WAR: Global Arms - Trafficking Network Designated by US (Update: Viktor Bout Extradited)

Douglas Farah is to testify before Congress on Thursday.


Counterterrorism Blog: Steven Emerson & Douglas Farah to Testify Before Congress This Week

July 28, 2008


Contributing Experts Steven Emerson and Douglas Farah will testify before the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade this Thursday at 10:30 am ET in room 2200 of the Rayburn House Building.

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One of the subjects of the hearing will be whether U.S. relations with Thailand should be tied more closely to the Thai government's decision on the extradition of Viktor Bout to the U.S. to stand trial for charges alleged in an indictment.

August or September 22?

I'm not sure if Viktor Bout's next hearing is on August 22 or September 22. MSM is operating with two different dates and I don't know which of the dates are correct. Most say September 22. However, I've seen others say August 22. Here's an example. ITAR-TASS says August 22 in the title as well as in the article...


ITAR-TASS: Bangkok court hearings in Viktor Bout case postponed until Aug 22


Does anyone know which of the dates are the correct one?


edit: fixed broken tag...

[edit on 2008/7/30 by Hellmutt]

September

Aha! I believe I've found the answer.


The Moscow Times: Hearing On Bout Extradition Postponed

arrgh you beat me to it. Anyway, heres some pics.


The court rescheduled the extradition hearing since his new defense attorney failed to show up.

More Pics

[edit on 7/30/08 by makeitso]

RussiaToday says there have been two hearings, but with no results. That's not really true now is it? There have not been two hearings held.


RussiaToday: U.S. offer swap: Aid for ‘Merchant of Death’


Why would RussiaToday word it like that?


Thailand Correspondent: Viktor Bout

1 August 2008


His wife, a dowdy petite woman who claimed not to speak English, stood quietly whispering to Russia Today's journalist, who claimed to be a friend of Bout. Fair and balanced reporting there then.

Thai judges and lawyers spoke among themselves and it was quickly clear there would be no hearing - Bout's new lawyer was unavailable. His previous lawyer had been sick on the date of an earlier hearing. So we filed out, ready to pounce on the shackled Russian once more as he was led back to his cell, pencilling September 26th for our next date with international justice.

Aha! They are friends of VB. But here's a different date, Sept 26. Is it Sept 26 or Sept 22?

Thai airports are closed. There are rumours of a coup, and there has been lots of riots. Could this be an opportunity for someone to free Viktor?


Thai Airports Closed (by muddyhoop)

Bangkok...


Anti-government protesters and Thai primie minister loyalists clash

Breaking news: Bangkok under state of emergency

Will Viktor Bout be extradited to the US next week? This week, Thailand rejected a US extradition request for Jamshid Ghassemi...


Douglas Farah: Russia Grows Aggressive in Aiding State Sponsors of Terrorism

Sep 19


It is interesting to note that Russia’s deputy prime minister, Igor Sechin, one of the closest allies of Mr Putin, the Prime Minister, visited Venezuela and Cuba this week. Sechin is widely reported to be the main backer of Viktor Bout

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(In an ominous sign that Bout’s extradition will not be approved, the Thai appellate court, for the first time this week, rejected a U.S. extradition request. This one was for Jamshid Ghassemi, an Iranian indicted in the United States for acquiring dual-use equipment and accelerometers for Iran’s nuclear program. The court ruling gave no reasons for its decision, which is unappealable, and foul play is suspected.

There are several parallels to the Bout case, where the Russians have been offering large financial inducements, oil deals and preferential weapons deals in exchange for Bout’s freedom.

Viktor Bout's extradition hearings opened in Bangkok today.


Alleged arms dealer Bout in Thai court for US extradition case

I've heard that Viktor Bout is to stand in court again in Bangkok on Friday.



Right now, the situation in Bangkok is getting quite extreme. Here's a new thread:
BANGKOK-Police throw bombs into a 30,000 strong crowd. (by serpentine)

Next hearing is tomorrow (October 10). Viktor Bout's lawyer says that the US has no chance whatsoever, to get him extradited to the US under Thai law...


RIA Novosti: Thailand cannot extradite suspected arms dealer to U.S. - lawyer

He is in court now...


'Merchant of Death' in court

Why isn't this transmitted live now on every news channel? Does nobody care? The story of the decade apparently goes unnoticed...

reply to post by Hellmutt


Yes, I wonder too. Diversion is the name of the game.

BTW, thanks for putting my attention on the BKK bomb throwing thread
... which is more mysterious than that. No residues. Thai press speculates on the cause of the serious injuries. Just made my contribution to serpentine's thread.

The Biggest Political Prisoner Of Today

Here's an interesting article on Viktor Bout.


In Flanders Fields: Rise and fall of Viktor Bout (Denis Van den Weghe)

1 november 2008


Viktor Anatolyevich Bout is without any doubt the biggest political prisoner of today. For the readers among you that have never heard about Mr. Bout before, I will give you a little introduction in this article.

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In Afghanistan he is known to have delivered goods to both sides of the pre-‘Operation Enduring Freedom’ era. He did similar things in Africa and in many cases the ‘customers’ knew about it but Viktor was their only reliable delivery man, so with their arms tied behind their back, they ignored that fact and kept on doing business with him.

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At any time, Viktor Bout owned a fleet of about 60 heavy cargo planes, which had tail number and registration shifted constantly. Over the years, many people involved in the investigations around him thought that some high-placed persons (mainly in the US and Russia) were keeping their hands above his head so that he could handle his business without inconvenience.

Nothing new, but some sort of a summary for new readers...

Is Bout stealing weapons from the former Soviet stockpiles thus guaranteeing a larger profit margin? I also notice that several of the articles said that Bout was supplying weapons for UN SPONSORED REGIMES. Isn't that good?

Then I have to contrast this with the US weapons trafficking in support of Israel. Our F-16's and tanks have allowed them to terrorize the Palestinians for decades. They are an occupying force in Palestinian territories slaughtering civilians and destroying homes, farms, and infrastructure. Where is the outrage over that?

It seems to me that the US does not like competitors in the arms trafficking business. They would like to have a monopoly.

Alleged Russian arms dealer appears in Thai court

Defense attorney Preecha Prasertsak petitioned the court to dismiss the extradition case, arguing that his client had been illegally detained when he was first arrested.

Prosecutor Sanchai Krungkanjana argued that the first arrest warrant had been dropped because "there was insufficient evidence in Thailand" but there was enough evidence in the U.S. to approve Bout's extradition and the second warrant.

"We don't see any grounds to prove that it was an illegal detention," Sanchai told The Associated Press after the hearing.

The next hearing is expected on Nov. 18.

Seems like Viktor is now also charged with murder...


Lawyer says US trumped up Russian arms dealer charges

An-12 Crashed In Iraq

One of Viktor Bout's planes crashed in Iraq a few days ago.


Freighter crashes in Iraq