Brooks Agnew – If you have not already heard, Slovakia’s PM, Robert Fico has been shot and he is expected to live. It was not accidental. I had a feeling last Tuesday that something terrible was going to happen. I feared there would be a public attempt to assassinate someone closer to us, but this PM has a reputation as being like President Trump. He is a populist and a Slovakia-first leader. There was another assassination attempt of another populist leader.
The interior minister, Matúš Šutaj Eštok, told reporters: “We suspect the attacker had political motivation.”
A suspect was in custody, the country’s president said in a televised statement.
Local reports later identified the alleged gunman as Juraj C, a 71-year-old writer and poet from Levice, south-central Slovakia, who had spoken on YouTube of his desire to form a political movement.
The son of the alleged shooter told the news outlet Aktuality.sk that his father was the legal holder of a gun license. “I have absolutely no idea what my father intended, what he planned, what happened,” he was quoted as saying.
In a statement, the liberal political group Renew said it was “increasingly alarmed by the rising polarization within our political sphere fueled by extremist ideologies, both left and rightwing”.
“This climate of heightened division is laying the groundwork for an environment where acts of violence are more likely to occur, and also wrongly justified by those who seek to disrupt and dominate rather than engage and debate,” it added.
The warning was echoed in Germany, where three elected officials were recently assaulted in less than a week. The chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said he had been left reeling by Fico’s shooting. “News of the cowardly assassination attempt on Slovakian prime minister Fico shocks me deeply,” he wrote on X. “Violence must have no place in European politics.”
The W.H.O. Agreement
Why was he shot? Days ago, Fico told the WHO to take their pandemic treaty and shove it up their ass. He did not do this in public. The pandemic accord has not been finalized, a World Health Organization spokesperson told Lead Stories on May 15, 2024. Lead Stories also found no evidence on the website of the Slovak Republic that Fico had publicly rejected the international accord. Negotiations are set to culminate at the 77th World Health Assembly in Geneva, set to start May 27, 2024.
Let me share with you page 16 of the Treaty:
During pandemics, each Party shall, in addition to the undertakings in paragraph 2 of this Article: (a) commit to agree upon, within the framework of relevant institutions, time-bound waivers of intellectual property rights to accelerate or scale up the manufacturing of pandemic-related products to the extent necessary to increase the availability and adequacy of affordable pandemic related products; (b) encourage all holders of patents related to the production of pandemic-related products to waive or manage, as appropriate, for a limited duration, the payment of royalties by developing country manufacturers on the use, during the pandemic, of their technology for the production of pandemic-related products, and shall require, as appropriate, those that have received public financing for the development of pandemic-related products to do so; and (c) encourage manufacturers within its jurisdiction to share undisclosed information, in accordance with paragraph 2 of Article 39 of the TRIPS Agreement, with qualified third-party manufacturers when the withholding of such information prevents or hinders urgent manufacture by qualified third parties of a pharmaceutical product that is necessary to respond to the pandemic.
Page 21:
The Conference of the Parties shall establish, within two years of the entry into force of the WHO Pandemic Agreement, using existing relevant models as a reference, no-fault vaccine injury compensation mechanism(s), with the aim of promoting access to financial remedy for individuals experiencing serious adverse events resulting from a pandemic vaccine, as well as more generally promoting pandemic vaccine acceptance. The Conference of the Parties shall further develop the mechanism(s), which may be regional and/or international, including strategies for funding the mechanism(s), through the modalities provided for in Article 20 herein.
Page 23:
plan and provide adequate financial support, in line with national fiscal capacities, for: (i) strengthening and sustaining capacities for pandemic prevention, preparedness and response; (ii) implementing national plans, programmes and priorities; and (iii) strengthening health systems and the progressive realization of universal health coverage for pandemic prevention, preparedness and response; (c) prioritize and increase or maintain, including through greater collaboration between the health, finance and private sectors, as appropriate, domestic funding for pandemic prevention, preparedness and response;
Page 27:
No reservations may be made to the WHO Pandemic Agreement.
On May 15, 2024, Fico was shot in what appeared to be an assassination attempt, as was confirmed that same day by the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic’s X account. At a news conference, Slovakian President Zuzana Čaputová stated that police had “arrested the perpetrator” and would “provide further information when possible.”
WHO declined to comment on possible sentiments expressed by Fico regarding the pandemic accord.
SF Source Brooks Agnew May 2024