O.L.L

Interdum stultus bene loquitur ... Even a fool sometimes speaks sense.

Ubi libertas, ibi patria ... Where liberty dwells there is my country.

Sors tua mortalis, non est mortale quod optas ... Thou art mortal in thy destiny, but thy aims are those of a god.

Re opitulandum non verbis ... We should help others by deeds, not words.

A posse ad esse ... From possibility to realization.

Sapiens dominabitur astris ... The wise man will govern the stars.

Novus rex, nova lex ... New kings make new laws.

Non exercitus, nequi thesauri, praesidia regni sunt, verum amici ... Neither armies, nor treasures, but friends, are the surest protection of a king."

My trusted friends,

Our time draws nigh. Strategies have been finalized, tactics determined. The voice of Freedom chants our hymn, the hand of Justice charts our course. The forces of tyrrany will be washed asunder and their rafts of repression will find no safe mooring in our seas. We shall smite the despotic and unchain the meek. We shall enter the vales with valour and rid the valleys of villainy. Minstrals shall sing of our deeds and legends shall record the heroics. Yes my friends, righteousness beckons. It is nearly time for Operation Liberate Liechtenstein.

The country's modern history began when Prince Johann Adam of Liechtenstein purchased the Lordship of Schellenberg (1699) and the County of Vaduz (1712) from the impoverished German nobles who had previously governed them. Although he already owned vast tracts of land in Austria, Hungary, Bohemia, and Moravia, the purpose of this purchase was to qualify for a vote in the Diet of Princes. It became a principality on January 23, 1719, by a decree of the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles VI.

The current ruler is Prince Hans Adam II. He retains the power to dissolve parliament and must approve every act before it becomes law. This is naught but a thinly-veiled dictatorship. So what has this plenipotentiary scion of the Adam's family done for the Liechtensteiners? He has made their nation the world's largest exporter of false teeth. Big whoop. While the proletariat have been toiling in prosthetic bicuspids, our Petite Prince has gnawed off a royal family fortune of five billion dollars. That's roughly $165,000 per hard-working citizen. Or, more accurately, exactly lots-o-money each for we Alpine adventurers. After the castle coffers have been pried open, an additional $70 billion awaits in the various Liechtensteinian banks. Consider it venture capital.

Hark, can you hear the rallying cry of Dr. Seuss? And will you succeed? Yes you will indeed. 98 and three-quarter-percent guaranteed ... Your mountain is waiting so get on your way. I like the odds. To the hills !

- ventis secundis (with prosperous winds) ... fortunae filius (a child of fortune)