Several are convinced he’ll soon reemerge as a player, helping Russia sell and acquire weapons in violation of international sanctions imposed in response to its invasion of Ukraine and earlier human rights violations.
“The Merchant of Death is back in action, with more hatred against America and with greater motivation to fuel conflicts and support Russia in its outrageous and disastrous war with Ukraine,” says Derek Maltz, who as head of the DEA Special Operations Division oversaw the undercover investigation of Bout.
What's more:
[Former DEA chief Mike] Braun disagrees with those who argue that Bout is a has-been, that his network has frayed and his business model collapsed. If anything, Braun says, Bout has probably made valuable contacts over the nearly dozen years he has spent in the U.S. prison system.
“Anyone who thinks he’s washed up and [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is not going to push him back into service, it’s beyond me,” Braun said. “People who believe that don’t understand how the real underworld works.”
What's scary is that Bout returns now to a different world.
Ukraine is now an even bigger shambles than it was when the Soviet Union fell and arms are absolutely all over the place, ready for resale. Huge amounts of money and grift make it easier to get away with such deeds because a lot of people are doing it.
What's scarier still is that he still has ties to Afghanistan, where Joe Biden irresponsibly left an even bigger stash of weapons ... and based on U.S. and EU sanctions, the Taliban needs money.
Bout claims he had only sold arms to the Northern Alliance of Afghanistan which once fought the Taliban, but U.S. intelligence and others think he may have sold to al-Qaida and the Taliban and just not be saying. If it's true, than he likely still has some good business ties with that bunch and they've got some fresh merchandise for him to dispose of for them. Even if it's not true, he could likely make a deal with them.
Both war zones are absolutely tailor-made for Bout's "services" and now Joe Biden cannot stop him.
He will groom the next generation of arms dealers and supervise the business from the safety of Russia.
Bout is a Russian intelligence agent, selling Russian arms (which are produced in state-run companies) to governments and groups approved by the Russian Government, for Russia’s strategic purposes.
But then again the CIA does the same thing for covert arms shipments, and Raytheon and Lockheed Martin do the same thing for overt arms shipments.
Maria Butina wasn’t a spy, she was a political prisoner held hostage by the United States.
Like their slaves in the Democratic Party, these globalist love death and seek to bring it to the majority of Mankind, leaving only an impoverished remnant who will be forced into serving the elites in order to survive.
It is time to reintroduce the scaffold to the town square or we will perish.
Maybe Vik will send Britt a Christmas card.
He'll probably go back into business in competition with the ATF and their Fast and Furious forced Gun Dealer sales of AR and AK "Automatic Rifles" to Cartel soldiers for the purpose of killing Border Patrol Agents.
Or he just might sell firearms to American citizens, something the ATF would never do.
With all the unaccounted for US weaponry stashed around Ukraine I suspect Zelensky will contract him to sell it in the underworld to add to Z’s personal wealth as he ready’s for his day to bug-out.
Everyone agrees this was a bad deal for the US. He didn’t even ask for her to get her dope back which proves what a lightweight negotiator he is.
Oceana vs europa...the otger side needed help in ukraine keeping the action going.
“Well, he had the right connections in the country of his ethnicity, which, what a coincidence, was UKRAINE.”
Oh, why am I not surprised...
“Both war zones are absolutely tailor-made for Bout’s “services,” and now Joe Biden cannot stop him.”
...and with the US Dollar about to be displaced as the world’s reserve currency (thanks to the Neocon war in Ukraine), he won’t have to worry about Western spooks tracking his work.