# Non-Americans: What are your country's own conspiracy theories? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 8, 2015, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-what-are-your-countrys-own-conspiracy-theories/714540 "2015-03-08T17:34:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-what-are-your-countrys-own-conspiracy-theories/714540/21 "2015-03-09T09:29:42Z")
Those are it? No wonder we Americans look weird to the rest of the world? OTOH maybe that’s also why we turn out so many interesting scifi movies. Doesnt any other country have an Area 51? ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-what-are-your-countrys-own-conspiracy-theories/714540/22 "2015-03-09T09:52:41Z")
As well as the Princess Di consiracy theories, there are lots about the murder of TV presenter [Jill Dando (who looked a lot like Di, but that’s nothing to do with the conspiracy theory).](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jill_Dando) Some of them might actually be true - at least, the one that she was about to reveal all about Savile or some other high-up paedo has some credibility. ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-what-are-your-countrys-own-conspiracy-theories/714540/23 "2015-03-09T10:11:07Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Those are it? No wonder we Americans look weird to the rest of the world? OTOH maybe that’s also why we turn out so many interesting scifi movies. > > Doesnt any other country have an Area 51? You know I have a nagging suspicion that if and when a Russian / ex-Soviet citizen steps into the thread, this mofo will explode… Oh and **JoseB** , thank you for that wonderful write-up! My parents are Spanish (Region XI represent!), but I only knew about the failed coup from grainy old TV footage of that fat bloke firing his gun into the ceiling. By the way, the Swedish equivalent to Jill Dando - never heard of her, thanks for the link **SciFiSam**! - would be [Cats Falck](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cats_Falck), female journalist, found dead in a car at the bottom of Hammarby Canal in 1985. STASI involvement suspected (by CT’ers anyway). ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-what-are-your-countrys-own-conspiracy-theories/714540/24 "2015-03-09T10:18:47Z")
The “Blacks secretly have a plan to round up and kill all the Whites as soon as Nelson Mandela dies” one. It even led to [this Dope thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=238983). (Liberal use of “Nigger” trigger warning!) ---
**Author:** ![Malden\_Capell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malden_capell/32/5274_2.png) [@Malden\_Capell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malden_Capell)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-what-are-your-countrys-own-conspiracy-theories/714540/25 "2015-03-09T10:19:24Z")
As SciFiSam says, there’s Princess Di’s death, and Jill Dando’s (who died on or nearly on the very same day IIRC). There’s also the death of Dr. [David Kelly](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Kelly_(weapons_expert)), whom some suspected of being assassinated. There’s also the claim in Peter Wright’s book Spycatcher that the Queen’s uncle, the Earl Mountbatten of Burma, was approached by MI5 to lead a government following a coup d’etat against Harold Wilson. And then there’s [David Icke](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Icke)’s lizards. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-what-are-your-countrys-own-conspiracy-theories/714540/26 "2015-03-09T10:39:55Z")
> [@lisiate](#): > > One New Zealand CT that I actually believe is that the All Blacks were poisoned on the eve of the 1996 [Rugby World Cup final](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1995_Rugby_World_Cup_Final). You actually believe they were poisoned…the year after the final? Is this like [counterwise wine](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flora_and_fauna_of_the_Discworld#Re-annual_plant)? Anyway, _of course_ they were poisoned, they knowingly ate at _Pizza Hut_. Self inflicted, obviously. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-what-are-your-countrys-own-conspiracy-theories/714540/27 "2015-03-09T11:19:31Z")
> [@Malden\_Capell](#): > > As SciFiSam says, there’s Princess Di’s death, and Jill Dando’s (who died on or nearly on the very same day IIRC). There’s also the death of Dr. [David Kelly](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Kelly_(weapons_expert)), whom some suspected of being assassinated. > > There’s also the claim in Peter Wright’s book Spycatcher that the Queen’s uncle, the Earl Mountbatten of Burma, was approached by MI5 to lead a government following a coup d’etat against Harold Wilson. > > And then there’s [David Icke](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Icke)’s lizards. David Kelly reminded me that there are some consiracy theories about Robin Cook’s death, which did seem suspiciously convenient. It probably was just as it happened, but I was a bit sus at the time and remain so. [Telegraph article.](http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/douglasmurray/100039484/a-party-of-nutty-conspiracy-theorists-has-just-been-brought-into-government/) Articles like this one in the Telegraph don’t help by acting as if the conspiracy theory is that Cook didn’t really die in front of his wife, when I thought people were more suspicious of the cause of the heart attack rather