Merchant of Death
October 8, 2010 1:29 AM   Subscribe

Trapping the Lord of War: The Rise and Fall of Victor Bout. Spiegel investigates Victor Bout on the potential eve of his extradition from Thailand to the US. previously related links
posted by allkindsoftime (8 comments total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
The Nic Cage movie ended with him telling the FBI/DEA/whatever cop that he would soon be released because too many powerful people did not want him to testify. Then, that happened. So, now, we'll see.
posted by CCBC at 2:09 AM on October 8, 2010 [1 favorite]


Heh, 'evil bastard'. At least he never discriminated against anyone - except, I guess, people with no money. That's more than can be said for all those right-wing politicos getting into power in Europe these days.

In any case - as long as there's money to be had selling death, we'll always have Victor Bouts around to sell it to the highest bidder. Getting this one guy isn't going to change anything fundamental about the nature of conflict.
posted by WalterMitty at 2:18 AM on October 8, 2010 [1 favorite]


Yeah, the article says the same:

Still, there is one thing Bout cannot be accused of: discriminating against anyone because of their skin color or political views. Anyone able to pay was supplied -- discreetly and reliably -- with every deadly weapon under the sun.

He apparently feels everyone has the equal right to die at the hand of weapons he supplies.
posted by allkindsoftime at 2:30 AM on October 8, 2010


I'm on the ground here in Bangkok, and it's no certainty he'll be extradited. The prime minister (in a bit of trouble himself) and his cabinet have the last say, regardless of the courts' rulings.

They are understandably in a hard place; whatever their decision, it's guaranteed to piss off one of the mad dogs of world politics.

And the fact that we're seeing bombings almost weekly here in Bangkok, not to mention the separate issues of the south, makes for very difficult times here.
posted by lometogo at 3:42 AM on October 8, 2010


Sure there'll always be someone to step in and fill his shoes, but putting him away would be a damn fine thing, and maybe, just maybe, it'd make the new kids on the block feel a little less secure, and make them a little less active. And that'd be great.
posted by Ahab at 4:04 AM on October 8, 2010


The government hates it when people muscle in on their business.
posted by r_nebblesworthII at 6:35 AM on October 8, 2010 [1 favorite]


This is an interesting story, but it's just one guy. The arms trade shows no signs of slowing down, and just about every country seems to have uses for this type of guy.

btw, has anyone had any luck extraditing and trying this Cheney guy?

Saddam, bin Laden, Viktor... I wonder who the US is currently dealing with, who will later be reviled and hunted.
posted by Artful Codger at 6:39 AM on October 8, 2010 [1 favorite]


I have a hard time hating this guy because he seems like one man in a big world that knows his place and plays his part, a useful willing cog in international politics and trade used knowingly by the USA, Russia, and anyone else. Looking at the story the main other actors are gun merchant regimes themselves. The USA via Halliburton paid him (his company) to fly over 1000 flights to their bases in Iraq to support their (commonly accepted) illicit invasion? The USA, where the main social economic programs seem to be arms contracts and whatever else for an obscenely large military? With the US as king of the arms dealers followed by Russia, Germany and France, there are no good guys here.

What really blows my mind is I find this a great story to illustrate how warfare is business as usual and politics. When you look at the world's stage where the actors deal in denominations of thousands for death then deal in pennies for humanitarian causes and it largely escapes the public consciousness... yeah..
posted by BurnMage at 11:42 AM on October 8, 2010


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