It was only last week that notorious arms trafficker Viktor Bout was finally extradited to the US from Thailand. It took years to finally get him here.

A newly leaked State Department cable from WikiLeaks reveals the behind the scenes action relating to the Bout case.

We already knew the Russians were pulling out all the stops to prevent Bout from falling into our hands. Viktor Bout is a treasure trove of illicit Russian activities going back 20 years.

Here’s an interesting tidbit from the cable (emphasis mine):

The Department will recall that in February of this year, after significant indications that the Russians were trying to use bribes to influence the outcome of the case, the Ambassador made representations to Prime Minister Abhisit (reftel) that we expected the process to be free of inappropriate influence and Abhisit undertook to do so.

The BANGKOK 00001998 003 OF 004 Ambassador also intervened at the same time with Defense Minister Prawit Wongsuwan and the Royal Thai Naval Commander Khamtorn Pumhiran to insist that false testimony by xxxxxxxxx (that Bout had been in Thailand as part of a routine naval procurement) be rebutted. The Thai Navy subsequently issued a letter to that effect. We will remind the Thais of their commitment to a clean process and ask that they assure us again on the front.

In the end it looks like everything worked out, because we got him. Nicely played, US Government.

This is kind of an obscure story that you probably won’t hear a lot about. Prolific arms trafficker Viktor Bout has been extradited from Thailand to the US. Bout will stand trial for terrorism, arms trafficking, and a multitude of other crimes. I’ve been fascinated by this guy for years. I’ve read pretty much everything you can read about him.

Viktor Bout was the world’s #1 black market arms dealer until his arrest in Thailand a few years ago. He served as the inspiration for the Nicolas Cage movie Lord of War.

Bout is a brilliant businessman. He took advantage of the fall of the Soviet Union and simply stole a few abandoned cargo aircraft from Russian military bases. Technically, they didn’t belong to the government because there was no government any longer. He then hired some out of work Soviet pilots and started a transport business. He would transport any kind of freight anywhere in the world. He would fly cargo into places no other pilots would dare go. War torn places in West Africa, Afghanistan, the Middle East.

He used his Russian military connections to buy the massive stockpiles of armaments left over from the Soviet military. Tanks, Ak-47’s, attack choppers, missiles, rockets, grenades, and everything in between.

He violated every arms embargo on the planet. He almost single handedly fueled the brutal wars in West Africa throughout the 90’s. He would arm both sides. His only allegiance was to money. He sold arms to the RUF in Sierra Leone. He sold arms to Charles Taylor in Liberia. He armed both sides in the Rwanda genocide. He sold weapons to the Mujahedeen in Afghanistan. Bout made hundreds of millions of dollars. He had dozens of shell companies and transport businesses. He went from having a 3 planes to more than 100 transport aircraft.

I highly recommend the book about Viktor Bout called “Merchant of Death.” It’s a fantastic read.

Another intriguing aspect to this story involves Russia. Viktor is Russian. He’s undoubtedly done some nasty covert arms deals for Russia and God knows what else. Russia tried everything to keep Thailand from extraditing Bout to the US. They don’t want us to know whatever it is he knows.

What does he know? Sadly, whatever it is It’s unlikely I will ever hear about it.

From Reuters:

Canadian paedophile suspect Christopher Neil went on trial in Thailand on Monday, more than four months after he was arrested in a global man-hunt triggered by “swirly face” images of abuse found on the Internet.

Neil, his wrists and ankles shackled as he appeared in the Bangkok Criminal Court, pleaded not guilty to four charges of molesting and distributing pornographic images of two Thai boys, a prosecutor told reporters.

If found guilty, the 32-year-old could spend up to 20 years in jail.

I remember seeing the pictures of this guy after they had reversed the swirling of his face on the news. I think it’s safe to say that this guy has touched his last little boy. This guy is in deep sh*t, he’s gonna be rotting in a Thai prison for the foreseeable future.

But that’s not all! After he serves whatever sentence he receives in Thailand, he’ll possibly be extradited to Cambodia and then Vietnam to face possible charges their as well.

I think it bares repeating one more time, this guy is in deep sh*t!

The article also claims that his only visitor is his transsexual “girlfriend” named “Ohm.” (As in Ohm my god, this guy is in deep sh*t!)

-Chris Jones