Douglas Farah reckons the Russians are trying to press the US State Department to press for Viktor Bout’s release, or rather his extradition to Russia, which would amount to the same thing. It’s an interesting suggestion, although usual caveats apply to a story sourced to Bill “WMD to Syria!!” Gertz. I can imagine them pitching…
Read More Even More Viktor Bout Arrest BloggingMuch more is filtering out about the Bangkok Bout Bust; it seems fairly certain that his arrest was the result of a sting operation in which the DEA posed as buyers from the FARC. Bout booked a meeting room in the Bangkok Sofitel; he, and several others, were waiting for their guests to arrive when…
Read More Smulian In the Bag With Viktor BoutEveryone was all over this NYT story about those vanishing cargoes of guns in Iraq. It’s nothing new if you’ve been reading this blog; we’ve been concerned about this ever since 2005. And, unlike Spencer Ackerman, we’ve got the whole supply chain; those guns didn’t come on no C-17, Spence, but on JLI and Aerocom…
Read More Belated Bad Logistics BloggingG3 Systems Ltd must have been very proud when Tony Blair visited the logistics base it built in Afghanistan for the British Army a few months ago, and again when Defence Secretary Des Browne came calling. Their website boasts of offering a wide range of services to the armed forces, especially the supply of various…
Read More G3 Systems and Fraser-BrookWhat was a small British company doing importing vast quantities of arms from Bosnia? More importantly, what was it doing telling lies about their destination in order to clear Bosnian customs? What was it doing contracting with Tomislav Damjanovic, possibly Viktor Bout, and disgraced Iraqi minister Ziad Cattan to ship them to Iraq when the…
Read More 58,000 AKs in a Nottingham basement?David Phinney notepads something interesting about the scandal-lapped Kuwaiti contractor on the US Embassy in Baghdad: From spring 2006: The general manager for the US Embassy contractor, First Kuwaiti General Trading and Contracting has two airplanes the company can’t register and is piloted by a German pilot named Wolfgang …. The general manager also has…
Read More Need a hand with that?So dodgy Russians have bullied Fasthosts into darking Craig Murray’s blog, as well as a gaggle of others on the same virtual machine. (Iron-clad integrity *and* technical chops; what more do you want?) Naturally, this has only spread the poison; so here’s the complete text. Kindly post it on your own blog. In a creative…
Read More Mirrorball: Usmanov vs Craig MurrayThis list of Blackwater boss Erik Prince‘s campaign contributions has been getting heavy-traffic blogger attention due to his donation to a fake Green Party candidate. There’s better, though: consider these two line items in relation to one another. Prince, ErikMcLean, VA 22102Prince Group/Chairman PRINCIPLES EXALT A NATION POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE $1,000 primary 01/04/06 Principles, eh?…
Read More Principles!Sonia Falcone is deported from the US, heads for Beijing; where she intends to catch up with ol’ Pierre.
Read More China: The New Exile?Lawyers for the son of the dictator of Congo-Brazzaville are trying to force our old friends at Global Witness to take some kompromat’ they have on him off their website. It looks like the son has been helping himself to the oil money – what did I tell you? – in order to fund his…
Read More Mirrorball: Global Witness and the President’s Son