Viktor Bout, a supposed international arms dealer dubbed the “Merchant of Death,” was extradited to the United States from Thailand on Tues. Nicholas Cage has Bout (who has been detained in Thailand since 2008) to thank for the lead role in the 2005 cinema product "Lord of War," which was depending on the arms dealer’s alleged adventures. His extradition to face terrorism charges within the United States of America angered the Russians and is seen as a possible threat to healing U.S./Russia relations.
Why Viktor Bout can make Russians worried
Viktor Bout boarded a plane bound for the U.S. Tues after 2 years of lawful wrangling by WA to get him extradited on terrorism charges. The Thai govt resisted intense pressure from Moscow to set Bout free. He was arrested by the Royal Thai Police and the United States of America Drug Enforcement Administration in 2008 for attempting to sell $5 million in weapons to Columbian rebels. Bout claims he didn't do what he's being accused of. An arms dealer is out of his realm. He said he owned a business focusing on delivering goods to inaccessible places all over the world. Insiders claim Bout knows regarding Russian military intelligence operations, and Moscow is afraid he will spill the beans to United States officials.
Merchant of Death being followed
The warlords in the Middle East, South America and Africa are supposedly those who were getting weapons from Viktor Bout. Bout was a previous Russian military lieutenant who supposedly employed regarding 300 people in his global weapons operation. In Afghanistan in 2002, Bout supposedly got weapons to the Taliban. He went underground, and Drug Enforcement Agency agents finally caught up to him in 2008, posing as weapons buyers for Columbian rebels. Hawking missiles, landmines, and other advances weapons such as drones has gotten Bout into trouble. This is what the Drug Enforcement Agency indictment is all about.
A pawn within the U.S./Russia chess match
The United States of America saw Viktor Bout get shipped in. Of course, it is considered illegal and politically motivated the United States would do the extradition to the Russian foreign ministry. This might hurt the relationship among the United States and Russia a bit. President Barack Obama and Dimitry Medvedev have been working on relations between the two countries. Others say that if last summer’s Russian spy scandal featuring Anna Chapman did little to disrupt the new spirit of detente, Viktor Bout is not much of a threat. What could be a setback is the new Republican advantage within the United States Congress, which is set to debate the ratification of a new U.S./Russia nuclear treaty.
Articles cited
Washington Post
washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/16/AR2010111600072.html?hpid=topnews
Christian Science Monitor
csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2009/1022/who-is-viktor-bout
Telegraph
telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/thailand/8137270/Viktor-Bout-extradition-takes-shine-off-US-Russian-reset.html
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