This is the kind of renegade Russians I fear which steal and illegally obtain weaponry from all over former Soviet Union and then it ends up in the wrong hands ... I saw the movie Lord Of War, which I quite liked. I think this story might have a similar ending too ...

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/serv...tional/America/


'Merchant of Death' arrested in Thailand

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It took a coalition of forces to take down the global gunrunner, whose empire was toppled by a U.S. sting operation The elusive global gunrunner dubbed the Merchant of Death has finally been captured. Viktor Bout, originally from Russia, was arrested yesterday at a five-star hotel in Bangkok. Thought to be a former Russian spy, something he denies, he is said to speak six languages and hold as many passports. He has long been known to global intelligence services for dispatching transport aircraft brimming with weaponry to anyone willing to pay, from Afghanistan to the former Zaire. Mr. Bout's legendary network is said to have once incorporated hundreds of employees as his Rolodex grew fat with the names of some of the world's best-known dictators, warlords, and terrorists. Yet he wasn't arrested until yesterday, when U.S. officials launched an extradition case alleging he negotiated to parachute dozens of surface-to-air missiles to leftist guerrillas in the jungles of Colombia. Officials say their sting caught Mr. Bout having discussions with men he believed to be members of the Colombian rebel group known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, but who were actually undercover U.S. agents. Those alleged negotiations, starting in November, may have unravelled a global enterprise that was years in the making, one forged as Mr. Bout earned a reputation as the go-to-guy for weapons-hungry warlords in countless global conflicts. The suspect's deadly wares are said to have landed in just about every corner of the world. His personality helped inspire the 2005 Nicolas Cage movie, Lord of War. And while the scope of the alleged deals would test anyone's knowledge of geography and geopolitics, their guiding principle was simple: "Buy low, sell high." Mr. Bout has boasted he started young, a 25-year-old in Russia who managed to acquire three beat-up Antonov aircraft at post-Soviet fire-sale prices. During the 1990s, he was using them to run guns to a range of Africa's bloodiest conflicts. On the return runs, he loaded up his planes with gladiolas, purchased for $2 apiece in South Africa, and few them to Dubai where they sold for $100 each. But gunrunning was always the more attractive deal. An intercepted e-mail, revealed yesterday in the U.S. indictment against Mr. Bout, suggests his arms-sales profits were in the billions. To Mr. Bout, it was all just business. "Look, killing isn't about weapons. It's about the people who use them," he told The New York Times Magazine in an August, 2004, interview. Described as the man whose network was "The McDonald's of arms trafficking," he added that to him, "arms is no different than pharmaceuticals." The reporter who interviewed Mr. Bout for that article said yesterday that he anticipates the arrest will backfire. "He has a lot to say that will be deeply damaging to the way the world operates," said Peter Landesman, who spent 10 days in Moscow with the suspect in 2004. He said Mr. Bout recently got in touch with him to discuss a possible tell-all book. The writer added that just about every Western government, including the United States, was complicit in Mr. Bout's deals at some point or another. "He's doing our dirty work for us," Mr. Landesman said. "Who do you think his customers are? Where do you think he got these weapons? That he just pulled them down off trees?" The indictment seeks Mr. Bout's extradition to the United States on charges that he and an accomplice lent material support to a foreign terrorist organization. Intercepted e-mails and conversations with paid informants will be a big part of the case. Among the stranger revelations is that, in the world of illicit arms trading, there is no such thing as bad press. The indictment alleges that Mr. Bout, working through intermediaries, sent clients magazine articles about his notoriety, stored on computer memory sticks. A co-accused, Andrew Smulian, is a go-between who is said to have openly referred to Mr. Bout as "the Merchant of Death," the title of a 2005 book about his exploits. "Our man has been made persona non-G for the world through the UN," reads one e-mail Mr. Smulian allegedly sent to an informant, according to the criminal complaint. "All assets cash and kind frozen, total value is around 6 Bn USD," the e-mail continued. It added that Mr. Bout's movements were highly constrained and communications monitored. Even so, it took the combined efforts of U.S., Thai, Romanian, Dutch and Danish agencies to arrest Mr. Bout yesterday. And it's doubtful the investigation would have gotten very far if not for another shadowy figure: A "confidential source" identified only as CS-1, is said to have run guns to Africa and Chechnya with both suspects as early as the mid-1990s, before going to work for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. This winter, CS-1 apparently revived the relationship by presenting himself as an intermediary for the FARC, which, according to the charge sheets, is the "the world's largest supplier of cocaine." The purported FARC agents said they needed SAMS, rocket launchers and, down the road, combat helicopters. It's alleged the two suspects sought a $5-million delivery fee for the initial arms deal, which was to be sealed at the Bangkok hotel where the arrests were executed yesterday. The scope of the indictment - a U.S. document alleging an arms deal for South America brokered through various European and Asian locations - gives the reader a sense of how any given arms deal might cross a host of continents. What it doesn't reveal is a completely rounded picture of Mr. Bout. According to Mr. Landesman's New York Times Magazine article, the Merchant of Death is actually a vegetarian whose real ambition remains travelling to the Arctic to become a wildlife photographer. The merchant's dealings In 2004, New York Times Magazine reporter Peter Landesman spent 10 days with Viktor Bout in Moscow, describing his enterprise as the "McDonald's of arms trafficking." Here are some of Mr. Bout's activities over the years. WEAPONS FLIGHTS Mr. Bout's first known weapons flights were to Afghanistan's Northern Alliance in 1992. Three years later, a MiG fighter jet, flown by the Taliban, intercepted a hulking freighter leased by Mr. Bout for delivery of several million rounds of ammunition to the government in Kabul. TALIBAN DEALINGS Starting in 1998, according to aircraft registration documents found in Kabul by Afghan officials, Mr. Bout's operation and allied air firms based in Sharjah, UAE, sold the Taliban military a fleet of cargo planes that was used to haul tonnes of arms and materiel into Afghanistan. Western officials estimate the Taliban paid Mr. Bout more than $50-million during the years it ruled Afghanistan. REBEL GROUPS UN investigators discovered that from July of 1997 to October of 1998, Mr. Bout's airplanes flew 37 flights from Burgas, Bulgaria, to Lomé, Togo, with weapons destined for the UNITA rebels in Angola. The cargo included: 20,000 82 mm mortar bombs 6,300 anti-tank rockets 790 AK-47s 1,000 rocket launchers 15 million rounds of ammunition The total value of the shipments was estimated at $14-million. LIBERIA A Kenyan diamond trader is reported to have told U.S. officials that former Liberian president Charles Taylor asked Mr. Bout for an "emergency delivery of weapons" in the late 1990s as his country fell apart, a deal that may have grown to incorporate helicopter gunships.

