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Swedish foreign minister Lindh dies after attack


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Guest imported_Europe

I feel like shit right now and its not because of the anniversary of 9-11. Actually I feel much worse then I did at 9-11-2001.

 

Swedish foreign minister Lindh dies after attack

STOCKHOLM, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Sweden's Foreign Minister Anna Lindh died after prolonged surgery on Thursday after being stabbed by an unidentified man in a Stockholm department store on Wednesday, Prime Minister Goran Persson said.

A leading campaigner for Sweden to join the euro zone in a referendum on Sunday, and tipped as a future prime minister, she was stabbed in the chest, stomach and arms while shopping.

"I have received with sorrow information that Sweden's Foreign Minister Anna Lindh died this morning at 5.29 am of her wounds," Persson told a news conference.

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Guest imported_Europe

Earlier telegram before she was announced dead:

 

STOCKHOLM, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh was in critical condition and undergoing new surgery on Thursday after being stabbed in the chest, stomach and arms, doctors said, and police were still hunting her attacker.

Lindh, who was attacked soon after 4 p.m. (1400 GMT) on Wednesday while shopping in a downtown Stockholm department store, was in surgery for eight hours until early on Thursday, and the surgery had resumed, Karolinska hospital doctors said.

The Social Democrat government was due to meet at 9 a.m. (0700 GMT) and leaders of the main parties were to meet later to decide whether to go ahead with a key referendum on Sunday on Swedish membership of the euro.

Lindh, one of Sweden's most popular and respected politicians, has been campaigning for Sweden to join the euro, though opponents of membership of the European Union's common currency have led in opinion polls since April.

Political commentators said an extraordinary session of parliament could be convened on Saturday and the assembly might decide to postpone the euro plebiscite.

The crown held firm against the euro, trading at 9.1148 at 0625 GMT compared with 9.1375 at Wednesday's close.

Police said there were no clues to the motives of the unidentified man who stabbed Lindh several times before escaping unchallenged. Police from across Sweden were rushed to Stockholm to help in the search.

Officials would not say whether Lindh had received any threats.

Police said they were looking for a man about 180 cm (six feet) tall. They found the man's army jacket, cap and knife and were analysing video footage from the shop's security cameras.

At a brief 3 a.m. (0100 GMT) news conference, doctors said Lindh had severe internal bleeding, but was conscious when she was brought in just before 5 p.m. (1500 GMT) the day before.

 

LIVER WOUND

The hospital said in a statement: "We at once decided to operate...during the operation it was confirmed that there was severe internal bleeding from a wound to the liver and several large blood vessels in the abdomen."

"The foreign minister's condition has now somewhat improved but is still critical," hospital doctor Lars Irestedt told the news conference 10 hours after the attack.

The stabbing shocked the relatively crime-free Nordic nation whose politicians, except the prime minister, generally walk around without bodyguards.

In 1986 Sweden was traumatised when Prime Minister Olof Palme was shot dead on his way home from a cinema, just a few blocks from where Lindh was stabbed. His assassin was never caught.

"The attack on her is an attack on our open society," said Prime Minister Goran Persson, who told a news conference late on Wednesday he had ordered increased security around King Carl XVI Gustaf, top politicians and major government buildings.

Kurt Malmstrom, the chief of the security police responsible for the safety of government officials, said security had been increased to the highest level.

Lindh, married with two children, became foreign minister in 1998 after a stellar career in the Social Democratic party, which has ruled Sweden for six of the last seven decades. REUTERS

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Guest imported_Europe

^^

The news of her death was released 10 minutes ago. Its horrible, people at my office are sitting around silent and staring now, the girls are crying. If the american media wasnt so selfcentered they would be all over this instead of fucking remembering 9-11

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Originally posted by Europe

If the american media wasnt so selfcentered they would be all over this instead of fucking remembering 9-11

 

yeah, who gives a shit about 9-11...i mean it was only the most bold terrorist attack in the last 2000 years! what self centered assholes we must be, to be focusing on it, on its anniversary, and looking at how the fallout of it is (right or wrong) is shaping the whole world!

no offense, but what is more relevent to americans, having several thousand of their fellow countrymen killed in a terrorist attack, or having one person stabbed? we have enough problems giving a shit about our next door neighbor, let alone some women we've never heard of, in a country we know only through ikea catalogues and culinary puppets.

not saying i necessarily agree, just saying thats how it is.

