or to seek to further develop, test and eventually implement the results obtained so far. And as a new war - in Yugoslavia - had broken out, since June 1991 our energies were essentially concentrated on that front. For we had been mandated in that and other contexts to bring to bear our experience and whatever talents we were able to muster (UN documents: E/CN.4/Sub.2/1992/NGO/27: E/CN.4/Sub.2/1993/NGO/27; E/CN.4/Sub.2/1993/NGO/29; E/CN.4/1994/NGO/54; E/CN.4/1995/NGO/47; E/CN.4/1995/NGO/51; E/CN.4/Sub.2/1995/NGO/27).

Apparently, our once urgently solicited behind-the-scenes non-governmental efforts to help to lastingly and peacefully resolve the Iraq/Kuwait conflict had drawn more attention in U.S. governmental circles than the key beneficiaries of our labors cared to show appreciation. Once the Iraqi army was driven out of Kuwait, its Representative in Geneva had amicably reminded us of how not to help a people in need. Thus additionally reluctant to provide professional services for the beauty of the art, we were all but favorably inclined to lend a helping hand when two American colleagues, Patrick Martin and Philip Wainwright, brought an exiled Kurdish leader [Mr.Sardar Pishdare] into contact with the editor in May 1991. Here again, the jury is still out on whether or not we should have followed our gut reaction.
 

Editor's Note -  January 1998

Mr. Pishdare wasn't convincing when, in the summer of 1991, he first defined his objective at the UN in Geneva, i.e. to speak - "if only for five minutes" - at the UN Commission on Human Rights. Speaking to any UN audience - and being filmed - is often seen by inexperienced actual or future leaders from under-represented, discriminated or disinherited peoples to convey them an important, perhaps decisive political edge at home. However, the resulting footages are more often than not misleading. In the case of the Kurds, our research had shown that their history is full of deceptions, lack of unity, unfocused and unrealistic objectives as well as inadequately prepared plans of actions. Naturally, we didn't want to be a vehicle for more of the same - or to get involved in a cause we did not consider to have a proper background for and to have sufficient knowledge and understanding about.

     Mr. Pishdare had a quick mind and was a fast learner. He understood that while the UN may be the right audience for bringing about desired changes, he didn't have a fighting chance to make a dent unless he wised up to the intricacies of the system. So instead of polishing up for a premature speaking exercise, we entered that summer into a mutually fruitful learning curve, where we, too learned to fill our respective white spots. In our case, it was particularly interesting to learn that the professional maps on Iraqi oil fields were incomplete in that the white spots dotting the Allied-protected and UN-controlled area of Northern Iraq cover in fact many hundreds of readily exploitable oil fields. This then became the element with which to interest the Allies and the UN directly. What wasn't known then, was that with this we apparently hit a politically supersensitive spot which risked to upset a few hidden agendas and has been fought accordingly ever since.
...

Editor's Summary  -  January 1998

Having obtained in writing the UN's green light to demonstrate the technical feasibility to pump oil from non-government-controlled Northern Iraq for meeting humanitarian needs ⁽¹⁾ Sardar Pishdare proceeded forthwith to the area to prepare the terrain and organize the local leader's support for the implementation of his "Project Backdoor" (English for Pishdare - sic!). An American oilman Gina Lewis introduced to us, Al Hickerson, had come to Geneva to advise us on some fundamentals of the petroleum industry and to give us a hand in our venture. Nobody had been able to answer his recurring question "Who owns the oil in the Kurdish region of Iraq?" Nevertheless, Al promised to bring in the necessary equipment on his own as soon as he knew what the situation is really like on the ground. So Sardar, accompanied by an expert, had gone to the area fairly packed over the Christmas and New Year's holidays.

     Meanwhile, in Geneva, Sadruddin Aga Khan had returned from Iraq. The "explosions" inside his hard wood-panelled UN office could almost be heard across town. We were made to understand that Project Backdoor was seen as upsetting existing plans and the order of things as decided by the powers that be, so that it had no chance of ever taking off the ground, no matter how rational and effective this project promised to be for addressing the urgent humanitarian needs there. Piqued by this non-sensical turn-around and attitude of the UN bureaucracy, we leaned back and - with Al's persistent property question still echoing in our ears - we took another look at the area in question in an old German historical atlas ⁽²⁾. There, mention of the "Mosulgebiet" (about double the size of and covering all of the "liberated Kurdish area") immediately raised our intense curiosity. For our experience in international matters and our instinct told us that there must be interesting and probably still valid documents about the conditions under which the League of Nations had attached this territory to the then-dependent Kingdom of Iraq.  The libraries being closed over the holidays and the League of Nations archives as the most authoritative source opening only after its annual inventory on January 16, we were left to wait a little longer. In summary, here is what we then found (for detail, see official documents):

1.     The Mosul Vilayet was an integral part of the Ottoman Empire. South, it borders on Iraq's Baghdad Vilayet, to the West on Syria, to the North on Turkey and to the East on Iran. It includes the Diala District, as defined in the League of Nations inquiry of 1925. According to the last available census (1920), its surface is 91009 km², and its inhabitants were 579713 Sunnites, 22180 Shiites, 14835 Jews and 55470 Christians (Report by HM's Government to the League Council on the Administration of Iraq for the year 1929, p.71).

