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| Terror Networks |
| Viktor Bout is Apparently Worth Quite a Bit to the Russians |
| 2008-06-05 |
| By Douglas Farah Well, from my sources in Thailand and elsewhere it seems that Viktor Bout, weapons merchant extraordinaire, is worth quite a bit to the Russians. Bout, in prison in Thailand awaiting extradition to the United State, may not make it back, despite having a long history of providing weapons to terrorists, criminals and some of the world's most vicious thugs, such as Charles Taylor, Laurent Kabila, the Taliban, the FARC and hosts of others. The reason he may not make it back is that the Russians are far more afraid of his standing trial than was originally anticipated. After several diplomatic efforts to get Bout out of prison and back to Russia, the Russian government, or at least its military establishment, has decided to let some money and hardware do the talking. My sources tell me the Russian ambassador in Thailand has met several times with the Thai prime minister, and has offered sweet heart deals on weapons systems, including fighter jets, in exchange for Bout. In addition, the Russians are offering sweet heart gas and oil deals to sweeten the pot, which is a significant offer given the current market price of these fuels. The question is, why would Bout be so valuable to the Russians, and what is it that they fear he could or would say in a court? The most obvious answer is that he is deeply in bed and protected by the Russian military establishment and its intelligence services. |
| Posted by:3dc |
| #15 "Deeply in bed and protected by the Russian military establishment and intelligence services" > IOW, ITS PROB SAFER FOR PAULA ABDUL NOT TO REMEMBER, AND TO FORGET = "PRETEND" SHE DOESN'T KNOW. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-06-05 21:06 |
| #14 etv, if true, then why hasn't Bout been similarly dispatched? |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2008-06-05 16:31 |
| #13 Probably fat, slim, and none, DK. Chances he'll meet with an "accident": approaching 110%. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2008-06-05 16:10 |
| #12 So what are the chances he'll get extradicted to the US? |
| Posted by: DK70 the Scantily Clad7177 2008-06-05 15:55 |
| #11 Links between chenchnyan terrorists & fsb : Connected |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2008-06-05 14:11 |
| #10 Now that I think about it, this all came up when that former KGB operative was assassinated via radioactive poisoning. Apparently, some people thought he knew too much about Russia's involvement with muslim radicals. |
| Posted by: eltoroverde 2008-06-05 13:35 |
| #9 Again for what it's worth, and with all needed healthy skepticism. Russian apartment bombings - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2008-06-05 13:05 |
| #8 How does Chechnia (or for that matter Bosnia) fit this theory, anonymous5089 G(r)om, I wish I was more of a reader, or at least, one that can retain what he reads; basically, about chechnya, from what I've read over the years, my view is that the independentist side had been at least partly controlled by the ruskies, and that while a nightmare for the russian army, both of the chechyan wars were very profitable ventures for the mobsters who run russia (putin and the secret services included), were politically expededient (if you want to wage war against the USA through islamic terror, why not fight your own WOT to disculpate yourself), and that many terror operations actually were false-flags ops (to borrow a term so loved by the 9/11 troother); for example, I'm 100% convinced that the dramatic flat complexes bombing that started the 2nd checnhya war were done by putin. |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2008-06-05 12:57 |
| #7 For what it's worth. Roots of Islamic Terrorism: How Communists Helped Fundamentalists A Russian Agent At The Right Hand Of Bin Laden? Russian Secret Services' Links With Al-Qaeda |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2008-06-05 12:51 |
| #6 How does Chechnia (or for that matter Bosnia) fit this theory, anonymous5089? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2008-06-05 12:48 |
| #5 There have been several claims by russian or polish dissidents that al zawahiri had been turned a long time ago by the soviet secret service, and that he is now a russian asset. Frankly, I wouldn't be too shocked to learn al qaida and assorted muslim orgs are, if not a proxy, at least useful idiots for russia and/or china. And the same goes for iran and its clients. |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2008-06-05 12:45 |
| #4 This makes me think of the reports I read/heard about a few years back that were trying to link Russian intelligence services with several terrorist proxy groups, including al Qaeda. The macro of it all was that during the Cold War, it was the policy (covert, naturally) of the KGB and other groups within the Soviet military/intelligence juggernaut, to encourage, foment, and in some cases materially support various terrorist groups around the globe that were hostile to the West. Cunning as it was (or is), the idea was to create so much noise and distraction (and not a little bit of trouble) for the West so that they would take their eye off the USSR, and with any luck, weaken the West by attrition to a point where the USSR could step in when the situation was to it's greatest advantage. This strategy may (and I stress may) have suffered a temporary setback as a result of the fall of the Soviet Union, yet despite that there's really no reason to think the military/intelligence apparatus (of which Putin was a part of) would abandon this strategy. Rather, in an effort to keep the US occupied while they regained their strength (which they've certainly been doing), they would most likely expand their efforts (enter al Qaeda) with the luxury of plausible deniability (as long as they kept their noses clean and covered up their tracks). Of course, this is all very circumspect and based entirely on rumor and inneundo at this point, with a fair share of conspiracy theory thrown in. But the dots are certainly there to connect, if one is so inclined. Perhaps comrade Bout is tied to this strategy in a tactical capacity and thus could tell us a lot about what the Russians have really been up to. Or not. |
| Posted by: eltoroverde 2008-06-05 12:23 |
| #3 Viktor will be a vapor. And it aint just the Rooskies doing the bidding. |
| Posted by: DepotGuy 2008-06-05 09:55 |
| #2 Whatever the Russians offer, we one-up it. If they're that anxious to get him, then he's worth having. |
| Posted by: gromky 2008-06-05 09:20 |
| #1 These efforts to prevent his extradition to the U.S. to stand trial tell us what we need to know. The Russians have been up to their old tricks all along, I doubt they ever stopped. |
| Posted by: One Eyed Ulese1266 2008-06-05 08:20 |