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Guest imported_Europe
Originally posted by seeking

yeah, who gives a shit about 9-11...i mean it was only the most bold terrorist attack in the last 2000 years! what self centered assholes we must be, to be focusing on it, on its anniversary, and looking at how the fallout of it is (right or wrong) is shaping the whole world!

no offense, but what is more relevent to americans, having several thousand of their fellow countrymen killed in a terrorist attack, or having one person stabbed? we have enough problems giving a shit about our next door neighbor, let alone some women we've never heard of, in a country we know only through ikea catalogues and culinary puppets.

not saying i necessarily agree, just saying thats how it is.

 

Whatever, I didnt expect anybody to really get this, except Tesser maybe. Thanks for proving that seeks...

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Originally posted by Europe

If the american media wasnt so selfcentered they would be all over this instead of fucking remembering 9-11

 

wow, i'm sensing some mega deep hostile vibe-tronicsz here.

 

rip.

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Originally posted by Europe

Whatever, I didnt expect anybody to really get this, except Tesser maybe. Thanks for proving that seeks...

 

perhaps you or tesser would like to explain what exactly you're belitteling of the murder of 5,000 people, and our 'selfcentered' desire to commerate this event is supposed to 'prove'.

you know im no fan of american politics and in many cases, citizens, but your comments here are just ignorant. we as americans certainly do need to begin paying more attention to foreign politics, but it does not need to be at the expense of our own homeland issues. we certainly have the capacity to honor both, but the present system and the fact that weve never known anything but unilateral interest kind of hinders that.

9-11 was not an 'american tragedy', it was a world tragedy (in every possible respect.)

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i'm sure you do feel more bad about this than you felt on 11/9/01, but that doesn't mean we americans will sympatize. it is wrong when an innocent person is killed anywhere, the feeling is noticably stronger where connections are greater. as someone who hasn't associated her with anything much before this, who's fellow countryperson she isn't, it's not much for me that i wonder why this happened, it's more of a passing thought. i'll register it again when they find the attacker, and move on. in fact that is the reason i stumbled into this thread, i was hoping the attacker was found and some reasons or reason given why. probably sounds similar to you're behavior to 11/9, or 9/11 as we americans say? so there is really no comparison between you're feeling now at the death of this person and how you felt on the date. it therefore seems wrong and spiteful, in my opinion, to introduce this topic in such a way, or for me to come on here and downplay Lindh's death, which i haven't, nor has anyone else. i don't mean to be patronizing by saying all this, but it's times like these which shout for understanding. my heart goes out for you.

 

rip A. L.

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Originally posted by seeking

yeah, who gives a shit about 9-11...i mean it was only the most bold terrorist attack in the last 2000 years! what self centered assholes we must be, to be focusing on it, on its anniversary, and looking at how the fallout of it is (right or wrong) is shaping the whole world!

no offense, but what is more relevent to americans, having several thousand of their fellow countrymen killed in a terrorist attack, or having one person stabbed? we have enough problems giving a shit about our next door neighbor, let alone some women we've never heard of, in a country we know only through ikea catalogues and culinary puppets.

not saying i necessarily agree, just saying thats how it is.

 

there are countries out side of the US border ya know?

right now, im sure the people of sweden dont really give much of a fuck about how America is feeling, so why dont the majority of Americans take a look out side of their box at the rest of the world...

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well, I can fully understand why this is big news in Europe, and I can also have 2 thoughts at once so I don't care about 9/11/01 -vs- 9/11/03 but... I still don't understand why she was murdered... was it just some random wacko or was it some political nut or her ex-husband?

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Sweden Seeks Foreign Minister's Assasin

 

By KARL RITTER

Associated Press Writer

STOCKHOLM, Sweden

Police searched Thursday for a tall, stocky Swede with acne scarred skin who fatally stabbed Foreign Minister Anna Lindh in a Stockholm store. Her death removed the nation's leading campaigner for replacing the krona with the euro - an issue that had inspired vehement opposition.

 

The 46-year-old Lindh died at a hospital Thursday, a day after she was chased up an escalator and repeatedly stabbed in the stomach, chest and arm. Her attacker fled, dropping his knife and camouflage jacket.