2.      The Council of the League of Nations conditionally attached the Mosul Vilayet in 1925 to the Kingdom of Iraq, rather than to Turkey, and provided for international protection to the Mosul Vilayet's ethnic and religious communities. The Kingdom of Iraq, by decision of the League of Nations' General Assembly, gained its independence on 3 October 1932. As a condition of its independence, Iraq had made its formal Declaration of 30 May 1932 vis-à-vis the League of Nations (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1992/NGO/27). Iraq thus incurred international obligations which it could not alter unilaterally, and from which it could be relieved only by the League of Nations or, in the event, by the United Nations acting as the League's succesor in accordance with UN General Assembly resolution 24 (I) of 12 February 1946.

3.     The conditions under which Iraq obtained its independence have never been altered. The circumstances which gave rise to these international minority protection and other obligations have essentially remained. According to testimony published by the UN Human Rights Commission's Special Rapporteur on Iraq (e.g. E/CN.4/1993/45, §§89-126; E/CN.4/1995/138, p.8), past and present human rights conditions in Iraq have provided no justification for abrogating any of Iraq's related international obligations.

4.     The UN Secretariat, in its "Study on the Legal Validity of the Undertakings Concerning Minorities" of 1950 (E/CN.4/367, p.51) had concluded:

    "1.     As regards ordinary causes of extinction of obligations, since Iraq was bound by a Declaration made before the Council of the League of Nations, the dissolution of the latter suspended the obligation, which would return into force only if the United Nations decided to take the place of the League of Nations.
     2.     As regards change of circumstances, there seems to be no special circumstance affecting the position of Iraq."

     "These obligations represent the very essence of the sacred trust of civilization. Their raison d'être and original object remain. Since their fulfilment do not depend on the existence of the League of Nations, they could not be brought to an end merely because this supervisory organ [i.e. the Council of the League of Nations] ceased to exist. Nor could the right of the population to have the Territory administered in accordance with these rules depend thereon." (I.C.J. Reports 1950, p. 133).

     "With respect to ... the obligation ['related to the machinery for implementation' which was 'closely linked to the supervision and control of the League'] the Court was of the opinion that effective performance of the 'sacred trust of civilization' required that the administration should be subject to international supervision and that this necessity for supervision 'continues to exist despite the disappearance of the supervisory organ under the mandate system. It cannot be admitted that the obligation to submit to supervision has disappeared merely because the supervisory organ has ceased to exist ...'" (I.C.J. Reports 1950, p. 136)

7. H.E. Tariq Aziz, as Foreign Minister of Iraq, declared to the UN Special Rapporteur on Iraq: "Iraq would be the first to recognize Kurdish independence" (E/CN.4/1992/31, §108). Since 1991, Iraq de facto has withdrawn its control, administration and protection from most parts of the Mosul Vilayet. In order to avoid a regionally destabilizing vacuum and to enhance the credibility of international minority protection rights and obligations, setting up an unprejudicial effective interim administration for the Mosul Vilayet has become important.

8. The leaders of the Mosul Vilayet's Assyrians, Kurds and Turkomans thus founded the Mosul Vilayet Council in May 1992 as the Mosul Vilayet's "supreme secular authority of the Mosul Vilayet, wherein all indigenous Arabs, Armenians, Assyrians, Kurds and Turkomans have the right to be equitably represented by their own leaders" (Declaration of Separation from Iraq, 20 October 1992). All of its autochthone tribes and political, religious, ethnic and other constitutive groups have since joined this undertaking to responsibly exercise their right to self-determination by signing the Unity Declaration of 31 May 1994.

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(1)letter of 19 November 1991, signed by Henrik Olesen, Director of the then-absent Sadruddin Aga Khan's "Office of the Executive Delegate of the UN Secretary-General for a UN Inter-Agency Humanitarian Programme for Iraq, Kuwait and the Iraq/Turkey and Iraq/iran border areas"
(2)Atlas zur Weltgeschichte, 2, Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, München 1966, S.166

Editor's Introduction

    In the course of over 20 years of service to clients of Swiss financial institutions, SIPA, the Swiss Investors Protection Association (Association Suisse de Défense des Investisseurs ASDI; www.solami.com/gold) has had the opportunity to look inside a sphinx - Switzerland's banking establishment.  We were thus able also to appreciate the roots, values and principles which, over centuries, have made private Swiss banking the extraordinary success story it is.  This also sharpened our senses for developments which are not in harmony with the fundamentals of reliable, effective and timely client protection and other indispensable ingredients for successful banking.  Thus, we have come to be in the vanguard of corresponding battles on the legal, fiscal and political front both inside and outside of Switzerland.

