Anna Lindh

[Sid Walker]

Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh was murdered on September 10th 2003.

Lindh was popular, politically experienced and often tipped as a future Prime Minister.

The assassination occurred a few days before the Swedish referendum on the Euro. Lindh supported Sweden joining the Euro-zone. Most Swedes, as it turned out, opposed it.

Lindh, as Sweden's Foreign Minister, was an outstanding and bold advocate for international justice. She was a strong opponent of the Iraq War. She also took a position more sympathetic to the Palestinian cause than most, if not any, of her counterparts in other European countries.

Her assailant was not caught immediately, but there appears to be consensus he was the assassin, based on forensic evidence and his own confession.

His name is Mijailo Mijailovic, a young Swedish citizen of Yugoslav descent.

According to the New York Times, January 15, 2004:

''I couldn't resist the voices,'' Mijailo Mijailovic, a 25-year-old Swedish citizen of Yugoslav descent, said in a subterranean high-security court near the Stockholm city center. He was arrested on Sept. 24.

The police are taking pride in bringing quick resolution to a case that reopened the self-questioning inspired by Mr. Palme's death.

Clad in a black sweatshirt and track-suit pants, Mr. Mijailovic, lightly bearded and with close-cropped hair, sat on the front bench of a brightly lit courtroom, sometimes fidgeting but speaking in even and unemotional tones after prosecutors used images taken by surveillance cameras to coax his memories of the day he stabbed Ms. Lindh.

In a confession made public last week, after earlier insisting that he was innocent, Mr. Mijailovic said he believed that the voices in his head came from Jesus Christ. He said the voices spoke in Serbian.

Prosecutors displayed photographs of the red-handled knife with its slightly bloodied four-inch blade that Mr. Mijailovic said he had thrown away as he fled the NK department store after attacking Ms. Lindh. At the time of the killing -- just before a referendum in which Sweden rejected adoption of the euro single currency, against the advice of pro-euro figures like Ms. Lindh -- some people questioned whether he had acted for political reasons. Ms. Lindh, a Social Democrat, was one of Sweden's most popular politicians and had been thought of as a potential prime minister.

But under questioning from the chief prosecutor, Krister Petersson, Mr. Mijailovic denied any political motivations. ''I'm not interested in politics,'' he said. ''It could have been someone other than Anna Lindh.''

Indeed, Mr. Mijailovic's defense lawyer, Peter Althin, demanded that murder charges against his client be withdrawn, since he had not planned the killing in advance and had not intended to take a life. ''Did the voices say anything about killing?'' Mr. Althin asked Mr. Mijailovic. ''No,'' he replied. ''Just attacking?'' Mr. Althin asked. ''Yes.''

The images from surveillance cameras showed Mr. Mijailovic crisscrossing the atrium of the department store. The images did not show the attack.

Prosecutors insisted that the stabbing had been premeditated, arguing that the images from the cameras showed Mr. Mijailovic stalking Ms. Lindh for 14 minutes. They also said sophisticated tests had revealed Mr. Mijailovic's DNA on the knife used in the killing, while traces of her blood had been found on his clothes.

Mr. Mijailovic insisted that he had not been following Ms. Lindh and had seen her only by accident. ''I was on my way out, but I took a wrong turn,'' he said. ''I saw Anna Lindh. Then the voices came.''

Since his conviction for murder, there has been a legal tussle over whether his his incarceration is served in prison or hospital.

____________________________

Overall, there is little English-language information available on the web about this sad and puzzling murder.

I wondered if anyone on the forum has a view on this - or information to share that may throw some light on the murder, which although apparently solved seems to me far from fully explained.

What is known, for instance, of the earlier life of Mijailo Mijailovic?

Is there anything in his history or background that might indicate his training as a latter-day Manchurian candidate... the 21st century equivalent of Sirhan Sirhan?

Edited May 6, 2007 by Sid Walker

[Paul Rigby]

Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh was murdered on September 10th 2003.

Lindh was popular, politically experienced and often tipped as a future Prime Minister.

