Finally after many years it sounds like Russia and the US may cut a deal to release Viktor Bout. Back in 2013, I honestly thought Putin might trade Snowden for him but it turned out that Snowden was a bigger deal than initially thought.
The media is putting on the pressure – they want the
notorious lesbian and drug using basketball player Brittney Griner freed but
they're not keen on Bout being released. This is part of the Anti-Russia
campaign and so they all but sneer when mentioning his name and add all kinds
of dubious adjectives like I just did with Griner. I only did it to make a
point. You can paint a person however you want.
Bout dealt arms to be sure. He was a merchant of death and as
such has no sympathy from me. But there are lots of merchants of death and
sometimes they're made into heroes. I'm thinking of one fellow who was involved
in shady arms deals, terrorism, and smuggling. And he worked with drug
traffickers in order to fund a dirty war – he was a real merchant of death
named Oliver North. But because the American Right supported the mission in
defiance of congress and because North (who also happens to be a serial liar)
refused to be a patsy and instead came out swinging – he's made into a hero,
and a Christian hero no less.
We could spend a great deal of time talking about other arms
dealers the US has made use of over the decades in order to facilitate its wars
– not to mention the many merchants of death that have sold millions of dollars
of weapons to Saudi Arabia which have been used on the people of Yemen, or the
arms funneled into places like Libya and Syria.
And then there are the American allies, Israelis and others
that also do America's dirty work. One thinks of Sarkis Soghanalian and his
role during the 1970's and 1980's. He was Armenian but based in Florida and frequently
worked for the United States.
I've written about this on and off for years. Bout is an evil
man but decency cannot tolerate the moralizing of American officials and their
mouthpiece media outlets. Bout is no better or worse than many other such
figures within the American machine.
Did he sell weapons to the Taliban or the FARC? So what? Are
the Right-wing paramilitaries in Colombia any better? Were the warlords of the
Northern Alliance somehow more moral or liberal than the Taliban? Most of the
people in Afghanistan didn't think so – especially those who endured the 1992-1996
Siege of Kabul. These allies of the United States were murderers and at one
point the US was even happy to seek an alliance with the Taliban. This is all
smoke and mirrors.
Is Bout a crime boss, or connected to organized crime? The
only people who think US intelligence hasn't worked with organized crime are
those who don't read any history – Bill O'Reilly ghost-written books don't
count by the way.
As far as Griner, she clearly lacks some basic sense to be
over in Russia at this time – even before the invasion. Did no one explain to
this person what was happening?
As far as Paul Whelan goes – I don't know if he was a spy but
he was shady. I don't doubt Moscow is using both of them as pawns in the game –
which the 2008 Bout arrest in Thailand was also just that, part of the game.
And now it's time for another series of moves, but it won't
end. People are used and thrown away. Some 'win' and yet most lose.
See also:
https://pilgrimunderground.blogspot.com/2020/06/great-power-pawns-and-media-gamepiece.html
https://pilgrimunderground.blogspot.com/2015/07/the-internal-war-and-its-casualties.html
https://pilgrimunderground.blogspot.com/2015/12/arms-dealers-and-business-of-war.html
https://pilgrimunderground.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-khashoggi-affair.html
http://pilgrimunderground.blogspot.com/2014/01/drug-wars-allies-and-enemies-in-game.html
https://pilgrimunderground.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-labyrinth-of-drugs-and-weapons.html
https://pilgrimunderground.blogspot.com/2017/10/peering-into-labyrinth-frontlines-guns.html
https://pilgrimunderground.blogspot.com/2017/06/the-karzai-connection-afghanistan-cia.html
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