Off the record --- Thank you Ivy, Gerhard and John, it reminds me of a very uncomfortable situation when, 39 years ago, we were going to transfer, after lengthy negotiations, three Soviet prisonners in the hands of the Mudjaheddins in Afghanistan to Switzerland, in order to be detained there for a period of two years. The idea was to be allowed back to Kabul to have access to the Mudjaheddin prisonners in Pul-e Charkhi jail, the largest jail in Afghanistan. A British journalist I knew well had heard the story from another source, I asked him to sit on it until the end of the operation, which he did. But the then Swiss Foreign Minister leaked the story to the media. The British journalist never spoke to me again. Off the record is not always a good idea!

Source author: Jean-Michel Monod jmmonod@yahoo.com