Overall, there is little English-language information available on the web about this sad and puzzling murder.

I wondered if anyone on the forum has a view on this - or information to share that may throw some light on the murder, which although apparently solved seems to me far from fully explained.

What is known, for instance, of the earlier life of Mijailo Mijailovic?

Is there anything in his history or background that might indicate his training as a latter-day Manchurian candidate... the 21st century equivalent of Sirhan Sirhan?

Fascinating questions, Sid, and some of them equally applicable to the assassination of Olof Palme. I hope Anglo-American provinciality does kill this thread, as there would appear much to learn from informed responses.

It also reminds me of the prominent Swedish victim of Lockerbie, Bernt Carlsson, a man whose timely death enabled the US et al to prevent Swapo obtaining a sufficient majority in the subsequent Namibian referendum, thus killing sweeping nationalisation proposals. Even Wikipedia offers something on this theory: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernt_Carlsson For another tribute to Carlsson, see this link: http://web.syr.edu/~vpaf103/v_carlsson.html

A very good friend of mine lives in Sweden and I've been there twice: I love the country and the people. But I was struck by how resigned and/or naive much of the comment about the string of assassinations was. Very sad.

Paul

[Kathleen Collins]

Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh was murdered on September 10th 2003.

Lindh was popular, politically experienced and often tipped as a future Prime Minister.

The assassination occurred a few days before the Swedish referendum on the Euro. Lindh supported Sweden joining the Euro-zone. Most Swedes, as it turned out, opposed it.

Lindh, as Sweden's Foreign Minister, was an outstanding and bold advocate for international justice. She was a strong opponent of the Iraq War. She also took a position more sympathetic to the Palestinian cause than most, if not any, of her counterparts in other European countries.

Her assailant was not caught immediately, but there appears to be consensus he was the assassin, based on forensic evidence and his own confession.

His name is Mijailo Mijailovic, a young Swedish citizen of Yugoslav descent.

According to the New York Times, January 15, 2004:

''I couldn't resist the voices,'' Mijailo Mijailovic, a 25-year-old Swedish citizen of Yugoslav descent, said in a subterranean high-security court near the Stockholm city center. He was arrested on Sept. 24.

The police are taking pride in bringing quick resolution to a case that reopened the self-questioning inspired by Mr. Palme's death.

Clad in a black sweatshirt and track-suit pants, Mr. Mijailovic, lightly bearded and with close-cropped hair, sat on the front bench of a brightly lit courtroom, sometimes fidgeting but speaking in even and unemotional tones after prosecutors used images taken by surveillance cameras to coax his memories of the day he stabbed Ms. Lindh.

In a confession made public last week, after earlier insisting that he was innocent, Mr. Mijailovic said he believed that the voices in his head came from Jesus Christ. He said the voices spoke in Serbian.

Prosecutors displayed photographs of the red-handled knife with its slightly bloodied four-inch blade that Mr. Mijailovic said he had thrown away as he fled the NK department store after attacking Ms. Lindh. At the time of the killing -- just before a referendum in which Sweden rejected adoption of the euro single currency, against the advice of pro-euro figures like Ms. Lindh -- some people questioned whether he had acted for political reasons. Ms. Lindh, a Social Democrat, was one of Sweden's most popular politicians and had been thought of as a potential prime minister.

But under questioning from the chief prosecutor, Krister Petersson, Mr. Mijailovic denied any political motivations. ''I'm not interested in politics,'' he said. ''It could have been someone other than Anna Lindh.''

Indeed, Mr. Mijailovic's defense lawyer, Peter Althin, demanded that murder charges against his client be withdrawn, since he had not planned the killing in advance and had not intended to take a life. ''Did the voices say anything about killing?'' Mr. Althin asked Mr. Mijailovic. ''No,'' he replied. ''Just attacking?'' Mr. Althin asked. ''Yes.''

The images from surveillance cameras showed Mr. Mijailovic crisscrossing the atrium of the department store. The images did not show the attack.

