It happened first in Slovakia, and then in Denmark… Once again, it is being seen that the Prime Minister of a country in Europe was assaulted! Although the preliminary investigation suggests that Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen of Denmark did not receive serious injury as the attacker was not armed this time, one cannot rule out the shock and trauma associated with the assault!

In the second case, the assailant attacked Prime Minister Frederiksen in Copenhagen on June 8, 2024 when she was walking on the street. The Police claimed that the PM was scheduled to take part in a campaign for Social Democrat candidate Christel Schaldemose who contested the European Parliament Elections (held on June 6-9, 2024). The PM’s security guards immediately restrained the assailant. Later, the Copenhagen Police detained the attacker. European Commission President Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen condemned the attack, saying that it was a disgusting incident.

Incidentally, Robert Fico, the Prime Minister of Slovakia, was shot by an assassin on May 15, 2024. An assailant opened fire at the PM after he attended a meeting at the House of Culture building in the town of Handlova some 165km northeast of the Slovakian capital of Bratislava. Although four bullets hit Fico, he survived. One of those bullets hit him directly in the stomach. Prime Minister Fico was admitted to a local hospital in critical condition!

It has been a long time since a Head of the Government in Europe suffered such a deadly attack. It may be noted that Swedish Prime Minister Sven Olof Joachim Palme (January 30, 1927 – February 28, 1986) was shot dead on the streets of Stockholm in 1986. Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot dead on July 8, 2022. He was killed after being shot twice in the chest and neck during a campaign speech near Nara.

Meanwhile, politicians, especially Left-wing leaders, in Germany and other countries are receiving threats. The incident of such a threat has increased since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine War. The Israel-Hamas War in Gaza has made the situation worse, as it has triggered turmoil in other parts of the globe. People are under no obligation to know anything. Precisely, they are technically free to not know anything about the development of political underdevelopment in Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America or anywhere else. It shall, however, deprive one of chances of seeing what happens in her/his own country, in a broader context!

If all one wants to know about the world or about what happens in her/his own country, the person can go even further and confess that s/he struggles with understanding national politics. There is no way for the person to really see how things in her/his country may trend in comparison to other countries.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das