    As is not unusual when you have the honor and responsibility to represent individuals and to defend their particular interests, other interests - sometimes claimed to be bigger or more legitimate - stand in your way. Of course, our association's own terms of reference have made it incumbent upon its representatives never to loose sight of, and in fact always to seek also to safeguard and promote Switzerland's and its financial community's wider interests at stake.  Nevertheless, in many of our efforts, we have not really seen eye-to-eye with some of the bigger names in Switzerland's financial and fiduciary community.  We have in vain looked out for them in the long-coming conflict with lex americana universalis, even when the Swiss Government - for once and with a widely-appreciated amicus curiæ intervention of its own - saw fit to take a principled stand in the precedent-settingAerospatiale case where the U.S. Supreme Court saw its ruling universally criticized.  As if the US Flat Earth Society had many members even in high places, bounty hunting and other Wild West methods of thought-to-be bygone times, manifestly, are thus still very much alive and at work, as Richard Anderegg reported under the title "The American fiscal authorities have difficulty understanding that US law isn't valid in the whole world" (AGEFI, 5/27/02).  So, in order not to increase, and inasmuch as possible to limit the damages caused by some indelicate, myopic and/or gullible colleagues, we have more and more found reason to either remain silent, or to look for and support appropriate counter-measures.

    With the wider and the macro-economic interests always on our radar, we have come to share the view that some of these "peanut gnomes" and their allies in Bern and elsewhere not only deserve but must be "shaken down and out".  Though somewhat weakened recently, the Swiss penal code still threatens with prison even high officials who – intentionally or not, i.e. by mere arrogance, stupidity and/or incompetence – may have committed diplomatic treason (art.267 CP).  This has yet to dawn on those who, as Anderegg pointed out, have led the Swiss Federal Council "to capitulate and replace the Penal Code with American fiscal regulations in the case of certain foreign investments in Switzerland [re: art.271]", op.cit.  With Swiss bankers thus mainly themselves responsible for the decline of the Swiss banking culture to the level of foreign judges' and bureaucrats' visions and agendas, bank clients are more than ever well advised if they follow their own nose and, as a rule, keep away from the big names.  Of course, that is no guarantee against bad experiences either.  But it is likely to help in an environment which - sometime despite of your banker - has been left to deteriorate under influences not favorable to the individual client.  This is because the Swiss legal practice evolved in a way which - as the client sees it - looks pretty much rigged against him (both the Marcos family and the Philippine government could tell something along that line, if they wouldn't be afraid of the gag rules which, over now more than 15 years of unnecessary and sterile court fights, prevented them from going public with their complaints).

     Thus, when the story of the holocaust victim families and their allegedly looted Swiss bank deposits resurfaced in early 1996, most observers weren't impressed.  Expecting the matter to dissipate again in the sand in the course of the normal minimum five-year secretive proceedings (with the victims once again taken for a ride; see our related amicus curiæ), SIPA again blew the whistle, even worked out a genuine alternative solution, providing for a prompt global one billion dollar settlement.  Intriguingly, that was turned down by the very people who allegedly spoke for the victim families (which raises the specter of these lime-lighted warriors pursuing hidden agendas, and thus being more part of the problem than of the solution).  At any rate, the subsequent developments still proved one important point: the legal, the court path is neither the only nor the most effective road to a satisfactory claim settlement - at least not in cases involving the big Swiss banks.

     The question thus arose: what other generally applicable lessons can be drawn from this experience - for you and other claimants (including victims of some past wrongs) and other holders of bad debts?  The answer is the PILLORY, SIPA's debt exchange, which consists of a continuously updated list (www.solami.com/pillory). Except for the B Claims growing out from allegedly non-settled trusteeship functions with varying degrees of political implications (e.g. the stealthily outsourced, long-hidden and now re-surfacing foreign IG Farben assets apparently controlled by some Mideastern sources), this list, nick-named the Pillory, is meant to be illustrative of the kind of debt claims which might thus find an inexpensive and prompt out-of-court settlement.

The Pillory is designed to provide for both private and public debt claims to be settled out-of-court promptly and  inexpensively.  Inspired by the Lynux model, the author, serving as general coordinator of the project, solicits critical comments, suggestions and other relevant input.  And he entrusts the evolution and further development of the Pillory to each and everyone anywhere who is capable and willing to contribute to its protection and genuine usefulness for both the individual and the other members of the global village.
 