Prosecutors insisted that the stabbing had been premeditated, arguing that the images from the cameras showed Mr. Mijailovic stalking Ms. Lindh for 14 minutes. They also said sophisticated tests had revealed Mr. Mijailovic's DNA on the knife used in the killing, while traces of her blood had been found on his clothes.

Mr. Mijailovic insisted that he had not been following Ms. Lindh and had seen her only by accident. ''I was on my way out, but I took a wrong turn,'' he said. ''I saw Anna Lindh. Then the voices came.''

Since his conviction for murder, there has been a legal tussle over whether his his incarceration is served in prison or hospital.

____________________________

Overall, there is little English-language information available on the web about this sad and puzzling murder.

I wondered if anyone on the forum has a view on this - or information to share that may throw some light on the murder, which although apparently solved seems to me far from fully explained.

What is known, for instance, of the earlier life of Mijailo Mijailovic?

Is there anything in his history or background that might indicate his training as a latter-day Manchurian candidate... the 21st century equivalent of Sirhan Sirhan?

Sid, there are language translator programs online for free. They may take a limited number of words at a time, but it's better than nothing; so you'll be cutting and pasting maybe. Here is one:

www.worldlingo.com/en/products_services/worldlingo_translator.html

Kathy

[David Richardson]

… and remember that there are a number of members who either are Swedish or speak Swedish …

[Sid Walker]

Thanks to all three for your comments and suggestopms.

The Lockerbie link was fascinating Paul.

I hope some of the Swedes on the forum do share any info they feel would be of interest to the rest of us.

There's been little coverage of Anna Lindh's death in the western media. Certainly no credible investigative reporting I can find.

Christopher Bollyn wrote a September 2003 article in American Free Press which seems to me to ask some of the right questions.

However, IMO Bollyn has since effectively been outed as a purveyor of disinformation. Consequently I'd not be surprised if some of the detail in the article is false.

Yet agencies of the Israeli State must be a prime suspect... IF the official story of Lindh's assassination doesn't represent a genuine, comprehensive account of what really happened in the assassination.

This January 20th 2003 article by Gary North indicates why: International Assassination Squads

True, the UPI story to which North refers was disowned by the Israeli Government. Nevertheless, it's hard to believe the assassination threat was pure invention by UPI - or that the "former Israeli intelligence officials" were either invented or engaging in outright mischief. This seems to me the way a threat would be issued in a skillful standover operation. Plausible deniability is built in from the start.

2003 also saw the mysterious suicide?/accident? of Jürgen Möllemann in Germany, another outspoken critic of Israel who had also enraged Germany's organized Jewish lobby.

Of course, the year previously, Elie Hobeika was blown to pieces in the streets of Beirut:

It was Hobeika and his Israel-backed Lebanese militia who were fingered by an Israeli commission of inquiry for carrying out the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacres in Beirut. With Hobeika apparently poised to testify before a Belgian court about Sharon’s role in the massacre, Hobeika’s assassination raised some eyebrows, to say the least.

Something of a pattern?

A message to others to toe the line?

Edited May 8, 2007 by Sid Walker

[Mark Stapleton]

Fascinating.

Is it mere coincidence that prominent figures outspoken in their opposition to Israel and/or support for Palestine are often murdered? No chance, imo.

The Bollyn article's account of the Lindh murder is interesting in that the apparent inaction of the security guards in the shopping mall is faintly reminiscent of the Secret Service inaction in Dealey Plaza--the credibility of Bollyn notwithstanding. How difficult would it be to ascertain whether the security guards were 'actively inactive' given the possibilty that those responsible for the murder control the media reporting of the event. How fortunate that a lone nut was then presented on cue with the obligatory 'demons inside my head' line.

One wonders why he chose, of all people, a prominent champion of the Palestinians to be his victim?

With luck like this, Israel doesn't need American financial aid--they merely require a suitable stake with which to gamble at the world's major casinos and all the wealth they require will surely be theirs.

Since the timeline of assassinations of prominent Swedish identities dates back to the assassination of Folke Bernadette in the 1940's, it could be argued that former UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold be included, imo.

