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Comment by mongol | Hacker News Reader

Would be interesting to hear how "interesting" this article is for an international audience. As a Swede I am sick and tired about all speculation over the years. It is like a wound that never heals. We will never know for sure. Probably like the JFK assasination.

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I always enjoy these articles (to the extend that one can take joy in them), because they rarely fail to highlight how different politics can be.

For an American audience, it's unthinkable that a leader of a government would go anywhere without their own private army. When I used to work in central Berlin, I regularly saw members of parliament and ministers have coffee or just walk around completely unprotected. Even Merkel could be seen with only modest security (usually two people), usually walking to/from her flat about a kilometre away from her office.

It's a world where a stranger is not primarily a threat, possibly-armed, and where civility hasn't completely broken down. And it's not even that rare.

Of course, the story itself kinda speaks against this view of the world.

I remember when I sat just behind José Manuel Barroso, that time the leader of the European Commission in a commercial airline, tourist class. I loved that guy, like the former Uruguayan president.

Good thing you like him. People in Portugal don't like him that much.

> Of course, the story itself kinda speaks against this view of the world.

Yet these crimes are so rare as to be huge deals when they do occur, and politicians here generally rather take their chances than lead a life protected from their very constituents. In a high-trust society it is also expected from politicians.

It's much easier to have trust in a small unimposing culturally homogeneous country of 10 million like Sweden vs a 300+ million economic and geopolitical juggernaut.

I was talking about Western Europe in general (the GP mentioned Merkel as an example).

I am from Washington DC and, while it's true that the President is always accompanied by a security retinue -- for reasons well-founded in history -- it is not uncommon to see members of either legislative body walking around unattended. It used to be more common, that's true, but it's still not unusual. The less of a media profile they have, the more likely it is that you'll run into them at a coffee shop.

>Of course, the story itself kinda speaks against this view of the world.

Only in the sense that somebody dying from having a walnut stuck in their throats speaks against not eating walnuts.

Politicians of all kinds go by themselves all the time in Europe, and it's no big deal.

Meanwhile, people with guards and police, like JFK and Reagan had attempts (the first of course successful) against them. If the killer is determined (or worse, willing to be killed themselves, like some modern wackos), they can always find some moment.

Unfortunately this wasn't the last time a high-ranking Swedish politician was murdered either.

https://www.thelocal.se/20110828/35814

I hear you, I'm Swedish as well and been hearing people talking about this since my birth (if not earlier).

However, seems they are getting closer at finding out. The article contains:

> In February of this year, the latest lead investigator appeared on Swedish television and, with astonishing confidence, promised to give the public a solution within the next few years. Caution is advisable; this possibility has been teased many times before.

But as mentioned, not the first time someone says that. Also, have not been living in Sweden for the last couple of years, so don't know more about the situation then outlined in the submission article.

Edit: my vote goes to Christer Pettersson being who he said he was, would not surprise me. Pretty fun to read about the different theories as well, some are listed here (for the english readers) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Olof_Palme#Mu...

> seems they are getting closer at finding out

As they say every time. You wouldn't read about it otherwise (ie buy).

Yes, this possibility has been teased many times before. On top of my head - Arrest of "33-åringen" days after the murder - Gert Fylking's article about Christer Petterssons admission to him - Pelle Svensson about "bombmannens testamente"

> As a Swede I am sick and tired about all speculation over the years.

I'm not a Swede, but I happened to be in Sweden as a trainee in Sweden just a year after it happened. For a couple of years I read every article I saw. But now that so much time has gone, I don't read any article any more. Not even this one, I was just curious what people comment. It is not unlikely that the murderer has died in the meantime. The same holds for anybody who might have (had) knowledge what exactly happened. The credibility of any new witnesses after so many years cannot be very high. If someone confesses and can offer unique proof/insider knowledge I will hear about whithout reading such articles. Or if credible documents are found in some secret service's archives that they were involved. But it's not anything likely enough to happen that I could still be interested.

You are right. It is actually more likely the murderer is dead than not. This is a simple observation because lots of people associated with the investigation are dead too. Simply beacause time has passed. Christer Pettersson is dead. Hans Holmér is dead. Lisbeth Palme is dead. 33-åringen is dead. Claes Zeime is dead. Axel Morath is dead. Lars Tingström is dead. Skandiamannen is dead. Ebbe Carlsson is dead. And so on, and so on..

Oh, I had already completely forgotten about Ebbe Carlsson. The Swedish Wikipedia article was I nice refresh of my memory and now I understand again why I had read every article back in the days. Better than any fiction... (The English Wikipedia does not mention anythig of the dozens of scandals and weird affairs he was involved in.)

I read this yesterday, and found it fascinating - I’d like to think I have a reasonably good knowledge of world history, but I’d never even heard or it.

In the US, one hears of this every now and then, perhaps on decade anniversaries.

for a foreigner, it shows how, if you can get the sympathy of the law enforcement grunts, you can get away with anything.

investigator feels he have to pay too much tax while arresting people they deem unworthy of government benefits? go ahead and shoot your prime minister as the investigation will be sabotaged anyway.

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