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Whenever you go and buy something, you are affecting someone somewhere, be it environment, a person, or a community - you're making a statement with what you buy. So make it a smart choice ... Its a big picture

sweet catch.

he won't see freedom for quite a while.

the more of these assholes get warehoused the better.

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Originally posted by Magnetonium This is the kind of renegade Russians I fear which steal and illegally obtain weaponry from all over former Soviet Union and then it ends up in the wrong hands ... I saw the movie Lord Of War, which I quite liked. I think this story might have a similar ending too ... http://www.theglobeandmail.com/serv...tional/America/ 'Merchant of Death' arrested in Thailand

Steal?? How do you steal an attack helicopter? Next step, get the Russian (or other country) military personnel giving the weapons to this guy.

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Originally posted by Q5echo sweet catch. he won't see freedom for quite a while. the more of these assholes get warehoused the better.

Perhaps you didn't read article. Governments(wealthy ones) gave him the weapons to sell. He isn't the crook.

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Originally posted by guerra-monstru Perhaps you didn't read article. Governments(wealthy ones) gave him the weapons to sell. He isn't the crook.

right, he's the victim

what HE did was illegal on multiple levels, hence the decade long fugitive manhunt.

hey, here's a thought. why don't we let him have his day in court before we start making excuses for his illegal behaviour?

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Originally posted by guerra-monstru Perhaps you didn't read article. Governments(wealthy ones) gave him the weapons to sell. He isn't the crook.