He was a vocal critic of Israel during the Suez crisis and was involved in heated correspondence with Israeli PM Ben-Gurion at the time (sound familiar?). Here's an excerpt from one of Hammarskjold's letters to BG in 1957, from Astucia's Opium Lords:

http://www.jfkmontreal.com/lbj's_passi..._attachment.htm

You are convinced that the threat of retaliation has a deterrent effect. I am convinced that it is more of an incitement to individual members of the Arab forces than even what has been said by their own governments. You are convinced that acts of retaliation will stop further incidents. I am convinced that they will lead to further incidents….You believe that this way of creating respect for Israel will pave the way for sound coexistence with the Arab people. I believe that the policy may postpone indefinitely the time for such coexistence…. I think the discussion of this question can be considered closed since you, in spite of previous discouraging experiences, have taken the responsibility of large-scale tests of the correctness of your belief.

Hammarskjold was killed when his plane blew up over Northern Rhodesia in September, 1961. Sabotaging a plane flight is easy when you have the right connections. Remember Enrico Mattei?

Edited May 10, 2007 by Mark Stapleton

[Paul Rigby]

I hope some of the Swedes on the forum do share any info they feel would be of interest to the rest of us.

Swedish readers - any good reportage those of us who don't speak or read Swedish should know about? Or did the Swedish media cave-in like their mainstream British and US equivalents unfailingly do at such times?

Paul

[Len Colby]

Christopher Bollyn wrote a http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/article.asp?ID=1120" target="_blank">September 2003 article in American Free Press which seems to me to ask some of the right questions.

However, IMO Bollyn has since effectively been outed as a purveyor of disinformation. Consequently I'd not be surprised if some of the detail in the article is false.

Yes a xxxx with obvious bias. He left out that just before he wrote the article the police had announced the suspect in their custody was linked by DNA to the murder. He falsely claimed that no one had been charged in the Palme case, Christer Pettersson was identified by Palme’s widow, confessed* to and convicted of the crime but had his conviction over turned in large part because the murder weapon was never found.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1626232.stm (Though the credibility of his confession has been questioned)

Yet agencies of the Israeli State must be a prime suspect... IF the official story of Lindh's assassination doesn't represent a genuine, comprehensive account of what really happened in the assassination.

As you indicated there is little doubt the man convicted of the crime was the culprit, I’ve seen no evidence linking him to Israel or groups tied to Israel. Nor have I ever seen credible evidence that some one could be trained to be a “Manchurian Candidate” from what I gather most psychologists and psychiatrists say it’s impossible. Also stabbing some one with a knife in the stomach is not a very effective way to assassinate someone, as most articles indicate doctors expected her to survive.

Motive was also questionable, she was a strong critic of Israel but had little power outside of her own relatively powerless country.

This January 20th 2003 article by Gary North indicates why: http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north155.html" target="_blank">International Assassination Squads

The article also indicates the people to be targeted were terrorists and that numerous other countries, including the US engaged in such practices.

2003 also saw the mysterious suicide?/accident? of Jürgen Möllemann in Germany, another outspoken critic of Israel who had also enraged Germany's organized Jewish lobby.

There is no evidence the reactionary was murdered and he almost certainly wasn’t. Not much of a mystery, the article indicated that “eyewitness accounts, the post-mortem and the police investigation all point to suicide” and that “plunged to his death in the course of a parachute jump. Möllemann, 57, was an experienced parachutist” experienced parachutists almost always pack both their main and back-up “chutes”. Although once a cabinet member he (according to your article) was then at the margins of German politics he had recently been expelled from his party which polled less than 5% in many states and was under investigation for corruption “One hour after the unanimous parliamentary vote to lift his immunity, Möllemann, leapt to his death”. Other than the author’s half hearted attempts at spinning such a notion there is no evidence of foul play.