 

Police said they were searching for a 6-foot Swedish man with bad skin and shoulder-length dark-blond hair, possibly with a criminal record. They said he was about 30, clean-shaven and wore a hooded sweater and hat when last seen. Borders and ferries were being monitored closely. No arrests have been made.

 

Swedish Prime Minister Goeran Persson said Sunday's referendum on adopting the euro - the common European Union currency backed by Lindh - would go ahead, though he ordered an immediate halt to campaigning.

 

Police do not believe the attack was politically motivated, despite the fact that it came just three days before the referendum vote.

 

"There is nothing that indicates there was any careful planning in this," Persson said of the attack.

 

Police spokesman Leif Jennekvist acknowledged police were in need of clues, but ruled out the possibility the suspect might evade justice, like the attacker who killed Prime Minister Olof Palme in 1986.

 

"We are going to find him," Jennekvist said. "That's our job."

 

The attack on Lindh raised concerns in Sweden and its Nordic neighbors about the openness of their countries, where it's common to see a prime minister jogging without bodyguards and politicians strolling the streets with their families.

 

Critics said Sweden's security agency, known as SAPO, should have learned more from the murder of Palme, who was shot in downtown Stockholm while walking with his wife. Like Lindh, Palme had no bodyguard.

 

"In the middle of all the grief, you almost feel some anger," said Jan Nygren, a former Cabinet minister. "How could this happen? And again?"

 

Although security was tightened after Palme's murder, only the prime minister and the king now are afforded round-the-clock protection. Other Cabinet ministers have them when security officials believe they're needed.

 

SAPO said Lindh had no bodyguards when she was attacked Wednesday because there had been no threats against her.

 

"Of course it feels like a failure when this kind of event happens involving a person that we have the responsibility to protect," acting SAPO chief Kurt Malmstroem said. "But whether we have made a mistake in evaluating information and other things, the future will tell."

 

He said security had been temporarily heightened around government officials, but declined to give details.

 

Jerzy Sarnecki, a Stockholm University criminology professor, criticized SAPO, noting Lindh was a leading figure in the Social Democratic government's efforts to persuade Swedes to adopt the euro in Sunday's referendum.

 

"To put it mildly, how the hell can you say that there wasn't a threat in a politically inflamed situation?" he said. "That's not the assessment I would have made."

 

Such criticism echoed across Stockholm on Thursday. Flags flew at half-staff throughout the country of 9 million, and in the Riksdag, or parliament, lawmakers held a moment of silence. Many churches were kept open for mourners.

 

"Our society has become tougher. There is so much violence now. We have to battle that more," said Hans-Olov Jordaas, 70, a former politician. He added that it was a "catastrophe" that police and the security services had not protected Lindh.

 

"That's absurd. What's the point, if you wait for a threat?" he asked.

 

Tributes poured in from around the world to Lindh, who many Swedes believed might have become prime minister.

 

In Washington, Secretary of State Colin Powell emotionally recalled his friendship with Lindh: "She had a special energy, integrity and compassion and she spent a great deal of her time focusing her efforts on global humanitarian issues. Anna was a cherished colleague and friend, and I will miss her.

 

Around Stockholm, posters bearing Lindh's image and pushing for a "yes" vote in the referendum were bedecked with red and white roses.

 

One such billboard was across the road from the site where Palme was murdered. The plaque marking the spot was encircled in carnations, roses and lilys, seemingly in concerted remembrance of Lindh, who was part of the same political party.

 

Persson called Lindh "a good representative" of Sweden's "openness" and "democratic society," and said the country should retain the closeness between citizens and elected officials.

 

But national police chief Sten Heckscher suggested that policy could be reviewed because of Lindh's slaying.

 

"My personal guess is that if one were to leave that (policy), it would be with a lot of reluctance," he said.

 

The slaying stunned Sweden's Nordic neighbors.

 

"It is an attack on our open form of democracy," Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik said. "We have to be more watchful, but I feel safe. ... If we close ourselves in, we will lose some of the openness of our Nordic societies."

 

Bondevik said his government began examining its security procedures after learning of Lindh's stabbing.

 

In Finland, Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen described the attack as "a major setback and shock" to the open societies of the Nordic countries.

