I read all about Viktor Bout in Misha Glenny's excellent "McMafia". Allegedly, he ran a fleet of former Soviet transport aircraft, in which he was prepared to transport anything, anywhere. And usually, this meant weapons into war zones – generally for people who would struggle to get hold of them on legitimate markets.
The Nicolas Cage movie "Lord of War" is supposedly based on Bout's life. I haven't seen it, but I suspect that to be successful in his chosen profession, Bout is a little more low key than the reliably scenery-chewing Coppola nephew.
So, Bout was arrested in Thailand in a US-led sting, after offering to supply weapons to Colombia's FARC. Earlier this week, he was extradited and faces life in prison in the USA on charges of:
"Conspiracy to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization, conspiring to kill Americans, conspiring to kill US officers or employees and conspiring to acquire and use an anti-aircraft missile".
Bout is a Russian citizen, and the Russian government is understandably a little put out at the whole situation. Set aside the likelihood that Bout is a former Soviet officer and so probably knows rather more than the Kremlin would like to see revealed in open court. Set aside any possibility that figures in the Russian establishment ever helped or benefited from anything Bout got up to. My point is not that Russia may or may not have turned a blind eye to "Sanctions Buster" (aka "Merchant of Death") and/or obtained any benefit from doing so.
Indeed, Bout insists he's innocent and – rather optimistically – believes that the trial will exonerate him. Good luck, Viktor – but I think you may need a very good lawyer.
No, my point is the naked hypocrisy of the USA in pressurising Thailand to extradite Bout – a Russian citizen – for crimes allegedly committed nowhere near the USA, when the USA outright refuses to have anything to do with the International Criminal Court (and historically, has refused to have anything to do with any international arrangement that could see its operatives indicted by foreign courts).
That the USA (and the UN) have used Bout's services to ship equipment and personnel into trouble spots themselves is beside the point here. If a Russian can be extradited from Thailand to the USA for offences committed in Africa because American citizens were affected or because he aided organisations listed as "foreign terrorists" in the USA – the implication is that American law has global reach and application. So how would the USA respond to an extradition request from the Iraqi government to hand over the Abu Ghraib jailers, for torturing Iraqi citizens in Iraq?
Apparently, some countries' laws matter more than others. Hardly a stunningly novel conclusion, but it's not every day you see blatant Realpolitik dressed up as international justice. Or maybe it is.
Might is right.
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