Of course, the year previously, Elie Hobeika was blown to pieces in the streets of Beirut:

It was Hobeika and his Israel-backed Lebanese militia who were fingered by an Israeli commission of inquiry for carrying out the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacres in Beirut. With Hobeika apparently poised to testify before a Belgian court about Sharon’s role in the massacre, Hobeika’s assassination raised some eyebrows, to say the least.

This one might actually have been the Israelis but they were only one of many groups who wanted him dead. Your article indicates that

1)“there were doubts that Hobeika actually intended to testify in the first place”

2)“questions will certainly remain as to whether Hobeika’s word is one that can be trusted”

3) He claims to have made tapes of his testimony (though this was only revealed after his death)

4) “It is unclear whether the full truth of Sabra and Shatila will ever emerge and whether Hobeika’s death will benefit Sharon in the court proceedings in Belgium”.

Worst case scenario Hobeika whose credibility was questionable would have claimed Sharon ordered the killings but it would have been one man’s word against the other’s. It wasn’t even clear he was going to finger Sharon, he apparently told some Belgian legislators he would but never said so publicly.

Something of a pattern?

If one looks hard enough they are likely to find evidence that fits their preconceived notions

Since the timeline of assassinations of prominent Swedish identities dates back to the assassination of Folke Bernadette in the 1940's, it could be argued that former UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold be included, imo.

He was a vocal critic of Israel during the Suez crisis and was involved in heated correspondence with Israeli PM Ben-Gurion at the time (sound familiar?). Here's an excerpt from one of Hammarskjold's letters to BG in 1957, from Astucia's Opium Lords:

http://www.jfkmontreal.com/lbj's_passi..._attachment.htm

You are convinced that the threat of retaliation has a deterrent effect. I am convinced that it is more of an incitement to individual members of the Arab forces than even what has been said by their own governments. You are convinced that acts of retaliation will stop further incidents. I am convinced that they will lead to further incidents….You believe that this way of creating respect for Israel will pave the way for sound coexistence with the Arab people. I believe that the policy may postpone indefinitely the time for such coexistence…. I think the discussion of this question can be considered closed since you, in spite of previous discouraging experiences, have taken the responsibility of large-scale tests of the correctness of your belief.

Hammarskjold was killed when his plane blew up over the Congo in September, 1961. Sabotaging a plane flight is easy when you have the right connections. Remember Enrico Mattei?

1) There is no evidence Hammarskjold was murdered. The plane crashed it hadn’t ‘blown up over the Congo’ (though the only survivor claimed he heard explosions before the crash).

2) Since he had only a few months left in his term and was almost certainly going to be vetoed for a third one by the Soviets IF he was assassinated it was by someone with pressing motive, not over what he’d done 5 years earlier (the letter was written in ’56), which would have been people involved in the Congo dispute. Is there any reason the Israelis would have wanted him dead in 1961?

As for Mattei, I've haven't seen any credible evidence his plane was sabotaged but then again I'm not that familiar case. Do you have any evidence that a) "Sabotaging a plane flight is easy when you have the right connections" and Israel had "the right connections" in the Congo

[Len Colby]

dupe post

Edited May 10, 2007 by Len Colby

[David Richardson]

A bit of Swedish reaction …

Anna Lindh was running the campaign in favour of Swedish entry into the euro zone when she was murdered. This was unpopular (the vote went against in the end), and it gave her a lot of publicity at the time.

She didn't have any secret service bodyguards … but, on the other hand, the Swedish secret service must rank as one of the most incompetent in the world! They've got plenty of right-wingers in their ranks, but they're quite capable of screwing things up on their own. Anna Lindh's killer was also very mentally-unstable at the time, so there's quite a lot of credibility in the idea that he just happened to run into her in the NK department store and decided to murder her more or less on impulse (the evidence from the store's own surveillance cameras was used in court to great effect).

As for Olof Palme, it also looks very likely that Christer Pettersson carried out that murder, probably on impulse. His trial was something of a farce … but Swedish courts are famed for screwing up even the simplest of cases. For example, if you and I murder someone, and then each of us blames the other one for the decisive blow (and we're careful to, say, stab the victim plenty of times, so that it's difficult to say which blow actually killed him or her), then we'll both be acquitted! The rules of evidence are a bit of a joke, and the panel of judges (who both decide on guilt or innocence and pass sentence) has a majority of laymen on it.

