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Russia-US trade: Is Viktor Bout an appropriate pawn?

 
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Howee



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PostPosted: 07/29/22 11:45 pm    ::: Russia-US trade: Is Viktor Bout an appropriate pawn? Reply Reply with quote

I thought that Area 51 might be a better place to continue the discussion re: the value of each piece/pawn in Britney Griner's release negotiations.

FrozenLVFan wrote:
Does anyone here really believe Bout isn't going to return to some version of his previous activities? He's not a "businessman," he's a freaking arms dealer.

First of all, let me say that, imo, Bout has deserved his conviction and jail time. But I'm a bit stymied by the fact we should see HIS deeds as criminal, while American "businessmen", aka, Arms Dealers are major players in our American economy, heroic employers of the masses.
American Weapon Sales lead the way around the globe. Of the 20 largest defense industry corporations on Earth (think Gruman, BAESystems, Boeing) the United States has 11 of them on our soil.

FrozenLVFan wrote:
Framing this situation in terms of colonial and racial injustice leaves me shaking my head. Bout supplied weapons throughout west Africa to numerous warlords and brutal regimes, including Charles Taylor, in exchange for blood diamonds, gold, and other natural resources. The number of innocent African men, women, and children who were killed by those weapons is unknown. In addition, he supplied arms and/or aircraft to Libya, Iraq, al-Qaeda, the Taliban, militant Islamic extremists in the Philippines, and many others. He also supplied weapons to the US in the Middle East.Most of these weapons originated in Ukraine from prior Soviet stores and manufacturing facilities there.


(....and we bought them from him? and call HIM the criminal?) Make no mistake: IFF we aren't going to be providing war weapons to those countries we have no stake in (think: oil, etc.), you can bet yer bippy SOMEONE will....give me a reason that Russia or China couldn't do it? They have and they will. We can't control that, but I also don't think that fact entitles us to call them "freeking arms dealers", as if we're better than that.

FrozenLVFan wrote:
Releasing a white Russian billionaire whose weapons were responsible for the deaths of thousands or hundreds of thousands of impoverished Africans and Asians is both racist and elitist. Note that Putin is now trading weapons to the president of Sudan's military regime, who's already been accused of war crimes in Darfur, for gold.

Who told you THOSE figures? I'm guessing one Form or another of the American Pr...pr....Propaganda, errr....PRESS. There is certainly more than enough sad truth to those vague statistics, but.... can we really verify the validity OF ANY WEAPONS SUPPLIERS ANYWHERE ON OUR PLANET?

FrozenLVFan wrote:
And, as has already been mentioned, this puts a big target on the backs of all our citizens abroad. Putin is already asking for a spy who murdered someone back from Germany in addition to Bout. We can't win this game.

It doesn't appear this concern is playing a big role in determining decisions. Former US Ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul mentions this in his interview on PBS Newshour with Amna Nawaz (at about the 5:10 mark)



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