While the American media is full of details about the last moments of the monstrous killer, the European media and organizations do not hide their disgust and condemnation.
CRIMINAL AND VIOLENT: Timothy McVeigh…
Timothy McVeigh, who was executed on June 11 in a prison in the American state of Indiana, said goodbye to life exactly as he wanted: as a star among terrorists and death row inmates. McVeigh is the first inmate to be executed under federal law in 38 years. Before him, Victor Harry Feguer was hanged in Iowa in 1963, but his execution did not cause nearly as much media sensation.
McVeigh's execution was watched through glass by ten people, relatives and victims of his crime of six years ago that he carefully planned, just like how he would end it. In April 1995, McVeigh blew up a government building in the heart of Oklahoma City with a 3,5-ton truck bomb. 168 people died in the explosion, including 19 children. The room from where selectmen can observe the execution of the death penalty, which is not unusual in those American states where the death penalty is still in force, was too small to accommodate all the victims or mourners who have been waiting six years for justice to be served. So authorities set a precedent by allowing the 232 victims to watch the execution on live television at the Oklahoma City Crime Scene Memorial Center, which was built on the site of McVeigh's prime target.
...and the destroyed Oklahoma City mall after McVeigh planted explosives
RELATIVESIJOURNALISTS: The moment when a lethal injection is injected into the vein of the convict's right leg, apart from the lawyer, ten journalists followed from close range. The terrorist could not see his relatives and victims who were watching him from the next room through the glass-mirror, but he was separated from the journalists by ordinary glass. Before the poison was injected into his vein, McVeigh gave a brief bow to the representative of the seventh force. He did not dignify his relatives and victims with a single glance. He then lay staring at the ceiling, which housed a camera that allowed others in Oklahoma City to watch as McVeigh passed away.
An unprecedented number of journalists pressed on the lawn in front of the prison building, while about a hundred opponents of the death penalty demonstrated nearby. Among the protesters there were also eccentrics who wanted to use the presence of so many cameras of well-known TV stations for personal promotion.
Thus, thanks to modern technology and advances in telecommunications, more than 200 people were able to watch an execution live or directly. The goal of the experiment was to provide a little consolation or a hint of peace to the victims and mourners who lost their loved ones in the explosion. Among them there are few who refused this unique opportunity to see the execution of the murderer, and there is not one who thinks that the punishment is disproportionate.
WITHOUTEXCITEMENTS: But the viewers still didn't get what they were looking for. Not only did the terrorist not even in the seconds before his death repent of his wrongdoing, but not even a hint of fear of death could be seen on his face. Although pleased to be able to immediately ascertain that McVeigh was no longer among the living, onlookers were left disappointed, some of them even further traumatized by this unusual experience. "Everything was too hospital-like, it only lasted a few minutes and it was painless for him," Sue Ashford, who worked in a store across the street from the government building on that tragic April day, disappointedly told the journalists gathered in front of the Memorial Center. "He didn't suffer at all, he just fell asleep." The monster fell asleep." Tonya Smith, who narrowly escaped death by leaving the building minutes before the explosion, was even angrier: "They should have covered him with explosives and let him live in limbo like that. That he never knows when the bomb on his body will be activated. It would be a just punishment, if he feels even a fraction of the horror that his victims felt."
While the American media is full of details about the last moments of the monstrous killer, from whether the ice cream he ate in his last meal was regular chocolate or the one with menthol, the European media and organizations do not hide their disgust and condemnation. In fact, the USA is the only country in the democratic world where the death penalty is still in force. European countries have rejected the death penalty (both the Council of Europe and the European Union require governments to abolish the death penalty as a prerequisite for membership). In addition, the manner in which the death penalty was carried out, as well as the media sensation that followed the McVeigh case, were the target of criticism. A statement from the Council of Europe said: "Timothy McVeigh was a cold-blooded killer." No one will miss it. But the way he died is sad, pathetic and wrong."
The rebuke is in order, but the terrorist McVeigh would have a hard time agreeing with him. Viewers were disappointed that McVay didn't directly address them with a shorter speech, which he was entitled to. Instead, as he announced, he left behind a handwritten message, actually the lyrics of the poem Invictus, written in 1875 by the American poet William Ernest Henley, which speaks of defiance. "My head is bloody, but not bowed," say the lyrics of the song, which ends with the words: "I am the master of my fate, the captain of my soul."
What is happening in the country and the world, what is in the newspapers and how to pass the time?
Every Wednesday at noon In between arrives by email. It's a pretty solid newsletter, so sign up!
Analysts were alarmed by reports that Iran was enriching uranium to 60 percent, and a series of other reports added to the anxiety in the West. And then, on the morning of June 13, Israel systematically launched an attack on all of Iran's nuclear capabilities, from human to technological to military.
Mafia boss Giovanni Brusca (pictured above) was acquitted on the basis of a law that was insisted on by his most famous victim: Judge Falcone (pictured below). He was released from prison after 29 years. How and why did it happen?
The life and connections of an American citizen and a Russian poet and a Jew, born 85 years ago, an incomplete elementary school student, a metal apprentice, an assistant pathologist and geologist, a poet who was a victim of an ideological turn and political-literary intrigues, tried twice, twice placed in an insane asylum, attempted suicide because of love, for parasitism was sentenced to five years of exile with community service, which a tractor driver on the Danilovsky collective farm he did not appreciate it, nor the song about it, in the village of Norenska he enjoyed respect as an exile who rose up, "voluntarily" obtained a visa without the right to return and meet his parents, achieved a university career, won the Nobel Prize, was a poetic pop star, loved by women, loved cats, smoked a lot, died at 56 - and was buried for the second time in Venice, still a little far from Ezra Pound
And while Vladimir Putin expresses his condolences to Iran and condemns the Israeli attacks, Russian tanks remain in garages. In the background – diplomatic maneuvers, strategic interests and careful weighing of benefits at a time when the Kremlin is looking for a new offensive opportunity in Ukraine.
Chancellor Friedrich Mertz openly said that he hopes for a regime change in Tehran or a return to the negotiating table, otherwise Israel will "go all the way"
The dramatic appeal of United Media employees shows what can happen when the media is controlled by the regime and corporations. It is happening in Serbia now. If the audience does not recognize this, an even blacker media darkness threatens
Aleksandar Vučić now has only the old, proven methods of classic dictatorships left, because these modern methods of insanity and poisoning the public are failing. And that, however, goes against his head
Vučić is not defending the state, but himself from the state. With a drum on his back and a guitar in his hands, this man-orchestra performs two or three of the same songs without hearing, with falsifications and falling out of rhythm. His government and politics are like that. In short - dangerous for the environment
The archive of the weekly Vreme includes all our digital editions, since the very beginning of our work. All issues can be downloaded in PDF format, by purchasing the digital edition, or you can read all available texts from the selected issue.
What is happening in the country and the world, what is in the newspapers and how to pass the time?
Every Wednesday at noon In between arrives by email. It's a pretty solid newsletter, so sign up!