Sweden's still a very open society. I've stood within yards of the previous Prime Minister, Göran Persson, on two occasions, when his bodyguards were somewhere else - and I don't even live in Stockholm. The Swedish secret service definitely had it in for Palme … but, once again, they're pretty incompetent, so you don't have to go looking for explanations of their many failures immediately after the event.

[Paul Rigby]

A bit of Swedish reaction …

The Swedish secret service definitely had it in for Palme … but, once again, they're pretty incompetent, so you don't have to go looking for explanations of their many failures immediately after the event.

Very welcome contribution, David, for which thanks.

Concerning the reputation of Swedish spookery for extreme right-wingery: why are the spooks so much more right-wing than the general population? Is it because they are recruited, as in England, from a particular class, caste and/or profession?

And what of Bernt Carlsson's death? Any decent investigative reportage in Sweden on Lockerbie?

Paul

[Mark Stapleton]

If one looks hard enough they are likely to find evidence that fits their preconceived notions

One of the reasons that Israel are often suspected in cases where prominent persons are murdered, especially when those persons have been in disputes with Israel, is because Israel have a proven track record of murder. The bombing of the King David Hotel, the assassination of Bernadotte, hit squads sent in to kill suspected terrorists in neighbouring countries as well as massacres involving innocents etc (that includes the USS Liberty, accident or no accident). I know you don't like accepting it Len, but Israel are proven killers. Pure and simple. You rush to their defence whenever there is a sliver of doubt (and except for the killings Israel has signed off on, there is always a lack of certainty concerning their guilt), but whenever there are unexplained deaths concerning persons who have had public disputes with that state, Israel is always a suspect, imo. Why? Because, as I said before, their track record incriminates them. As for your questioning the motive for Israel wanting to murder Lindh, it's all speculation isn't it? Israel may have considered her a charismatic and dangerous adversary who may have had the potential to become a future leader of Sweden or high office holder in the UN, who could then influence many people with her arguments. If so, it's entirely possible that they decided to truncate her career there and then. She won't be influencing anyone with her arguments now. This murder has similarities to the murder of Mary Pinchot Meyer and, as in that case, I don't believe any official story about her being a random, unfortunate victim of a deranged lone nut killer. Someone else wanted her dead and there was nothing random about it, imo. BTW, don't bother asking because I won't be getting into a tedious, nit-picking debate by responding to questions like, 'please cite evidence in support of your assertion that Israel are proven killers'.

Since the timeline of assassinations of prominent Swedish identities dates back to the assassination of Folke Bernadette in the 1940's, it could be argued that former UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold be included, imo.

He was a vocal critic of Israel during the Suez crisis and was involved in heated correspondence with Israeli PM Ben-Gurion at the time (sound familiar?). Here's an excerpt from one of Hammarskjold's letters to BG in 1957, from Astucia's Opium Lords:

http://www.jfkmontreal.com/lbj's_passi..._attachment.htm

You are convinced that the threat of retaliation has a deterrent effect. I am convinced that it is more of an incitement to individual members of the Arab forces than even what has been said by their own governments. You are convinced that acts of retaliation will stop further incidents. I am convinced that they will lead to further incidents….You believe that this way of creating respect for Israel will pave the way for sound coexistence with the Arab people. I believe that the policy may postpone indefinitely the time for such coexistence…. I think the discussion of this question can be considered closed since you, in spite of previous discouraging experiences, have taken the responsibility of large-scale tests of the correctness of your belief.

Hammarskjold was killed when his plane blew up over the Congo in September, 1961. Sabotaging a plane flight is easy when you have the right connections. Remember Enrico Mattei?

1) There is no evidence Hammarskjold was murdered. The plane crashed it hadn’t ‘blown up over the Congo’ (though the only survivor claimed he heard explosions before the crash).