 

     Die an der Genfer Börse kotierte SASEA Holding AG war ein in den Achtzigerjahren vom ehemaligen Finanzdirektor der italienischen Erdölfirma ENI, Florio Fiorini, entwickeltes schweizerisches Finanzkonglomerat mit ca. 300 Zweigfirmen u.a. in Belgien, Frankreich, Grossbritannien, Holland, Italien, Luxembourg und Spanien (Beilage 25). Die u.a. mit dem Vatikan und der Banco Ambrosiano liierte Firma war ursprünglich auf dem Agrarsektor tätig. Insbesondere über Zweigstellen in den Seychellen und Monaco wurde u.a. Fiorinis Spezialität, das internationale Erdölgeschäft, betrieben und sind dabei auch Verbindungen mit Lybien weiterentwickelt worden (u.a. via GATOIL). Darauf gestützt und z.T. in Zusammenarbeit mit westlichen Geheimdiensten sollen (*) auch irakische Erdöllieferungen an das damals unter UNO-Sanktionen stehende Südafrika, sowie belgische, englische, französische, italienische und spanische Waffenlieferungen besonders an Irak erfolgt sein. Dies unter jeweils entsprechendem, zumindest ministeriellem Schutz bei entsprechenden Gegenleistungen zugunsten der jeweils massgebenden politischen Parteien (Beilagen 64-71).

     Mit der irakischen Invasion von Kuwait wurde der bis dahin staatlich geförderte massive, geheime und lukrative Waffenexport nach Irak gestoppt. Das zog, mit unterschiedlichen Verzögerungen, den Zusammenbruch der darauf aufgebauten internationalen Finanz- und Beeinflussungs-Strukturen nach sich (Milliardenkonkurse BCCI, Maxwell, Polly Peck, etc.). Durch massive, wirtschaftlich kaumbegründbare (**)Finanzinfusionen durch die französische Staatsbank Crédit Lyonnais (CL) wurde der schon 1991 fällige (Beilagen 74 und 75) SASEA-Konkurs bis Herbst 1992 hinausgeschoben. Und nachdem der französische Steuerzahler entsprechend zur Kasse gebeten worden war, behinderte der Staat - hier und dort - auch die diesbezügliche strafrechtliche Durchleuchtung dieses mit einer Konkurssumme von SFR 5 Milliarden (***) grössten Konkurses der Schweizer Wirtschaftsgeschichte unter Hinweis auf die Staatsräson(Beilage 77).

     Auf diesem politisch brisanten Hintergrund unterstand die Abwicklung des SASEA-Konkurses in Genf der besonderen Aufmerksamkeit einflussreicher interessierter Kreise, welche nichts dem Zufall überliessen. So fiel schon die richterliche Wahl der Mitglieder der provisorischen SASEA-Konkursverwaltung auf Genfer Sachverständige (ATAG Ernst & Young), welche auch mit der Abwicklung des GATOIL-Konkurses betraut waren (Beilagen 35, 67). Scheinbar unbedeutend: Fiorini soll u.a. über die GATOIL-Nachfolgerin TAMOIL Geschäftsbeziehungen zum lybischen Staat fortgeführt haben*, und der Genfer Rechtsvertreter der Crédit Lyonnais soll auch persönlicher Rechtsvertreter des irakischen Präsidenten gewesen sein*.

     Unter diesen besonderen Umständen war die Berufung eines entsprechend qualifizierten Interessenvertreters in den SASEA-Gläubigerausschuss geboten. Diese Wahl fiel auf den Redaktor. Er war bemüht, dieses öffentliche Mandat strikte im Sinne des Gesetzgebers auszuüben, d.h. zusammen mit seinen Ausschusskollegen schnellstmöglich eine weitestgehende Gläubigerentschädigung herbeizuführen. Dies erwies sich schnell als im Widerspruch stehend zu den Bemühungen jener welche auf maximale Geheimhaltung/ Staatsräson bedacht waren. Der vorliegende Streitfall, welcher mit der nachfolgend wiedergegebenen Beschwerde vom 15.Juli 1994 bis nach Strassburg weitergezogen worden war, lag in diesem Zielkonflikt begründet. Für die Menschenrechts-Kommission in Strassburg handelte es sich hier hingegen um eine vorrangig verwaltungsrechtliche Auseinandersetzung, für welche sie sich als nicht zuständig erklärte; dementsprechend wies sie die Beschwerde 1995 ab. Übrig blieb - und bleibt - sodann die allfällige Berücksichtigung der einschlägigen Erkenntnisse anlässlich einer kommenden SchKG-Revision. Denn diese gerichtliche Austragung ergab neue, dem gesetzgeberischen Willen entgegenstehende und jedenfalls vom Gesetzgeber nicht aktiv gebilligte Regeln bezüglich des Zugangs der Gläubiger zu den Akten und zu den Gerichten, der Überwachung der Konkursverwaltung, sowie der Kompetenz und der Voraussetzungen für die Amtsenthebung eines Mitglieds des Gläubigerausschusses.