Wealthy governments? Trust me, in Soviet Union era you'd be hard-pressed to find a hunting rifle for sale - thats how tight things were - and we're talking about helicopter gunships here. From Ukraine alone, between 1991-2004, over 40+ BILLION dollars in military equipment has been "unaccounted" for. Unaccounted means it was stolen, not borrowed or sold. Of course this involved corrupt officials, bribes, manipulation, and a little bit of I-didnt-see-anything kind of attitude. For example, I'm sure that in 1992 when Mr. Bout was arming Northern Alliance, Russian government could hardly care ... why would they help apprehend a gunrunner who is helping their allies, while at the same time keep their own hands clean?

I doubt that this gunrunner was captured because he was bad. He was captured and arrested for selling arms to the enemies of states like USA, which found out about the treachery from the evidence recovered from the recent Colombian raid in Ecuador. Because in the past, he has aided some of their allies and friends. I doubt he woule have been able to get away so easily all these years. Also, I doubt that this is the only big gunrunner out there. I know there's some other powerful gunrunners out there who we'd never know about. Mr. Bout was made an example out of, by USA, to punish those who aid their enemies.

___________________
Whenever you go and buy something, you are affecting someone somewhere, be it environment, a person, or a community - you're making a statement with what you buy. So make it a smart choice ... Its a big picture

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Originally posted by Magnetonium Mr. Bout was made an example out of, by USA, to punish those who aid their enemies.

Belgiium and Interpol issued warrants for him in 2002. thats why he fled to Russia. >LINK<

the UN siezed his all of his assets and forbid his travel to anywhere on his own.

the US probably did want him the most but this guy was wanted internationally.

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Originally posted by Magnetonium I doubt that this gunrunner was captured because he was bad. He was captured and arrested for selling arms to the enemies of states like USA, which found out about the treachery from the evidence recovered from the recent Colombian raid in Ecuador.

I doubt that is even the case. He just felled out of favor with the US government. The US government knew all along where he was for a lot of the time. Don't doubt there intelligence agency. I am sure he was arrested for helping out the US enemies but most likely just because he was too big for his own good...

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Originally posted by Q5echo right, he's the victim what HE did was illegal on multiple levels, hence the decade long fugitive manhunt. hey, here's a thought. why don't we let him have his day in court before we start making excuses for his illegal behaviour?

Bush and co did many illegal things on multiple levels but unfortuanetly they will never be prosecuted. So why don't we let them have their day in court rather than blaming all the bad things on just one person?

Guess who tops the list on the world's largest arms exports...

