Quote:
Originally Posted by Legbreaker
It's my belief that Switzerland will also be in serious strife in 2000. They may catch a few nukes "by accident" and being landlocked by waring nations certainly isn't going to help their trade efforts.
In fact I see neutral nations being in almost as bad a shape as some of the waring parties. Neutral nations by their very nature don't tend to develop alliances and so if they get attacked in the chaos of WWIII, who's going to help them out? It's not like they've really got the strength to strike back in any significant way...
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International law allows neutral nations to conduct trade with both sides.
Switzerland, for example, in WWII was allowed to import coal from Nazi Germany and allowed to pay for this material by exporting food, optics and machined goods by the Allies. Indeed, these delivery trains were marked and allowed to proceed through areas where other train traffic was being bombed/strafed. Sweden was allowed to ship ore and other material and there ships were escorted through the various minefields by both sides.
And don't forget that because they are neutral nations, embassies from both sides can be maintained, diplomatic letters exchanged, PoWs to badly wounded to fight on can be exchanged, and the various intelligence agencies have a safe haven to operate from, its also an excellent means of passing propaganda through, trade for specific goods, and so on. Both sides have a lot to gain by respecting the neutrality of a nation. Now, that does mean that accidents will not happen, accidental bombing raids have taken place, but overall, both sides work at protecting and respecting, the neutrality of a nation.