Bout may sue Hollywood, wife hints at Thaksin deal – The Irrawaddy
November 22nd, 2010
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20146
Wife of alleged arms dealer Viktor Bout says that legal action is possible against those who have damaged her husband’s image and that Thailand may have cut a
Alla Bout hands out statement prior to today's oress conference (Photo: Simon Roughneen)
deal with the US regarding Thaksin.
BANGKOK – Angered by what she describes as “ a campaign of demonisation” against her husband, the alleged arms trafficker Viktor Bout, Alla Bout today suggested legal action is possible against “those who have caused terrible damage to my husband’s image”.
She also suggested that Thailand and the US may have cut a deal linking her husband’s extradition with US assistance regarding former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Asked about her view that the United States should punish those who published or made allegations against Viktor Bout, she elaborated that “I have advised my husband that he should take legal action against some of those who have published unfounded allegations”, adding that “action should definitely be taken against those who created the movie Lord of War”.
The film stars Nicolas Cage as Yuri Orlov, a Ukrainian gun runner apparently modelled on Mr Bout, with other characters resembling former Liberian President Charles Taylor and his son Chuck. Charles Taylor is currently on trial at the Special Court for Sierra Leone at The Hague, for war crimes allegedly perpetrated during the 1990’s civil war in Sierra Leone, is thought to be beneficiary of of Mr Bout’s alleged arms cargo business.
Viktor Bout was extradited to the United States on November 16. He spent almost three years in jail in Thailand, after his arrest in a joint US-Thai sting operation in Bangkok in March 2008. The extradition was carried out without the advance knowledge of Mrs Bout or of the Russian Embassy in Thailand, according to both parties.
Alla Bout nevertheless maintained a cheery disposition when meeting the Thailand-based media “for the last time”, as she put it today, while handing out copies of a Russian Embassy press statement to the gathered journalists. “There won’t be enough of these”, she lamented, before launching into a scathing attack on the Thai Government and the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, saying that the Democrat Party-led Thai Government is “subservient to the United States”. (more…)
Thailand faces difficult choice on alleged arms smuggler – Los Angeles Times
October 7th, 2010
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-bout-extradition-20101007,0,2639999.story
The U.S. wants Russian Victor Bout extradited to answer terrorism charges. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva will make a decision and risk offending Washington or Moscow.
Reporting from Bangkok, Thailand, and New Delhi
The last chance for an alleged arms smuggler dubbed the “Merchant of Death” to avoid extradition from Thailand to the United States on terrorism charges appears to lie with Thailand’s prime minister, who faces a tough decision: offend the United States or offend Russia.
The difficult diplomatic choice for Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva follows a ruling Tuesday by a Thai court clearing a legal obstacle that had barred the extradition. Victor Bout, a former Russian air force officer, is suspected of supplying weapons to various armies and terrorist groups in the Middle East, South America and Africa.
Moscow says Bout is a “normal businessman” and wants him returned, but Washington sees him as a dangerous arms proliferator.
Anthony Davis, an analyst with Jane’s Defense Weekly, said the Thai government is going to have to make someone angry. “My guess is it will be the Russians.” (more…)
Pipeline deal strengthens Russian grip on Europe’s gas supplies – Sunday Business Post
March 2nd, 2008
http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2008/03/02/story30892.asp
Russia notched up major success in its quest to establish a strategic stranglehold on gas supplies to western Europe last week.
Hungarian prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsany met outgoing Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin last Thursday, inking a deal to allow Russia’s Gazprom to extend a pipeline, already set to cross Bulgaria and Serbia, into western Europe.
The Serbian agreement was part of a package where Gazprom gets a controlling stake in Nis, the Serbian national oil company, in exchange for Russia backing Serbia’s opposition to Kosovar independence in the UN Security Council.
Alex Brideau of business risk analysts Eurasiagroup, told The Sunday Business Post that Russia’s policy was ‘‘guided primarily by the desire to maintain the country’s position in the natural gas business in Europe over the coming decades, given its importance to Gazprom and the overall economy’’, rather than based directly on Kosovo. (more…)
Serbia, ally reject sovereign Kosovo – The Washington Times
February 18th, 2008
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080218/FOREIGN/79901165/10PRISTINA
PRISTINA Kosovo — Birth pangs from the emergence of the world’s newest nation reverberated yesterday from New York to Moscow as Serbia and its ally Russia rejected a unilateral declaration of independence by the self-proclaimed “Republic of Kosova.”
Kosovo Polje monument marks the spot where Serbs were defeated by invading Ottoman Turks in 1389, the start of 5 centuries of Muslim rule (Photo: Simon Roughneen)
The gambit did little to dampen the jubilation in the streets of Pristina, where red-and-black-clad celebrants waved U.S. and Kosovar flags, exploded firecrackers and ate from an enormous cake intended to feed 30,000 people.
Prime Minister Hashim Thaci issued his proclamation at midafternoon, using the Albanian-language spelling for the longtime Serbian province. The parliament followed quickly with a unanimous vote of approval as tens of thousands gathered outside.
Serbia, however, rejected the loss of a province it considers its historic heartland, and its ally Russia asked for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council in New York. (more…)
Russia Needs to Rethink North Caucasus – OCGG
October 1st, 2004
http://www.oxfordgovernance.org/fileadmin/Publications/SR001.pdf
by Simon Roughneen
Memorial to the victims of Beslan (epa)
No government should negotiate with child-killers. Without getting into any theological or ethical argumentsabout the relative value of one human life over another, shooting and blowing-up schoolchildren is a step beyond the pale, a taboo that defies any attempt at dispassionate afterthought. Russian President Vladimir Putin has legitimate reasons not to negotiate with the architects of Beslan – and has even greater reason to pursue rebels militarily.
However, this does not mean that the Russian president must ignore any openings to alter Russian policy in Chechnya – and the rest of the north Caucasus region. Years of human rights abuses, indiscriminate attacks, and abductions of those suspected of rebel connections, the cherry picking of Presidential candidates by Moscow, flawed elections and the total absence of due process surely allow for some revision of how Russia deals with Chechnya. Perhaps even more so now given that Moscow has military control over most of the republic, bar the mountains, and has air and artillery supremacy over the rest. However, Putin, linking Russia’s conflict with Chechen rebels to the international war on terror, shows no signs of revision of policy. (more…)