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U.S. Remains World's Top Arms Supplier Wade Boese In the post-Persian Gulf War arms market, the United States, according to data in an authoritative arms trade report, stands unrivaled as the top arms supplier to the world, including to developing nations. Dated August 18, the annual Congressional Research Service (CRS) report revealed that the 1999 total of $30.2 billion in global arms deals marked the second year of growth for weapons sales after a 1997 low. The United States announced more than $3.5 billion in new arms deals over the course of roughly two weeks in July. Over an eight-year period starting in 1992, the world's nations signed more than $265 billion (all figures in constant U.S. dollars) in arms deals, according to the CRS report, Conventional Arms Transfers to Developing Nations, 1992-1999. The United States accounted for $114 billion of the agreements, far exceeding the $41.1 billion sold by France, the second leading arms seller. Russia, which no longer grants deep discounts on arms sales as it did during the Soviet period, ranked third with $33.6 billion in agreements for the entire period. Richard Grimmett, author of the report, described the 1999 market as one of continuing "intense competition" among suppliers. Yet the United States accounted for more than one-third of new deals with $11.7 billion in sales, while the runner-up, Russia, totaled less than half of that amount with $4.8 billion in agreements. Moscow's total, bolstered by a sale of 40-60 advanced Su-30 multi-role fighter aircraft to China, marked the first rise in Russia's arms sales since a steady decline from an $8.2 billion high in 1995. While worldwide arms agreements rose between 1998 and 1999, weapons deliveries declined by $2.4 billion to roughly $34 billion. However, U.S. arms deliveries, which include Pentagon and commercial deliveries, increased by more than $1 billion to total $18.3 billion, equaling more than half of all arms shipments in 1999. The high U.S. total reflected the continued implementation of arms deals concluded in the wake of the Persian Gulf War, which not only awakened Near Eastern countries to potential threats but also served as a showcase for U.S. weaponry. Buyers in the developing world—identified by Grimmett as all countries except the United States, Russia, European countries, Canada, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand—signed deals for $20.5 billion in 1999, accounting for more than two-thirds of the global total. For the second consecutive year, Washington concluded the largest share of these deals with a $8 billion total. Though major sales to key U.S. arms clients in the Near East helped push up the U.S. sum, Grimmett noted that sales of spare parts, upgrades to existing weapons, munitions, and support services made up a "very significant part." Russia ranked second in deals with developing nations, totaling $4.1 billion in agreements. With Iran experiencing economic difficulties and Iraq under a UN arms embargo, Russia is actively marketing its weapons in search of hard currency, though some potential arms buyers, according to Grimmett, question whether Russia can serve as a reliable supplier of spare parts and support services. China and India remain Russia's "principal clients." Weapons deliveries to the developing world in 1999 amounted to $22.6 billion. For the eighth straight year, the United States led all suppliers, accounting for half of the transfer total. U.S. allies Britain and France tallied $3.9 billion and $2.2 billion, respectively, to rank second and third. Among developing nation recipients, South Africa, which recently launched a military modernization program, signed the most deals in 1999, totaling $3.3 billion. Egypt, a major buyer of U.S. arms since its 1979 peace treaty with Israel, ranked second in new deals with a sum of $2.6 billion, while Israel followed closely behind with agreements worth $2.3 billion. Leading the entire eight-year period, Saudi Arabia, which has imported some $66 billion in weapons since the Persian Gulf War, signed contracts valued at $28.9 billion. Looking to the future, Grimmett projected that major arms purchases will likely be made by "more affluent developing countries," such as the United Arab Emirates, while remaining sales will be based on supporting or upgrading previously sold weapons. Limited resources on the part of developing nations and the need for cash by many weapons sellers "places constraints on significant expansion of the arms trade," Grimmett wrote. Over $3.5 Billion in About Two Weeks Between July 12 and 24, the Pentagon reported to Congress $2.8 billion in potential new U.S. arms sales with 14 countries, raising the total for Pentagon-negotiated arms deals in 2000 to at least $5 billion. Lockheed Martin, maker of the F-16 fighter aircraft, also announced in July the sale of 20 F-16 fighter aircraft apiece to both Singapore and South Korea, while Thailand, which dropped a buy of F/A-18 fighters in 1998 for economic reasons, agreed in July to purchase 16 F-16 aircraft. The company did not release a value for the Singapore deal, but the South Korea sale totaled $700 million and Thailand's purchase will cost $133 million. U.S. arms customers can purchase weapons either through direct commercial sales with U.S. companies or through the Pentagon's Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program. The U.S. government, in recent years, has typically authorized some $20 billion every year in commercial contracts, which are good for four years, though not all result in completed deals. Under the 1976 Arms Export Control Act, Congress must be notified of all arms deals, both commercial and FMS, that equal or exceed $14 million. If it passes a joint resolution of disapproval within 30 days (15 in the case of NATO members, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand), Congress can block the sale. Congress has never voided a sale after being formally notified. Agreements with three countries in the Near East—Egypt, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia—accounted for more than half of the July deals recently reported by the Pentagon. Egypt led with $882 million in possible deals, while Saudi Arabia ranked second with a proposed buy of 500 AIM-120C advanced medium range air-to-air missiles valued at $475 million. Both buyers' potential purchases are geared toward upgrading or arming weapons previously supplied by the United States.

http://www.armscontrol.org/act/2000...upplysept00.asp

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Originally posted by guerra-monstru So why don't we let them have their day in court rather than blaming all the bad things on just one person?

omg youre dumb.

anyways, when they're arrested by the Belgians you'll be able to bask in the glow of being right.

...until then, you're just gonna have to settle on being a sheep for the progressive left.

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Originally posted by Q5echo ...until then, you're just gonna have to settle on being a sheep for the progressive left.

Sheep of the progressive left? So opposition to your hardline Republican stances means pandering to the progressive left? LOL...