______________

(*)     gemäss Recherchen von Journalisten und Spezialisten, privaten Mitteilungen, etc.
(**)     François d'Aubert, "L'ARGENT SALE", Plon Paris 1993, Kapitel 5 & 11 (der Autor ist Mitglied der Crédit Lyonnais-Untersuchungskommission der französischen Nationalversammlung); cf: Einvernahmeprotokolle der Crédit Lyonnais-Verantwortlichen,  (Beilage 75); Thierry Jeanpierre, Pascal Auchelin, "Crédit Lyonnais: l'enquête", Fixot Paris 1997.
(***)     durch "Rückzüge", etc. soll die Summe inzwischen auf rund SFR 1,3 Mia geschrumpft sein.
...

Phone Tapping  - 24 January 1998

Editor's post scriptum

1.    The "Pick-up sign" disappeared in the entry of most banks in the subsequently published  telephone books, raising questions of the legality of the routine telephone monitoring by banks, particularly with today's coming into force of a revised penal code art. 179 (Leonardo Cereghetti, Patrick Umbach, "Heikle Aufnahme von Telephongesprächen - Handlungsbedarf bei Banken und Brokern", NZZ 30.Dezember 1997; Yves Lassueur, "Ecoutes illégales dans nos banques", Le Matin, 13 janvier 1998).

2.    Following publication of the above SIPA letter in the Wall Street Journal, the pressure for disclosing the full extent of governmental and private eaves-dropping in Switzerland grew rapidly and seems to have contributed to the discovery of illegal telephone and other surveillance practices involving some 900,000 Swiss residents - one of Switzerland's biggest political scandals.  After being given the opportunity, during some 5 years, to check one's own surveillance files (and how huge amounts of taxpayers' money were thus squandered - often with highly questionable motives, means and results), the Swiss Citizen generally is seen to have only partially regained confidence in the institutions charged with safeguarding his/her safety and welfare.  Things were supposed to become more transparent and otherwise improve with the privatisation of Switzerland's telecom which, since 1 January 1998, has operated in competition with other service providers as a de-monopolized private company under the name of SWISSCOM.

3.    Thus was touched a more-than-eversensitive cord when the Sonntagszeitung of 28 December 1997 revealed that SWISSCOM has also taken over a clandestinely implanted system providing for an apparently unauthorized massive monitoring and storing of telecommunications data on users of mobile phones.  This was not exactly helped when, under the weight of public reactions, the fig-leave wide justification invoked (billing purposes) was later complemented by prophylactic and therapeutic police purposes.  And when the end-of-the-year big bank letters sent to some if its local clients informed them that, for some years now, their calls to their bank may have been taped and stored for security purposes for some six months.  It would be interesting to find out if and, in the event, on what legal basis any of these tapes actually found their way to local and/or foreign law enforcement officials.  Well yes, we finally left theannus horribilis Orwell+13 behind us but, having apparently lost our will and/or our capacity to keep in check those charged with serving rather than spying on and controlling the only sovereign there should be, i.e. the upright Citizen, he/she will henceforth, too get what he/she deserves.
...

UBS/SBC Merger  - 20 March 1998

Editor's Note

    The By-Laws of the Union Bank of Switzerland, as in force on the date of its Extraordinary General Meeting of 3 February 1998, provided notably for (§ 11):

"1 Resolutions and elections are decided at the General Meeting by an absolute majority of the validly cast votes, excluding blank and invalid ballots; this is subject to the provisions of the By-Laws (§ 11, par.2 and 3) and compulsory legal requirements.
2 To be valid, the resolution calling for the liquidation [binding German and French versions: "Auflösung", "dissolution"] of the Company must be passed by a majority representing at least two thirds of the entire share capital."

    All of which casts a serious cloud over the shareholders' decision to dissolve the present UBS through a merger with the Swiss Bank Corporation.  But the way things have gone so far, the competent juge of Zürich may not even be given an opportunity to examine the case and so it may or may not start to rain even without his blessings.  For Swiss company law provides for legal challenges of decisions taken by shareholder meetings within 60 days.  And, after another Swiss daily sat on the story for some two weeks, it is unlikely that a serious court challenge can and will be mounted in the time left - or, for that matter, that it would have a real chance of success.

    Nevertheless - and not least for reasons of principles, because of the legal questions thus raised and in light of the wider interests at stake - it appears important that the remaining repair opportunities be anyway seriously considered both by the competent surveillance authorities and the merger candidates themselves (who might call for new shareholder meetings designed to straighten out in particular this otherwise possibly endlessly harmful merger flaw).  On which occasion they may also discover that the stone of wisdom lies elsewhere and that, in the event, there are serious alternatives available to the economic incest solutions pursued so far.
...

