How The Deep Empire Eliminates Threats To Its Hegemony | O. Tunander & D. Pohlmann

Originally published on 15 Oct 2025.

Is it a coincidence that every influential Swedish leader on the world stage—Bernadotte, Hammarskjöld, Palme—was assassinated? What if these aren't just tragic accidents, but evidence of a hidden system? We investigate the disturbing pattern of political murders targeting European figures who dared to work for peace.

Today I’m talking again to Dr. Ola Tunander and Dirk Pohlmann. Dr. Tunander is an emeritus Professor of the Norwegian Peace Research Institute Oslo and Mr. Polmann is a german author and documentary film maker. I have talked to both of them separately before, but tonight we want to do a panel on the political murders in Europe throughout the Cold War and into the Unipolar Moment when people who worked for Peace and a political rapprochement with the East and the global South just died.

Together, we trace the shadowy links between these deaths, uncovering a world of deep state networks, Nazi assassins repurposed by Western intelligence, and the brutal enforcement of an empire's unwritten rules. We explore why challenging the colonial order or building economic bridges to the East became a death sentence.

Links:
Ola Tunander’s 4 part series on the Olof Palme murder:
⁠https://olatunander.substack.com/p/th...⁠⁠https://olatunander.substack.com/p/th...⁠⁠https://olatunander.substack.com/p/th...⁠⁠https://olatunander.substack.com/p/th...⁠

Dirk Pohlmann's filmography: ⁠https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0688383/⁠

Neutrality Studies substack: ⁠https://pascallottaz.substack.com⁠
Neutrality Studies Youtube Channel: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@neutralitystudies⁠
Goods Store: ⁠https://neutralitystudies-shop.fourth...⁠