MetaFilter posts tagged with assassinations

It's hard to be more cynical than this.

dash_slot- — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 15:08:49 -0800

Investigation reveals British Police knowingly employed serial killers as informers. Or should that be "knowingly employed informers as serial killers"? Film at 11.

Political killing in the cold war [and thereafter]

y2karl — Wed, 24 Aug 2005 16:42:57 -0800

Modern history is replete with assassinations that have a dramatic impact on national and international politics: the killing of Alexander II by anarchists in 1881 unleashed repression and anti-semitism in the Russian empire; the shooting of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in June 1914 in Sarajevo sparked the "great war" that drowned Europe in blood and inaugurated what Eric Hobsbawm calls "the short 20th century"; the assassination of the liberal Colombian politician Jorge Gaitan in 1948 (a day after he had met a Latin American youth delegation that included the 21-year-old Fidel Castro) helped spark a civil war – the violencia – that continues to this day and the shooting down on 6 April 1994 of the plane carrying Rwanda's and Burundi's presidents, Juvenal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira precipitated the Rwandan genocide.

Political killing in the cold war [& thereafter] provides an outline of the aftereffects of assassinations, covert killings, state and judicial executions.

Iraqi intellectuals flee 'death squads'

y2karl — Wed, 31 Mar 2004 16:12:18 -0800

8% of Iraqi academics have Fled, 1000 Professionals Assassinated in past Year - '' In recent months assassinations have targeted engineers, pharmacologists, officers, and lawyers. More than 1000 leading Iraqi professionals and intellectuals have been assassinated since last April, among them such prominent figures as Dr Muhammad al-Rawi, the president of Baghdad University. The identity of the assailants remains a mystery and none have been caught. But families and colleagues of victims believe that Iraqi parties with foreign affiliations have an interest in wiping out Iraq's intellectual elite...'' From Juan Cole, who notes, in relation to Chalabi's control of de-Baathification, ''It can't be good for the future of Iraq to lose nearly 10% of its academics. Some of those may have been involved in Baath Party dirty tricks, but were all? And, the campaign of assassination makes a mockery of the rhetoric about democratization."

Near misses in Taiwan

tomcosgrave — Fri, 19 Mar 2004 04:51:44 -0800

President and Vice President of Taiwan survive assasination attempt.
The wounds were minor, and they are now both out of hospital.

Collusion with terrorists

Summer — Wed, 16 Apr 2003 03:49:10 -0800

How to kill terrorists without anyone knowing. An enquiry into collusion between the British army and both loyalist and republican paramilitaries in Northern Ireland has revealed that undercover agents may have been responsible for several assassinations, including lawyer Pat Finucane. By creating army units immune from the usual checks and balances, the government kept its hands clean. This is an account from someone who was involved.

History repeating...

tomcosgrave — Wed, 12 Mar 2003 06:18:56 -0800

Serbian premier assasinated
He was shot in front of government offices at around 1300 local time, (1200 GMT). I know some people are going to cry Newsfilter, but I believe this is worth posting.

CRS — Wed, 18 Apr 2001 09:36:44 -0800

A primer on assassinations, courtesy of your friend and mine, Osama bin Laden.
via The Smoking Gun