Zu Thomas Kindler's UBS-GV-Kritik im Tages-Anzeiger  - 20.März 1998

ICONOCLAST

UBS-Echo vom gleichen Tag: "Sturm im Wasserglas", denn
1.  Art.11 al.2 der UBS-Statuten betreffe nur eine Auflösung der Gesellschaft mit Liquidation,
2. jetzt gehe es aber um eine Gesellschafts-Auflösung ohne Liquidation, gemäss GV-Beschluss um eine "Auflösung der Gesellschaft durch Fusion" gemäss OR 748, 749, und
3. dabei seien die entsprechenden OR-Bestimmungen, welche für Fusionen ein qualifiziertes Mehr der an der GV vertretenen Aktien vorsehen, zwingend und substitutiv anzuwenden.

Diese von Kollega Kindler vorausvermutete und oben z.T. bereits kommentierte UBS-Position findet weder in der derzeitig gültigen OR-Fassung, noch in Lehre und Praxis hinreichende Abstützung.  Ein Blick in die Vergangenheit, in die Genesis und die Materialien, lässt sogar einen entgegengesetzten gesetzgeberischen Willen  unmissvertändlich in Erscheinung treten.Der Schutz der "wohlerworbenen Rechte" ebenso wie die Vertragsfreiheit waren und sind für den Gesetzgeber seit jeher besondere Anliegen.  So bestimmt z.B. schon Art.627, al.2 des alten OR ausdrücklich:

"Eine ... Vereinigung (Fusion) mit einer andern Gesellschaft kann, wenn die Statuten nicht etwas anderes bestimmen, nur in einer Generalversammlung beschlossen werden, in welcher mindestens zwei Dritteile sämtlicher Aktien vertreten sind.  ..."

"Der Beschluss über die Auflösung [französisch: dissolution; englisch: liquidation] der Gesellschaft muss zu seiner Gültigkeit mindestens die Stimmen von zwei Dritteln des gesamten Aktienkapitals auf sich vereinigen."

La Mégafusion entre la Société de Banque Suisse (SBS) et l'Union de Banques Suisses (UBS) peut être contestée juridiquement.  Selon l'avis d'un expert paru vendredi dans le Tages-Anzeiger[iconoclast: après deux semaines de "reflexions", un autre "grand" quotidien du coin n'a jugé ni opportun ni indiqué par les devoirs de la profession de publier cette information], l'assemblée générale de l'UBS a violé les statuts lors de l'accord de fusion.  Ce trouble provient de la formulation peu claire des statuts de l'UBS [iconoclast: jolie formule de cache-sexe si on se référe au texte statutaire qui est d'une clarté sans équivoque pour tous ceux qui sont à la recherche de la vérité et non des excuses).

1.    Voire aussi la réponse du publiciste suisse Klaus Stoelker, publiée dans l'édition européenne du Wall Street Journal du 28 avril 1998.

2.    Curieusement, ce reproche tombe en parallèle et se trouve accentué dans le dernier rapport du notoire Comité 8 de l'autrement très sérieuse Organisation pour la coopération et le développement économique, OCDE, de Paris qui - après son échec total, dans les années 80, avec son projet orwellien INTERFIPOL d'une convention d'assistance administrative en matière fiscale - persiste à confondre la criminelle évasion fiscale avec l'évitement fiscale.  Nonobstant que ce dernier constitue un facteur essentiel de l'économie du marché et de la souveraineté fiscale de tout Etat indépendant et digne de ce nom.  Tant que les autorités politiques n'auront pas effectuées les changements qui s'imposent dans le cahier de charges et dans l'orientation de ce comité de l'OCDE, ce sera lui et non le secret bancaire autrichien, luxembourgois, suisse ou autre qui causera des effets pervers et en effet fortement dommageables non seulement pour les fiscs mais surtout pour les contribuables des pays qui continueront à souscrire à des thèses opportunistiques et depuis longtemps discréditées de quelques apparatchiks myopes et irréductibles (voir Paul Coudret et Antoine Bosshard, "L'OCDE s'attaque au 'braconnier' fiscal suisse",Le Temps, 29 avril, 1998).

3.    En effet, on est loin où, dans les années 80, sous la direction de Seth Lipsky et de Peter Keresztes, le Wall Street Journal Europe (WSJE) et d'autres journaux étrangers - mais non les grands journaux suisses proches des banques, et très peu d'autres journalistes suisses - avaient mené combat contre les différentes lex americana.  C'était en vain qu'ils ont imploré les parlementaires et banquiers suisses de se dresser sans vergogne contre toutes pressions émanent de la SEC et d'autres sources américaines.  Et qu'ils ont conseillé de maintenir avec dignité, détermination et force leurs spécificités et leurs cultures bancaires, y compris notamment le secret bancaire suisse.  Or, il se trouve que le WSJE n'est toujours pas sorti des chiffres rouges et que quelques membres de la famille des propriétaires pourraient donc être ouverts à des nouvelles idées.  Voilà donc une occasion pour une nouvelle alliance vers de nouveaux horizons qui s'ouvre aux vrais entrepreneurs visionnaires et soucieux de l'avenir du marché financier suisse.