That's right, there's no proof he was murdered, although the explosion which led to the crash makes it a possible case of sabotage. In fact South Africa were reportedly unhappy with the purpose of his mission in the Congo, as were the Soviets. However, as I said before, he goes down in history with a question mark over his death and he must be counted among the deaths of those who had previously been in bitter dispute with Israel--proven killers.

2) Since he had only a few months left in his term and was almost certainly going to be vetoed for a third one by the Soviets IF he was assassinated it was by someone with pressing motive, not over what he’d done 5 years earlier (the letter was written in ’56), which would have been people involved in the Congo dispute. Is there any reason the Israelis would have wanted him dead in 1961?

As for Mattei, I've haven't seen any credible evidence his plane was sabotaged but then again I'm not that familiar case. Do you have any evidence that a) "Sabotaging a plane flight is easy when you have the right connections" and Israel had "the right connections" in the Congo

Mattei was definitely murdered. A bomb was planted on his plane, imo. I never said I suspected Israel to be involved in Mattei's death. The oil industry, in particular Texas, had strong motivation to kill this dangerous threat to future profits. He was the subject of an interesting thread in 2005:

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.ph...c=4495&st=0

[Sid Walker]

One of the reasons that Israel are often suspected in cases where prominent persons are murdered, especially when those persons have been in disputes with Israel, is because Israel have a proven track record of murder....

I think that's right. Israel can hardly have it both ways. Either its long reach and deadly strike is to be feared - or not. As the extract of Hammarskjold's letters to Ben Gurion well demonstrates, the UN Secreatary General - as long ago as the 1950s - clearly believed that fear was Israel's strategy.

The western mass media plays a helpful role. Routinely, Israel is barely mentioned as a suspect when a suspicious death, such as the assassination of Anna Lindh, occurs.

The Hobeika murder was an exception. Shockingly, that was treated as something of a joke - a variation on the theme of "he got what was coming to him". Indeed, other potential witnesses against Sharon were also murdered around the same time (one in South America!), a spate of murders exceeding the bounds of plausible deniability. This was blatant, gangland-style pretrial elimination of key witnesses - yet it provoked only polite acquiescence (with the occasional chuckle) in the western mass media... certainly no outrage or concern to STOP the murders. Why on earth not?

In most assassinations there is NO attempt to investigate Israel as a serious suspect. The murder of Hariri in The Lebanon is a classic case in point. Qui bono? Israel, of course! Who gets accused and scapegoated - without any real motive or hard evidence? Syria - of course!

Standing up to Israel and calling for justice for the Palestinians requires a lot of courage, given the likelihood of vilification in the mass media.

It becomes downright discouraging if this call for justice also has a significant negative impact on life expectancy - and when even if one is unfortunate and joins the select but steadily growing club of 'terminated' ex-critics of Israel, if anyone gets blamed it's likely to be allies!

I presume that's the strategy of the tough guys who control the Zionist movement.

A paranoid culture that regards the world as replete with potential enemies and glorifies 'tough-guy' behaviour may regard this as very clever.

It is, however, psychopathic.

All of which, needless to say, while relevant to this thread as it has evolved, makes no assumptions about what really happened to Anna Lindh. Her death does needs to be properly investigated. There are indications that hasn't really happened - not so the public can be confident that justice has prevailed.

Leaders such as Anna Lindh and JFK belong to the world, IMO. Their deaths are tragedies of global significance. This isn't just a matter for the Swedes - any more than investigating 9-11 is a matter only for Americans.

Two specific questions.

Is the in-store footage of the time before Lindh's attack really compatible with the 'random act of violence' assertion?

What more can be discovered about the killer's background and associates?

Edited May 11, 2007 by Sid Walker

[David Richardson]

Concerning the reputation of Swedish spookery for extreme right-wingery: why are the spooks so much more right-wing than the general population? Is it because they are recruited, as in England, from a particular class, caste and/or profession?

