excalibur
Diamond Member
- Mar 19, 2015
- 18,138
- 34,341
- 2,290
While leaving a U.S. Marine behind.
And don't talk to us about gun control after this.
Viktor Bout, arms dealer to terrorists and worse, who more than earned his “Merchant of Death” sobriquet — is once more a free man. But who is he?
The world’s most successful arms merchant was born 55 years ago, an ethnic Ukrainian in Soviet Tajikistan, part of Turkic Central Asia. Also known as “Sanctions Buster,” Bout got his start in arms dealing during the chaotic years after the fall of the Soviet Union.
That heavily militarized former superpower left everything from state-of-the-art jets and tanks to nuclear missiles and bombers — all scattered around newly-independent countries like Ukraine and Kazakhstan. There were lots of shady deals to be made with cash-strapped governments and high-ranking military officers.
Bout reportedly smuggled more than $32 billion in various weapons out of Ukraine during the ’90s. It was during this same time period — 1994, to be exact — that then-President Bill Clinton was negotiating the Budapest Memorandum between the Russian Federation and several former Soviet Republics, including Ukraine. Kyiv agreed to give up former Soviet nuclear weapons and delivery systems in exchange for security guarantees that turned out worthless.
Maybe the best that can be said about the Budapest Memorandum is that it may have prevented Bout from getting his hands on any nuclear warheads — because this guy will sell to literally anybody. Part of his 2012 conviction in a New York federal court was for attempting to buy and sell antiaircraft missiles to terrorist organizations for use against passenger jets.
...
This is the guy Presidentish Joe Biden just sprung from prison in exchange for a basketball player stupid enough to bring her personal stash of drugs into a country like Russia.
pjmedia.com
And don't talk to us about gun control after this.
Viktor Bout, arms dealer to terrorists and worse, who more than earned his “Merchant of Death” sobriquet — is once more a free man. But who is he?
The world’s most successful arms merchant was born 55 years ago, an ethnic Ukrainian in Soviet Tajikistan, part of Turkic Central Asia. Also known as “Sanctions Buster,” Bout got his start in arms dealing during the chaotic years after the fall of the Soviet Union.
That heavily militarized former superpower left everything from state-of-the-art jets and tanks to nuclear missiles and bombers — all scattered around newly-independent countries like Ukraine and Kazakhstan. There were lots of shady deals to be made with cash-strapped governments and high-ranking military officers.
Bout reportedly smuggled more than $32 billion in various weapons out of Ukraine during the ’90s. It was during this same time period — 1994, to be exact — that then-President Bill Clinton was negotiating the Budapest Memorandum between the Russian Federation and several former Soviet Republics, including Ukraine. Kyiv agreed to give up former Soviet nuclear weapons and delivery systems in exchange for security guarantees that turned out worthless.
Maybe the best that can be said about the Budapest Memorandum is that it may have prevented Bout from getting his hands on any nuclear warheads — because this guy will sell to literally anybody. Part of his 2012 conviction in a New York federal court was for attempting to buy and sell antiaircraft missiles to terrorist organizations for use against passenger jets.
...
This is the guy Presidentish Joe Biden just sprung from prison in exchange for a basketball player stupid enough to bring her personal stash of drugs into a country like Russia.
Meet the 'Merchant of Death' Biden Just Traded for Brittney Griner
Viktor Bout, arms dealer to terrorists and worse, who more than earned his “Merchant of Death” sobriquet — is once more a free man. But who is he? The world’s most successful arms me...
pjmedia.com