Y2K Immunization Through Comprehensive Measures Towards a Controlled Temporary Shutdown of the Electric Grid on 31 December 1999

        The Year 2000 (Y2K) computer problems are unique in their nature, dimension and implications.  Like in the case of radioactivity, the Creator endowed us with no natural sensors but "only" with brainpower to recognize its existence indirectly, to contain and protect us from its adverse effects, and even to benefit from it. Unlike radioactivity, Y2K problems are unprecedented and manmade and thus perhaps that more difficult to be properly recognized and to be tackled on normal tracks and with ordinary means.  Moreover, no electronic gimmick, no magic trick is in sight - or can reasonably be expected - to shield any of our computer-dependent societies from the havoc entailed in embedded chips, personal computers and main frame systems which, on their own, will not make the year 2000 turnover, or which will fail in reaction to systems which are not Y2K compliant.  Potentially worse yet, the countries affected by the COCOM embargo are known, from the beginning, to have built particularly their security apparatus, strategic means and essential services with computer systems and software based on eight rather than six date digits (whereby each year is defined with four, rather than two digits, as, until recently, has been customary in Western-built computer systems), thus being essentially spared the uncertainties of the millenium bug.

        On this background, not only international organizations (notably the International Telecommunication Union, the Bank for International Settlements, the EuropeanUnion, etc.) and government agencies (in the U.S. notably the Federal Reserve Board and the Securities an Exchange Commision, etc.) but also lawmakers in different countries (notably U.S. Senator Robert Bennett, U.S. Senator Alfonse D'Amato, U.S. Senator Michael B.Enzi, U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel, U.S. Representative Steve Horn, Ständerat Carlo Schmid-Sutter, etc.) have started to take seriously the tocsin which some alert specialists (notably the Center for Strategic & International Studies, Frank J.Cilluffo, the Gartner Group, Peter de Jager, Alan Simpson, Taskforce 2000, Edward Yardeni, etc.) had sounded in the desert for quite some time.  At the CSIS Y2K seminar held in June in Washington, an eye-opening "report card" on "Year 2000 Progress for Federal Departments and Agencies" was presented by the Office of the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Government Management, Information, and Technology"  of the U.S. House of Representatives.  Its conclusion: "Overall Grade is F", with the Departments of State, of Transportation, and of Energy projected as still failing the year 2000 turnover, and even the Department of Defense having improved only inadequately from F to D (sic!).

        In Switzerland, the Federal Council, in its reply of June 8, 1998, to a parliamentary interpellation focusing on embedded chips (98.3073), confirmed the need for urgent actions to be taken on every level of society.  Indeed, all concerned are called upon to do everything in their power which is likely to facilitate the earliest and most comprehensive possible recognition, minimalization and overcoming of the economic, social and strategic consequences of the Y2K problems - and to refrain from doing anything which might have contrary effects.  To this end, all suitable measures in preparation of Y2K emergency situations should not only be prepared, but those placed in position of responsibility for the well-being of others may not rise to their task unless they actually procede on the worst-case assumption.  And unless they promptly heed the recommendations given by their professional associations, Y2k specialists and officials, and can be seen to actually carry out in their own backyard what is still possible in order to avoid panic and to reduce the impact of Y2K.

        Built, equipped and trained over decades for countering nuclear and other physical threats by way of providing Switzerland's thousands of small communities with a high degree of independence from national networks with regard to basic services and food distribution, the Swiss civil defense system appears uniquely suited to help in the Y2K tasks ahead.  A reliable miminum supply of electricity being recognized as crucial for keeping the country running, an idea inspired by the Swedish change-over from driving on the left to driving on the right, is presently being examined by the responsible Swiss authorities (see text of the Motion Schmid below).  Thereby, instead of running the reportedly high risk of the internationally entangled electric grid being anyway shut down by some non-containable Y2K-related problem occuring anywhere in Europe in the first moments of the new Millennium, the Swiss grid would be deliberately unhooked on the eve of the year 2000.  For the duration of a few days, Switzerland would thus be put on an emergency footing 31 December 1999, with all essential services reliably running on the correspondingly prepared emergency power sources.  Isolated from the international electric grid, and depending on how the situation evolves, the Swiss grid, made Y2K compliant until then, could and would then be gradually put back into normal operation.

