South Ossetia is the new Liechtenstein
A colleague of mine is from South Ossetia, the break-away Georgian territory recently recognized as independent by Russia. We’ve had some interesting discussions the last few weeks, and he was talking to friends and relatives in Tskhinvali and other towns throughout the Georgian invasion and Russian counter-attack.
When Russia recognized South Ossetia’s independence the other day, I asked him if he really thought such a dinky country could survive independently in the world.
“What about Liechtenstein?” he challenged. “It’s a small country and doing great!”
So there you have it – South Ossetia is the next Liechtenstein! If only they had banks and could set up sophisticated tax shelters, they’d have it made!
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Liechtenstein, Andorra, Monaco, San Marino, all tiny states, all survived. Liechtenstein sided with Switzerland in the last century, instead of Austria. That made it more what it is today. It was even “invaded” by accident last November by Swiss forces. Okay, they just crossed the border by accident one night during maneuvers. But neither Austria nor Switzerland was Russia!
Since the US is pressuring Liechtenstein to stop with the secret banking stuff (see the hassle with UBS), maybe South Ossetia can step in to fill he void!
Comment by quejaytee — 9/8/2008 @ 9:10 pm