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Comment by IfOnlyYouKnew | Hacker News Reader

I always enjoy these articles (to the extend that one can take joy in them), because they rarely fail to highlight how different politics can be.

For an American audience, it's unthinkable that a leader of a government would go anywhere without their own private army. When I used to work in central Berlin, I regularly saw members of parliament and ministers have coffee or just walk around completely unprotected. Even Merkel could be seen with only modest security (usually two people), usually walking to/from her flat about a kilometre away from her office.

It's a world where a stranger is not primarily a threat, possibly-armed, and where civility hasn't completely broken down. And it's not even that rare.

Of course, the story itself kinda speaks against this view of the world.

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I am from Washington DC and, while it's true that the President is always accompanied by a security retinue -- for reasons well-founded in history -- it is not uncommon to see members of either legislative body walking around unattended. It used to be more common, that's true, but it's still not unusual. The less of a media profile they have, the more likely it is that you'll run into them at a coffee shop.

I remember when I sat just behind José Manuel Barroso, that time the leader of the European Commission in a commercial airline, tourist class. I loved that guy, like the former Uruguayan president.

Good thing you like him. People in Portugal don't like him that much.

> Of course, the story itself kinda speaks against this view of the world.

Yet these crimes are so rare as to be huge deals when they do occur, and politicians here generally rather take their chances than lead a life protected from their very constituents. In a high-trust society it is also expected from politicians.

It's much easier to have trust in a small unimposing culturally homogeneous country of 10 million like Sweden vs a 300+ million economic and geopolitical juggernaut.

I was talking about Western Europe in general (the GP mentioned Merkel as an example).

>Of course, the story itself kinda speaks against this view of the world.

Only in the sense that somebody dying from having a walnut stuck in their throats speaks against not eating walnuts.

Politicians of all kinds go by themselves all the time in Europe, and it's no big deal.

Meanwhile, people with guards and police, like JFK and Reagan had attempts (the first of course successful) against them. If the killer is determined (or worse, willing to be killed themselves, like some modern wackos), they can always find some moment.

Unfortunately this wasn't the last time a high-ranking Swedish politician was murdered either.

https://www.thelocal.se/20110828/35814

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