than the fact that he had one. Like I said, odds are that he really did just have a heart attack and die - he was young for a life-ending heart-attack and had never had heart problems before, but sometimes that’s how it goes, one pop and you’re off, or perhaps he did have heart problems and had conceal them due to his job - but still, if someone dies in a slightly strange way that’s convenient to people opposed to them and there’s no post-mortem it will _always_ seem a bit iffy. There are also various theories about Jack the Ripper, some of which are very old conspiracy theories involving the Queen’s doctor. I’ve read a bit about this because I live in the area and like local history but don’t find this conspiracy theory very persuasive. Or the one that it was actually a Royal who did it. That might be going a bit too far back for conspiracy theories on this thread, though. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-what-are-your-countrys-own-conspiracy-theories/714540/28 "2015-03-09T12:08:04Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > There are also various theories about Jack the Ripper, some of which are very old conspiracy theories involving the Queen’s doctor. I’ve read a bit about this because I live in the area and like local history but don’t find this conspiracy theory very persuasive. Or the one that it was actually a Royal who did it. > > That might be going a bit too far back for conspiracy theories on this thread, though. Not at all. I would say that is the father of all modern conspiracy theories. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-what-are-your-countrys-own-conspiracy-theories/714540/29 "2015-03-09T12:10:37Z")
We were in St Martin in 2010 when the devastating earthquake hit Haiti. Immediately there was talk about how the earthquake was caused by “Global Superpowers” as a demonstration of their strength. ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-what-are-your-countrys-own-conspiracy-theories/714540/30 "2015-03-09T12:10:50Z")
The one that springs to mind is the so-called **Barbant Killers** case. Between 1982 and 1985, a group of masked gunmen attacked various supermarkets in roughly the same region of Belgium, gunning down anyone who crossed their paths. 28 people (including children) were killed and 20 or so were injured. Their motivations didn’t make sense. They would sometimes go away with some money from the shops they attacked but the amounts were ridiculously low compared with what they could have taken and the sheer violence they displayed. They were most probably not amateurs either with many witnesses making comments about their calm, methodical attitude and precision leading some to think that they may have been (former?) members of the military. And the conspiracy theories started from there. Disgruntled ex-paratroopers trying to destabilize the state? A conspiracy by the extreme-right groups which had been very active in Belgium in the preceding years? We’ll probably never know. I remember those times and people were really scared. My parents actually asked my grandmother not to take me to the supermarket with her on Wednesday afternoons as she’d done for years although we didn’t live in the area that seemed to be targeted. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brabant\_killers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brabant_killers) ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-what-are-your-countrys-own-conspiracy-theories/714540/31 "2015-03-09T12:48:18Z")
In 1917 Australian world middleweight boxing champion Les Darcy died from septicaemia from faulty dental work by a dentist who was in the pocket of US underworld figures. In 1932 the NZ foaled Australian thoroughbred Phar Lap was poisoned by American gambling interests In 1970 Americas Cup Challenge, clearly the fastest yacht in the regatta was Australian Frank Packer’s Gretel II but the final series was fixed by the New York Yacht Club. The 1975 dismissal of the Whitlam Government was the result of a covert action by the CIA for the threat to close the US spy station at Pine Gap. In 1979 the Skylab space station crashed into Western Australia was a publicity stunt engineered by NASA to get increased funding to develop the Space Shuttle. In 1996 the Port Arthur massacre of 35 people by Martin Bryant who was a patsy trained and funded by the NRA as part of a campaign to discredit Australian gun control measures. ---
**Author:** ![D18](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@D18](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D18)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-what-are-your-countrys-own-conspiracy-theories/714540/32 "2015-03-09T13:58:30Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Posting from Canada; I can’t think of a Canadian CT, off-hand. **Northern** , are you not old enough to remember the-Russians-are-screwing-with-our-weather-with-radio-waves back in the 70s? ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-what-are-your-countrys-own-conspiracy-theories/714540/33 "2015-03-09T14:04:05Z")
> [@D18](#): > > **Northern** , are you not old enough to remember the-Russians-are-screwing-with-our-weather-with-radio-waves back in the 70s? How about the one where the evil brewmaster places mind control drugs in his beer and ships it off to an Oktoberfest celebration? ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-what-are-your-countrys-own-conspiracy-theories/714540/34 "2015-03-09T14:42:43Z")
