~~Update: He has been stabilized at the hospital and is expected to recover.~~
Update:
I HATE to put on a tinfoil hat, but this is the best thing that could have happened to the ruling party. They are already in the middle of dismantling the media and justice. This will accelerate the process.
My exact thoughts. They are already using it to atack on oposition and press, fanning the flmes. If this was false flag attack, they would not act differently. Not saying it is. But it smells.
Either way situation in Slovakia will get a whole lot worse.
you don't false-flag the big boss of the entire party, that kinda defeats the point
There is always a (hidden) power struggle right beneath the big boss of any organisation.
Not if he survives. Either way they would get a martyr. It would be brazen tactic for sure. Could be a 3rd party, but alligned with them because they would know this would escalate things here and nudge Slovakia strongly to in the direction it was heading already.
But yes, I understand I should get at least trpple-layered tin foil hat for this.
Could be a 3rd party
But who would benefit from this kind of special political operation?
that's a load bearing if, and if that was doing of someone else in his party, then they'd need to do all that organizing and such, all covertly. or maybe it's italian mafia coming back for their debts, or some random dude
Oh yeah, totally. Can't disagree.
In the end it honestly doesn't matter that much. The flames of emotions are already fanned, oposition and press already blamed.
I have no love for Fico but this is a terrible event no mattet what.
it's him who would benefit the most out of it, but that's pretty useless when you're dead
There are other people in his government who can take over. Easy to rally behind a martyr.
Also he will greatly benefit if he lives, as per the OP edit he is stabilized. Edit: no idea what the source on that is, did notfind this info anywhere
Depends. Some figures like MLK Jr, sure. Others like Hitler or Trump can't be replaced because the entire movement is a personality cult based on them. I'm not familiar with Slovakian politics, so I can't say what would uave happened of he had been killed.
He is a promiment politician (this is his fourth term as Prime Minister) and very popular in the pro-Russian crowd (he is PM for a reason), but I'd not say he has such cult following.
That might change now though.
i've seen report that he has internal bleeding in abdomen that couldn't be stopped for 3h, so kinda, sorta this starts looking bleak. we'll see, for now slovak media is embargoed on this issue
Not looking good, no. Even from the little info we have it is quite clear this was not false flag operation (if it was this would be next level conspiracy shit, Occam's razor needs to be applied). It was always a stretch.
Why would anyone who is against Fico want to do this is beyond me. This act will makenthe situation much worse, some people in the governemnt and ruling parties are not exactly sane and some of them have bloody eyes. Whatever shit they did until now will be tame compared to what is ahead.
Tinfoil for what? It is going to benefit a lot the ruling party... Unless you mean that he planned this. Governments plan fake assassination attempts, this one doesn't look like one.
I am not surprised, they (ruling party) bank on polarizing people, attacking journalists and populism/prorussian reathorics.
I just listened to their press conference and they just pour gasoline on this situation. Like I nearly vomited hearing the accusations of journalists, opposition parties...
Don't want to be a conspircy theorist but this smells of an attempt to make him a martyr (false flag or done unwillingly by some 3rd party) to justify iron grip and even stronger attacks on democratic principles. There are also allegations he worked with mafia, so might be that too.
But even if I was wrong, it doesn't matter as they act just the same - already blaming oposition and the press for it.
We should also take into consideration that if I remember correctly, he or other government official already warned of this happening.
Either way, the fact this would happen in Slovakia is honestly terrifying.
The update is bulshit OP. Last official update I've seen is from 2 hours ago and he was still in surgery nd in life threatening condition. You put out that "update" long before that
Don't shoot the messenger. That was an official statement.
Don't takenit the wrong way. But wherever you got the info from, its bulshit. As per latest reports he is far from stabilized
Thanks for the update. I'll correct the post.
There has just been report that surgery was concluded and he is concious. Not sure if stable or not
edit: as per another member of the government his state is no longer considered life threatening. I'd include source but it's in Slovak, so no good for most people.
edit: so actually stable, but not completely safe is the actual state of things. Life is still in danger, but stable. Next few days are critical, apparently he also takes blood thinning medication which complicates things. But internal bleeding was stoped
What's the over/under on the attempted assassin being Russian?
Actually Fico ran on the pledge to stop Slovakian military aid to Ukraine.
“Populist” means far right Russian stooge these days.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66972984
"If (Fico’s party) Smer enters government, we will not send a single round of ammunition to Ukraine," (Fico) recently told supporters. (Before the election, which Smer won)
Most of Eastern European politics can be boiled down to "Pro-western elitists vs. pro-russian populists"
So anyone can be behind that assassination attempt, even pro-Russians as a false flag. Poor fucker shouldn't have taken the money
Zero....his electoral platform was basically "stop helping Ukraine".
There's no upside for an independent Russian resident of Slovakia to be a provocateur and potentially kill their ally, and nothing would reinvigorate weakening Western support for Ukraine than the Russian state attempting to assassinate a European head of state.
So about that... Gunman Who Shot Slovak PM Linked to Pro-Russian Extremist Group
Wouldn't be the first time I assumed wrong, but I'm going to wait for better sourcing than the Kyiv Post for this particular story.
They have an existential rational for blaming Russia, as well as an obligation to feed the propaganda narrative for their ongoing war. That's not a criticism as that's what is required of them at this moment, but it's an acknowledgement of why I will wait for additional reporting that isn't sourced from Ukraine, or a single Hungarian journalist on Twitter.
Edit: Look, a different article with different sourcing that points in a different direction. Either way, this situation will take time to get an accurate accounting of what actually happened, and why.
That is a possibility as a Russian would not care much for Slovakia and try to break unity in the west.
My first thought too. Putin is cleaning house internally. And this can just be a good move with fico not being loyal enough so you martyr him and get an even more usefull idiot in his place.
Here we go again!
Franz Ferdinand vibes
That's one sure-fire way to get rid of fascists.
My grandfather did it in the 1940s.
I have no love for Fico but this is not the way. This will slide Slovakia towards more to the far right - and more quickly. This is also just before EU elections and the ruling parties will absolutely use this (they already are).
I wouldn't say he's a fascist. He only ever presents what the majority of the voters wants to hear.
Every time the party needs a new demographic on board, he either changes the rethoric, or, if it's a taboo topic, allies himselves with people not afraid of breaking that taboo.
Fascist and populist are not mutually exclusive.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — Media reports say Slovakia’s populist Prime Minister Robert Fico was injured in a shooting and taken to hospital.
The incident took place in the town of Handlova, some 150 kilometers northeast of the capital, according to the news television station TA3.
A suspect has been detained, it said.
The original article contains 52 words, the summary contains 52 words. Saved 0%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
There should be a safeguard to prevent this bot from posting entire articles, it defeats the purpose
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