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There have been two political assassinations of Public Political figures in Sweden, namely Dag Hammarskjold(General Secretary of the UN) in 1961 and Olof Palme (Prime Minister)1986. Neither have been satisfactorily resolved and speculation about who was responsible has been rife in both cases. If without knowing the facts of either case one would hazard a guess as to where on the political spectrum the assassins dwell there are only two possible answers, the far right or the far left. Now in the case of Olof Palme the far left is an unlikely source of the deed but he did heavily criticise the USSR over the 1982 submarine incursions into Swedish territorial waters. It is not inconceivable but it is unlikely that he was assassinated by Russian agents who usually prefer poisoning or injections or methods that attract less attention in the commission of the act. The far right in Palmes case is a much more probable direction in which to look–The hate for Olof Palme in Sweden came from the right. So many commissions and inquiries have come to so many different conclusions that it is difficult to be dogmatic here but the latest suggestion of the so called Scandia-man(who disliked Palme) is the most probable so far –but without forensic evidence that can be tied to him the evidence remains circumstantial. Dag Hammarskjold on the other hand was not hated in Sweden but did evoke the wrath of the Conservative Monday Club in Britain over his handling of the Congo crisis—-invoking article 99 to send in UN troops. This however also was a threat to the USSR who demanded his resignation since the UN had up to then been regarded as a conference club with no authority in International affairs–a situation that the USSR was very comfortable with. Apparently relatively recently a Mercenary soldier admitted in Private to the deed and if this is true then the interesting question arises : did the money for the deed come from the far right or the far left? Given the methodology shooting down the plane with a missile my guess would be that the far left was the more likely culprit. Aristotle thousands of years ago set the agenda for Modern Politics by arguing that the rational solution of problems created by parties on the extreme fringes of situations is to seek a middle course(which is not the same as a compromise which might satisfy nobody)–the so called Golden Mean.
Sweden has been engaged on this project for some time now but a startling development has recently occurred namely the Neo-Nazi Party called “Sverigedemokraterna(SD)” have established a strong political base in Sweden–over 20% of the voters. Given the amazing declaration of the right to politically discuss issues with SD–the Golden Mean in Sweden has been transformed overnight into something more sinister.
Given what we have recently witnessed in the name of the far right in the USA(an insurrection) with no consequences for the real perpetrators it might be safe to conclude that Aristotle’s political agenda is no longer active in Politics. The Kantian/Enlightenment Project of a United Nations, however is still active and its political agenda of human rights(thanks perhaps to Kissinger) may well have reduced the USSR to Russia and perhaps Dag Hammarskjold at least will be resting more comfortably in peace.