Talk:Olof Palme

Athol Visser

I have just completed a book by Wayne Thallon (Devil Incarnate) about a British born mercenary (Athol Visser) who's family finally settled in Rhodesia. He made his way through the ranks of certain overt and covert army units and orginizations. He claims that he orchestrated the assasination of Olof Palme while woking for a secret South african orginization who apposed any anti-apartheid movement. Assasanations were carried out by Athol Visser against foreign and domestic targets in Europe. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rolandram (talk • contribs) 10:54, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for this. I've added a piece about Athol Visser to the Olof Palme assassination article.Phase4 16:03, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

Removal of references to Mugabe and Baltics

This had appeared: " Palme was on good terms with Robert Mugabe, the autocratic strongman and president of Zimbabwe who was for many years a popular figure among left-leaning intellectuals, particularly in Europe. "

I removed it as at best an anachronism (and at worst a smear); at the time of Palme's assassination Mugabe was on "good terms" with most world leaders, as he was seen as a stabilizing force. It would in fact be surprising if Palme was not on good terms with Mugabe in the early 1980s. His decline in popularity in the West (not just among "left-leaning intellectuals," where his popularity was never exclusively based) occurred after Palme's death. See Wikipedia's own entry on the history of Zimbabwe for a more balanced view. Doprendek (talk) 08:38, 24 November 2007 (UTC)—Preceding unsigned comment added by Doprendek (talk • contribs) 06:59, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

"Though he would never shy from supporting the PLO and communist insurgents in Latin America, Palme never endorsed the dissident movements inside the USSR, including neighboring republics Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. While the Swedish right-wing opposition supported Baltic national liberation movements, Palme accused the members of the Moderate Party of "returning to that crusading spirit aiming to 'liberate' Eastern Europe that prevailed in conservative groups in the West during the Cold War" and also accused them of creating a "danger to the safety of the Swedish security policy". "

I removed this; it is not only the biased language shown by the use of an absolute ("Though he would never shy...") and unclear if potentially inflammatory wording ("communist insurgents in Latin America"--which?); the main problem is that the writer's own source suggests a different account than was written. See http://www.rel.ee/eng/communism_crimes.htm , where is written:

"But Palme only supported the Baltic freedom fight publicly on one single occasion, when he as leader of the opposition made the main speech at the celebration of the Estonian day of independence in the Concert Hall in Stockholm in February 1980.

Thus the Swedish social democrats managed in the eighties to get caught in a bind on the Baltic issue. On the one hand Palme in his speech had demanded "national independence" for the Baltic states which made it difficult for him and other social democrats to critizise others who demanded human and national rights for our Baltic neighbours. On the other hand Palme definitely did not want to annoy the Soviet leaders by stating what probably was his real opinions. For that reason he never answered any of the innumerable columns where I [the author, hardly an independent source] and others called for his support for the Baltic freedom fight. "

In other words: Palme had supported Estonian independence, publicly; some were apparently unhappy that he did not further back his words with actions that they favor. So, Olof Palme is shown to be a ... politician.

The only clear action on the international stage taken by Sweden under Palme that is noted in the article mentions his covert defense arrangements with the West.

I'm not saying that Palme's stands on the rocky road of the Non-Aligned aren't worthy of mention. But they should be given a more objective reading in the context of typical actions (or non-actions) of the sort of thing politicians off all stripes tend to do, just about anywhere, I would think, per my understanding of the Wikipedia guidelines. They certainly shouldn't suggest that matters went further than reported in an already-critical source, I would think.Doprendek (talk) 08:38, 24 November 2007 (UTC)