It’s not your classic conspiracy theory, but seems to be believed by a disappointing number of Aussies: Refugees Or, as the government calls them: Illegal maritime arrivals (“Illegals” for short) Or, as most people in the community call them: Boat people. They’re all wealthy folk who spend many tens of thousands of dollars to get people smugglers to bring them here in order to “jump the queue” - unlike those good, patient refugees who sit in refugee camps overseas for years hoping to be granted asylum. Once these boat people get themselves committed to an Australian detention centre they start demanding five star luxury treatment, insisting on having internet, pay tv and all other manner of niceties supplied to them by the tax payer. They never have any papers with them because they destroy them on the way over to conceal their identities and make it harder for the authorities to investigate their backgrounds. Once they’re freed into the community, they live off the tax payer, getting more money from the government than our poor old age pensioners who spent their lives working and paying tax to make this nation prosperous. It’s a good thing our government’s hard line approach has stopped the boats because they were drowning in their thousands under the soft policies of the previous government. * * * If I was extremely wealthy and looking to get to Australia, would I have better options open to me than getting on an unsafe boat and enduring several years in a detention centre? I like to think I would. Simply stepping off a plane and vanishing into suburbia seems like a safer and more pleasant option. ---
**Author:** ![Lago\_Azul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a4c791/32.png) [@Lago\_Azul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lago_Azul)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-what-are-your-countrys-own-conspiracy-theories/714540/35 "2015-03-09T15:03:30Z")
In Argentina: those Israeli tourists are really Mossad agents or military exploring the ground in order to seize the Patagonia region. This theory, called plan Andinia, started like 50 years ago. Never mind satellites, photo cameras and all that. The evil (and a bit dumb, I guess) Israelis still have to disguise as tourists to explore the ground. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-what-are-your-countrys-own-conspiracy-theories/714540/36 "2015-03-09T15:19:54Z")
Why do the Israelis want Patagonia? ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-what-are-your-countrys-own-conspiracy-theories/714540/37 "2015-03-09T15:32:51Z")
> [@Steken](#): > > I grew up in Sweden, and there it’s pretty much all about [the 1986 murder of Olof Palme](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Olof_Palme), the country’s Prime Minister at the time. Was it the Kurds? Was it the South Africans? KGB? CIA? Palme’s own wife? Palme’s own son? Palme himself, in the weirdest suicide ever? Rogue Nazi cops within the Stockholm police department, and/or Gladio’s local anti-communist stay-behind cell? And so on and so forth. That’s not terribly insane. The wikipedia article you linked to says the crime is unsolved (admittedly, a guy was convicted but the judgment was later overturned). > [@](#): > > Second place goes to the [MS _Estonia_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_Estonia) disaster in 1994. What’s the conspiracy? What do people believe? And a warning: you want to play in the American conspiracy water? We play in the deep end, and we bring the _crazy_, my friend. ---
**Author:** ![Lago\_Azul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a4c791/32.png) [@Lago\_Azul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lago_Azul)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-what-are-your-countrys-own-conspiracy-theories/714540/38 "2015-03-09T15:52:54Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > Why do the Israelis want Patagonia? Probably because they are evil and want to conquer the world. Or something. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-what-are-your-countrys-own-conspiracy-theories/714540/39 "2015-03-09T15:55:53Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > Why do the Israelis want Patagonia? It’s part of the centuries-long secret war between the Jews and the Welsh. ---
**Author:** ![Lago\_Azul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a4c791/32.png) [@Lago\_Azul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lago_Azul)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-what-are-your-countrys-own-conspiracy-theories/714540/40 "2015-03-09T15:56:29Z")
Some info about the Plan Andinia: > **[Andinia Plan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andinia_Plan)** > > The Andinia Plan (Spanish: Plan Andinia) is a conspiracy theory that alleged plans to establish a Jewish state in parts of Argentina and Chile. It is partly based on an exaggeration of historical proposals for organized Jewish migration to Argentina in the late 19th and the early 20th century (which, however, did not include plans for a Jewish state there). The name and contents of the plan have wide currency on some circles of the Argentinian and Chilean right-wing, but no evidence of its actual... [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-what-are-your-countrys-own-conspiracy-theories/714540.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-what-are-your-countrys-own-conspiracy-theories/714540.md?page=3)