International weapons trafficker to stand trial in the U.S.

[Os Cangaceiros]

I just thought that this story was really interesting, so I thought I'd post it. This guy was arrested in Bangkok for a supposed weapons deal with representatives from FARC, who were actually DEA informants.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/08/20/what_does_viktor_bout_know

[Blackscare]

Who the fuck goes to bangkok to sell guns to the FARC?


What a dumb weapons trafficker.

[Os Cangaceiros]

Who the fuck goes to bangkok to sell guns to the FARC?


What a dumb weapons trafficker.

He probably thought that Russian intelligence had his back.

The Kremlin is not happy about this. Apparently his knowledge about some of their operations/intelligence goes back 20+ years. He also has connections within the U.S. government, supposedly.

[Comrade Marxist Bro]

Foreign Policy:


Unfortunately for him, the purported buyers for his surface-to-air missiles, unmanned drones, and sophisticated anti-tank systems -- who he thought were from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, better known as the FARC, a designated terrorist organization -- were informants of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

He actually though that the FARC were going to buy "surface-to-air missiles, unmanned drones (!), and sophisticated anti-tank systems"?

Is he a crackhead?

[Blackscare]

Foreign Policy:



He actually though that the FARC were going to buy "surface-to-air missiles, unmanned drones, and sophisticated anti-tank systems"?

Is he a crackhead?


But how awesome would that be?

[Os Cangaceiros]

A FARC armed with Predator drones does sound pretty sexy, LOL.

[Comrade Mango]

Foreign Policy:



He actually though that the FARC were going to buy "surface-to-air missiles, unmanned drones (!), and sophisticated anti-tank systems"?

Is he a crackhead?

I don't know much about the FARC, but would they even have the money?

[Sasha]

this is the dude on wich the movie lord of war (with nicolas cage) was based on.
he is not an crackhead, not by an longshot.


A former Soviet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet) military translator,[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Bout#cite_note-Bout_FAQ-0) Bout made a significant amount of money through his many air transport companies,[2] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Bout#cite_note-Economist-1) shipping cargo mostly in Africa and the Middle East during the 1990s and early 2000s.[citation needed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)] Just as willing to ship cargo for Charles Taylor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Taylor_%28Liberia%29) in Liberia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberia) as he was for the United Nations (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations) in Sudan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudan) and the United States (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States) in Iraq (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq),[2] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Bout#cite_note-Economist-1)[3] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Bout#cite_note-Observer-2) Bout may have facilitated huge arms shipments into various civil wars (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_war) in Africa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa) with his private air cargo fleets during the 1990s.[4] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Bout#cite_note-3)
While claiming to have done little more than provide logistics, he has been called a "sanctions buster"[2] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Bout#cite_note-Economist-1) by former British (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom) Foreign Office (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_Office) minister (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minister_%28diplomacy%29) Peter Hain (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Hain) who described Bout as "the principal conduit for planes and supply routes that take arms... from east Europe, principally Bulgaria (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulgaria), Moldova (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moldova) and Ukraine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine) to Liberia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberia) and Angola (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angola)."[5] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Bout#cite_note-BBC_Profile-4)


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Bout

[TheCultofAbeLincoln]

They've been trying to nab him for quite sometime, I remember reading about their break awhile ago. Needless to say they needed to lure him out of Russia and no doubt months of preperation (at least) was devoted towards setting up this faux arms deal.

I get the impression he came out to make one last big score, from what I've read there was no financial obligation to do so.

[pranabjyoti]

I am curious to know the reaction of Russian nationalists about that matter. Can they understand how futile their nationalism is before imperialism? Such incidents can surely help us in the long run.