Free Republic

Bout is alleged to have fueled multiple conflicts across the globe through arms dealing, sometimes to both sides ... A senior defense official is concerned that convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, the "Merchant of Death" .. could go back to illegally trafficking weapons, thereby fueling deadly conflicts around the world. "I think there is a concern that he would return to doing the same kind of work that he's done in the past.. Bout was in the middle of serving a 25-year prison sentence in a U.S. prison for several offenses, including conspiring to kill Americans ... Bout, a...

Venezuela's coming civil war has been a long time coming, and it is still coming. The rot set in early after President Chávez was elected in 1999, as shown by Venezuela's cattle statistics. Chávez's agricultural reforms sent cattle production into a nosedive. But no matter – there was plenty of oil revenue to make good the shortfall with imported beef. Then the oil revenue fell away, too, so ordinary Venezuelans now subsist on starchy root vegetables. Recently, individual troops have been siding with the protesters, a sign that the civil war is not far off. Despite Venezuela's troubles, population growth...