Viktor Bout & the U.S.

The man swapped for Brittney Griner once had weapons for everyone, including America

Viktor Bout, upon his arrest — Public Domain photo

According to the publication, Arms Control Today, Viktor Bout was convicted on November 11, 2011, for “conspiring to acquire and use anti-aircraft missiles, kill U.S. nationals, kill U.S. officials, and provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization,” FARC, the revolutionary group based in Columbia.

At the time of the trial, Russia fiercely objected to the proceedings and Bout’s eventual conviction. With the assistance of undercover agents and the government of Thailand, Viktor Bout was apprehended in Bangkok and eventually extradited to the U.S. for prosecution.

Bout’s transgressions were not small potatoes either. He was a big fish in the global weapons trade, a serious businessman. He had offered to sell 30,000 AK-47s to undercover agents and in addition, “C-4 explosives, fragmentation grenades, night vision equipment, and armed ultralight aircraft,” to the FARC rebels in Columbia.

Bout had been doing this kind of work for years. He was part of the global war racket and his businesses kept conflicts going.

It is no surprise then that not too many years before the U.S. jammed Bout, the U.S. had dealings with Bout, the man now called the…