I suppose being copied and pasted should be considered a compliment. Today in my Google News update, I happened upon an article in the Tripoli Post entitled "Swiss Irrationality Drags EU into Dispute with Friendly Libya".
This has all to do with the case of two Swiss businessmen who were picked up in Libya in July 2008 after Geneva police arrested a son of the colonel for beating hotel workers. That touched off a diplomatic storm between the two countries, basically because you don't mess with Moammar.
It also gave journalists in these parts a break from writing about cheese, chocolate and banks.
Curious, I clicked the link. Unsurprisingly, the top of the article read pro-Libya. I continued.
About ten paragraphs in, came this line:
There is a possibility that the negotiations to solve the dispute that entangled the rest of Europe will continue in Berlin on Friday.
Odd, I thought. I had used the "entangled" just a few days ago in one of my own pieces. And those negotiations were last Friday, not two days from today.
The further I read, the more I felt a sense of déjà vu. Hmmm, I mused. This writer is really improving in the bottom half of his piece. Really. Amazing. Prose. Strong finish, mate.
And then this:
A move by Switzerland to impose Europe-wide visa restrictions against nearly 200 prominent Libyans may have backfired, a Geneva-based expert tells swissinfo.ch.
Followed by:
The Swiss decision, made last autumn, was one of many salvos in a two-year bilateral dispute and sparked Tripoli to bar citizens of Schengen zone nations from entering the country.
Marcelo Kohen, a professor of international law at Geneva's Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, said that Bern chose the wrong strategy.
In late 2008, the Swiss ban would have produced few ramifications outside its own borders.
But since entering the 25-country Schengen Area, Switzerland and its neighbours have been able to restrict the ability of people from outside the area to move freely within it.
That's exactly what Switzerland did. The Libyans alleged to be on the Swiss list are still permitted to enter other Schengen countries but must apply for individual visas.
That of course, was lifted directly from a Q&A I did last week with a Geneva-based professor.
The original article is here. A follow-up, describing the reaction of the Swiss media is here.