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Guest imported_Europe

Let me set straight what I actually said (for seek and others):

 

Originally posted by Europe

If the american media wasnt so selfcentered they would be all over this instead of fucking remembering 9-11

 

So I bashed the american MEDIA, well bu-fucking-hoo... Quick, jump to the MEDIAS defence everyone! Let the MEDIA show memorial stuff all year round, forever and ever. It would be terrible if the MEDIA started focusing on what actually goes on in the world today...

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Guest imported_Europe
Originally posted by Edika

can i know why you and your nation are so deeply affected by her death?

 

Good question.

 

Sweden is the brother-country here and our nations and populations are very similar. So this could in theory happen here too. Scandinavia in general are known for their open, low-security societies, we dont have much crime and murders are rare. Public figures, famous people and politicians can walk the streets without bodyguards and be a part of society instead of being segregated from it. This murder is an attack on this lifestyle and our society.

 

When I was young, in 1986, the swedish Primeminister Oluf Palme was gunned down infront of a theatre in central Stockholm. The killer was never found. I still remember where I was when I heard the news and how surreal it was and still is. This unsolved murder has been an open wound for Sweden since then and then this new murder happens.

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Guest imported_Europe
Originally posted by seeking

perhaps you or tesser would like to explain what exactly you're belitteling of the murder of 5,000 people, and our 'selfcentered' desire to commerate this event is supposed to 'prove'.

you know im no fan of american politics and in many cases, citizens, but your comments here are just ignorant. we as americans certainly do need to begin paying more attention to foreign politics, but it does not need to be at the expense of our own homeland issues. we certainly have the capacity to honor both, but the present system and the fact that weve never known anything but unilateral interest kind of hinders that.

9-11 was not an 'american tragedy', it was a world tragedy (in every possible respect.)

 

3000 people.

And Im not belittleling them or 9-11. But why should the american MEDIA to shut down and only focus on memorial services for 9-11 for an entire day??? Especially when there is breaking news happening elsewhere?

 

And if you want the world to share 9-11 as a world tragedy, maybe you should try and share the tragedies from the rest of the world too. It goes both ways you know...

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I never even heard of this...maybe its my lack of viewing televison as a valid media tool. That shit really fuckin sucks, lindh was a great foreign minister from the things I have read about her. About the 9/11 comments...sure it is terrible but I really think that the overexposure is terrible...we as americans have a factuation with past events and it seems like we have a hard time moveing forward from things...As you said europe breaking news is constantly happening world wide...stopping everything for a day to focus on a tradgedy that happened two years ago doesnt seem worth it to me...Sure lower the flags and say a prayer or what ever makes you feel safer...but dwelling on it like people do seems like depression to me.

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Guest imported_Europe

Sweden's Lindh Calls Bush ''Lone Ranger'' on Iraq

by Peter Starck

 

STOCKHOLM, June 6 — Sweden's Foreign Minister Anna Lindh said on Friday that U.S. President George W. Bush had acted like a ''lone ranger'' on Iraq and warned that other countries could be tempted to follow America's example.

 

Sweden has harshly criticised the U.S.-led war on Iraq, saying it did not have United Nations' approval. Lindh reiterated that position ahead of her visit to Washington next week for talks with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell.

 

''Today's broad security agenda demands new thinking and multilateral solutions,'' Lindh told a Stockholm conference on Women and Security.

 

''This is not the time for the lone ranger, this is the time for common action, multilateral action.''

 

After the speech, Lindh told reporters that her ''lone ranger'' remark did not refer only to Bush.

 

''We can also see, I'm afraid, lone rangers in other countries, countries thinking that they can deal with all these very difficult issues by themselves and not having to work with others,'' she said, declining to give any names.

 

''Nobody should try to be the lone ranger... That is a threat today that you can see in several countries, and the fear is that the U.S. action (in Iraq) will increase the idea that other countries can act militarily without involving the U.N.,'' Lindh said.

 

U.S.-led forces toppled Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in April but are yet to find any weapons of mass destruction, given by Washington as the main justification for the war.

 

Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited.

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This is rather tragic..

 

I know for sure I can't relate to the people of Scandanavia and other West European countries, but from the little research I've done of Sweden, this is a major blow to their society.