One thing you have to bear in mind about Sweden is that significant portions of the population were pro-Nazi … right up until May 8th 1945 when they took the portraits of Hitler off the walls and became pro-American! The secret services had (and we suspect have) a lot of these unreconstructed Nazis in their ranks. One of the failures of the Social Democratic governments has been in confronting these people and flushing them out.

During the war, the Swedish secret service was very pro-Nazi, turning the King of Norway back at the frontier, and handing lots of Jewish refugees back to the Gestapo.

On the other hand, I've met several ex-soldiers who said that they had people in their units on the borders whose job it was to shoot the officers if the Germans invaded, because their captains and lieutenants would just go over to the German side.

A lot of this goes back to pro-German feelings, which have been a significant influence on Swedish society since the mid-19th century. The fact that Bismarck turned first on Sweden's old enemy, Denmark, helped get this started. In many ways, traditional Swedish society was very Germanic - with the love of titles, social ranks, law and order, etc , etc.

It was this deference which made the Social Democrats go along with things like the Institute for Racial Hygiene, which instigated the sterilization campaign on people seen as social deviants. The governments of the day just went along with whatever a Professor in white coat told them was 'scientifically proven'.

Another strand is Social-Democratic anti-communism. The Social Democrats had several scares way back in the days around World War One, and had every reason to suspect after World War Two that the pro-Moscow Communists were a threat to them. This made them suckers for secret service campaigns against Communists, since the Social Democrats were competing for the same voters. The Communists still sit in Parliament in Sweden, and were an important support group for the last Social Democratic government (and probably for the next one too).

It was this anti-communism which made Swedish governments so deferential to the Americans. Yes, I know all about the Vietnam War protests, but they've only just fished up the wreck of a Swedish spy plane which was spying on the Soviets for the Americans when it was shot down. Strange behaviour for a neutral power …

[Paul Rigby]

Concerning the reputation of Swedish spookery for extreme right-wingery: why are the spooks so much more right-wing than the general population? Is it because they are recruited, as in England, from a particular class, caste and/or profession?

One thing you have to bear in mind about Sweden is that significant portions of the population were pro-Nazi … right up until May 8th 1945 when they took the portraits of Hitler off the walls and became pro-American! The secret services had (and we suspect have) a lot of these unreconstructed Nazis in their ranks. One of the failures of the Social Democratic governments has been in confronting these people and flushing them out.

During the war, the Swedish secret service was very pro-Nazi, turning the King of Norway back at the frontier, and handing lots of Jewish refugees back to the Gestapo.

On the other hand, I've met several ex-soldiers who said that they had people in their units on the borders whose job it was to shoot the officers if the Germans invaded, because their captains and lieutenants would just go over to the German side.

A lot of this goes back to pro-German feelings, which have been a significant influence on Swedish society since the mid-19th century. The fact that Bismarck turned first on Sweden's old enemy, Denmark, helped get this started. In many ways, traditional Swedish society was very Germanic - with the love of titles, social ranks, law and order, etc , etc.

It was this deference which made the Social Democrats go along with things like the Institute for Racial Hygiene, which instigated the sterilization campaign on people seen as social deviants. The governments of the day just went along with whatever a Professor in white coat told them was 'scientifically proven'.

Another strand is Social-Democratic anti-communism. The Social Democrats had several scares way back in the days around World War One, and had every reason to suspect after World War Two that the pro-Moscow Communists were a threat to them. This made them suckers for secret service campaigns against Communists, since the Social Democrats were competing for the same voters. The Communists still sit in Parliament in Sweden, and were an important support group for the last Social Democratic government (and probably for the next one too).

It was this anti-communism which made Swedish governments so deferential to the Americans. Yes, I know all about the Vietnam War protests, but they've only just fished up the wreck of a Swedish spy plane which was spying on the Soviets for the Americans when it was shot down. Strange behaviour for a neutral power …

Excellent post, David, for which many thanks. I begin to wonder a) if I've entirely misunderstood key features of Swedish society in general; and specifically, if the historic function of the Social Democrats has been to furnish an enduring, self-effacing elite with little more than a liberal veneer? Your thoughts very welcome.

Paul