Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/05/17/slovakian-pm-shot-by-poet-violence-heralds-unrest.html
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For Fico: live by right-wing conspiracism and hate, die by it. I wish he was the last of the fascist thugs plaguing Slovakia, but if he succumbs to his wounds it will deal them a serious blow.
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Be the leader of a leftish (on paper) populist party,
and get shot from the right side.
As far as I’m reading in some papers , the shooter had been part of the disbanded Slovenskí Branci, a pro Russia paramilitary group - theoretically apolitical, but…just look at their flag and get shivers down your spine.
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That’s the grimly amusing part. “We’re populists who support social programmes for citizens. Sure, we have an autocratic leader, shut down the press, persecute Roma and LGBTQ+ people, and spread conspiracy theories about the Jews. But how dare you call us fascists and Nazis?!”
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That was what was depressing to see go unmentioned in the various fulsome expressions of concern and support and wringing of hands about ‘attack on democracy’ and ‘unprecedented threat to Slovak democracy’.
Obviously, it’s not false that political(as opposed to just weird John Hinckley Jr. type stuff) assassination attempts are not the stuff of which healthy democratic transfer of power is made; and I’m certainly not expecting EU functionaries speaking on record to embrace the “fucker had it coming” standard; but speaking as though the attack on democracy starts when the PM gets shot when it has been in progress by that very fellow for some time now is a troublesome elision.
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So “socialists”, just of the nationalist variety. 
I can remember when people were debating whether it would be right to kill Hitler when he was a baby who hadn’t done anything yet, before it somehow changed to wondering if it was all right to punch someone openly trying to set up a genocidal dictatorship.
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I read that the PM is pro-russia, not the shooter.
???
I heard it in this morning “il Post” foreign press review podcast.
From the corresponding article on “il Post”, one of (the?) most reliable online news in Italy:
Analizzando il suo profilo su Facebook, il giornalista investigativo ungherese Szabolcs Panyi ha scritto che l’uomo sembrerebbe un simpatizzante di Slovenskí Branci, un gruppo paramilitare filorusso noto per i legami con il governo di Vladimir Putin, sospettato tra le altre cose di aver cercato di reclutare uomini in Slovacchia.
My off the cuff translation:
“Analyzing [the shooter’s] profile on Facebook, Hungarian investigative journalist Szabolcs Panyi wrote that the man is seemingly a supporter of Slovenskí Branci, a pro-Russia paramilitary group, known for its link to V.Putin government, under suspicion, among other things, for having tried to recruit men in Slovakia”
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ We’ll see if this is confirmed in the coming days.
And about the fucking flag of SB: I will never believe that its center red-white lozenge is just coincidentally matching the Hitler Youth one.
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It seems that both are. But perhaps the arsehole PM was not sufficiently pro-Russia for his arsehole assailant. That’s how they roll in fascist land.
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Oh, FFS.
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