 

 

Not to change the subject or anything, lately I've been researching Sweden because I'd like to take a nice week or two trip to Stockholm. It seems to be a very nice place to visit and to take a look. I'm considering living in a European country for a year or more, because I want to experience living in a different country other than the USA. The culture is warm and open (but not the seasons, 5 hours of daylight in the winter) and government paid health insurance is dope.

 

R.I.P.

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Guest imported_Europe

Maybe the swedish hockeyplayers can express it better...

 

Swedes on Leafs stunned by killing

Sundin: Lindh's death `disturbing'

 

Renberg: It has changed Sweden

 

PAUL HUNTER

SPORTS REPORTER

 

STOCKHOLM—The Maple Leafs arrived at a city in mourning yesterday, their chartered flight touching down here only two hours after it was announced that Sweden's foreign minister, Anna Lindh, died as the result of a brutal knife attack.

 

And for the team's five Swedish players, that news brought the grim realization that their country had lost its innocence. And that they, as athletes, had perhaps forever lost the cocoon-like protection they assumed they enjoyed in their homeland.

 

"I can't believe what happened. I can't believe that happened in Sweden," an emotional Mikael Renberg said. "I know in Sweden we want to keep everything open. We want to have athletes, or whoever, side-by-side with regular people. Politicians, too. But I don't know if we can do that. We have to protect those people better than we do. I don't think Sweden will be the same again now."

 

It certainly wasn't the same yesterday as passersby placed single roses on a makeshift tribute to Lindh outside Nordiska Kompaniet, the upscale department store in which the politician was shopping in mid-afternoon when attacked Wednesday. The store is about a 15-minute walk from the Leafs' hotel.

 

Lindh was a leading spokesperson for the yes side in Sunday's referendum on whether Sweden should adopt the Euro dollar. And her prominence — Lindh's image appears on campaign posters in many of the city's bus shelters — lent a ghostly presence to Stockholm, particularly after citizens placed candles at the base of several of those ads.

 

"It's tough to focus on the start of this training camp. The news we received this morning was really disturbing," said Leafs captain Mats Sundin, who grew up in the Stockholm suburb of Bromma. "(Sweden) certainly is in a state of shock. And for myself, and I'm sure for the Swedish people, it's a tough day."

 

The NHL announced that Toronto's training camp, that includes two exhibition games in Stockholm next week, will continue as planned. Two years ago in the midst of Colorado's visit here, when terrorists attacked the U.S. on Sept.11, the league cancelled two of the three exhibition games.

 

"It's a bit awkward, but at the same time we'll move ahead with all of our plans," league spokesman Ken Yaffe said.

 

Sweden, a country with deep socialist roots, prides itself in its egalitarian culture.

 

People with national profiles, whether it's hockey players or politicians, generally mingle with the public. Lindh had no bodyguard with her as she shopped. It's not uncommon to see Sundin enjoying the city on his own during the off-season.

 

Leafs defensive prospect Staffan Kronvall, a Stockholm native, said it might now be necessary for someone with a high profile like Sundin to have a bodyguard in tow.

 

But the captain dismissed that as excessive.

 

"I don't think I'm at the level where I feel threatened. I don't think I've ever felt that way. If you think that way, it's tough to have a good life," he said. "You see in the U.S. how celebrities like movie stars have to have their bodyguards. You hope that doesn't become the case over here."

 

Renberg, too, in typical Swedish fashion, dismissed his own status as so insignificant that he didn't warrant extra protection but he said the days of politicians rubbing shoulders with the public are likely over. Swedish Prime Minister Olaf Palme was assassinated here in 1986 as he walked home, unprotected, with his wife after an evening at the theatre.

 

"People have to rethink their attitudes," said the resident of Luleå, a northern coastal town. "We complain about all the hotshots that have private planes or who go around in limousines using taxpayers' money but when something like this happens, we realize that's something they have to do."

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some of the comments in that last article kind of made me laugh a little....who writes stuff like that...

 

"had perhaps forever lost the cocoon-like protection they assumed they enjoyed in their homeland"

 

out of all the people to ask about this tradgedy why hockey players? could they not find anyone more interesting?

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Guest imported_Europe

In Geneva, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan hailed Lindh as a “great foreign minister, a great Swede and a great European”.

In Washington, the White House said President George W. Bush and the U.S. people were shocked and saddened by the killing of a “tireless advocate for freedom and peace”.

-Reuters

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