        Assuming this idea to be feasible, adopted and successfully implemented, it would only be natural for the Swiss authorities to continue Switzerland's traditions of genuine solidarity with the generous offer for corresponding good offices and services Ständerat Schmid explicitly called far. These should be available to foreign firms and organizations who may want to set up additional contingency measures, safeguards and fallback positions and whose clients might be interested in their offer for additionally securising essential client data, assets, etc. by way of corresponding Swiss services.  To be sure, such Y2K-related contingency services are already available, while additional ones are understood to be under development.  Some observers have welcomed these services notably as a chance to effectively avoid or stem panic and corresponding bank runs.
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Year 2000 - Computer Problem (Y2K), Emercency Measures

1.        The Federal Council is invited to delay until an appropriate date in 2000 or later all legislative and administrative measures on all levels of the federal administration as well as all projects which are subject to federal approval, unless it is demonstrated that such measures or projects are Y2K-neutral, i.e. unobjectionable from the point of view of the year 2000 computer problems.

2.        The Federal Council is invited to act in consequence of the fact that for the date of 01.01.2000 a breakdown of essential services cannot be excluded, notably not with regard to electric power, gas, water, telephone, transport, etc., and to take all appropriate measures, including the mobilization of the civil defense and all other suitable organizations and infrastructures, so that, for a period of several days starting on 31 December 1999, essential services will effectively be provided to the Swiss population.

3.        The Federal Council is invited also to bring into being the necessary legal conditions which will facilitate and promote the development and provision, by Swiss firms, of services which may also help foreign enterprises and organisations in particular to overcome their year 2000 computer problems, e.g. by way of safe haven storage of their data and backup systems in Switzerland, free of custom duties and under conditions effectively providing notably for telecommunication, lawyer and bank secrecy.

Carlo Schmid-Sutter

June 26, 1998

Y2K-Immunisierung durch umfassende Vorbereitung der kontrollierten vorübergehenden Stromnetz-Abschaltung am 31.12.1999

        Angesichts der Dimensionen, Unwägbarkeiten und Einmaligkeit des von Menschenhand geschaffenen und weltweit wirksamen Jahr 2000 Computerproblems (Y2K), zu welchem der Bundesrat in seiner Antwort vom 8.Juni 1998 auf die Interpellation Müller 98.3073 dringenden allgemeinen Handlungsbedarf bestätigte, sind alle Betroffenen aufgefordert, alles zweckmässige vorzukehren, was die weitestgehende und frühestmögliche Erkennung, Minderung und Überwindung der wirtschaftlichen, gesellschaftlichen und strategischen Folgen dieses Problems begünstigt, und alles zu unterlassen, was dem entgegenstehen könnte.  Dahingehend sind geeignete Massnahmen für den Ernstfall nicht nur vorzubereiten, sondern es ist vom Eintritt des Ernstfalls an der Jahrtausendwende auszugehen.

        Ein magischer Schutzschirm, welcher das Schweizer Territorium von den Folgen ungenügender Y2K-Massnahmen bewahrt, ist nach übereinstimmender Expertenprognose weder zeitlich noch technisch möglich.  Das kann und darf aber für niemanden Ursache sein, nicht alles zu erwägen und das Zweckmässige vorzukehren, was in seinem Einflussbereich zur Verminderung oder Einschränkung der Y2K-Konsequenzen möglich ist.  Hierzu gehören Massnahmen, welche die Fachverbände ihren Mitgliedern auf der technischen Stufe empfehlen, und solche welche der vom Bundesrat eingesetzte "Mister 2000" an der Öffentlichkeitsfront anregen mag.

        Darüber hinaus, und für alle Staats- und Gesellschaftstufen gültig, anerbietet sich das konsequente Vorbereiten der kontrollierten vorübergehenden Stromnetzabschaltung und Ausweichung auf lokal verfügbaren und netzunabhängigen elektrischen Strom am 31.Dezember 1999.  Dies als Mittel zur weitestgehenden allgemeinen Bewusstseinswerdung und zur "Immunisierung" der gesamten Schweizer Bevölkerung und aller Teile der Wirtschaft als Voraussetzung eines möglichst geordneten und panikfreien Eintritts ins neue Jahrtausend. Dahingehend haben Schweizer Parlamentarier - u.a. Ständerat Carlo Schmid-Sutter - politische Vorstösse unternommen, und sind nun die entsprechenden Organisationen und Dienste aufgefordert, dem Schweizer Bundsrat sowie den kantonalen und kommunalen Behörden bei der Umsetzung dieses Programms behilflich zu sein.

Jahr 2000 - Computerproblem, Ernstfallmassnahmen
 

1.        Der Bundesrat wird eingeladen, jegliche Erlassprojekte auf allen Stufen der Bundesverwaltung sowie alle Vorhaben, welche der Bewilligung durch die Eidgenossenschaft bedürfen, bis zu einem geeigneten Zeitpunkt im Jahr 2000 oder danach zurückzustellen, soweit nicht nachgewiesen ist, dass diese Projekte und Vorhaben unter dem Gesichtspunkt der Jahr 2000 - Computerproblematk unbedenklich sind.

2.    &n