The first link below reports that Victor Bout, a Russian weapons dealer, has been transported from Thailand to US soil after the USA and Russia waged an intense behind-the-scenes struggle over where Thailand would send Mr. Bout. The first link mentions only that Mr. Bout is a “death merchant” to be tried on weapons smuggling charges. However, the real story goes much deeper than was reported in the first link.
If you read my archived 9-16-10 blog post entitled “Are Russia’s Vital Secrets about to be Exposed?,” (see second link below), you will understand what is really at stake in this man’s custody being given to the USA, not Russia. In that blog post, I cited a story at Newsweek.com that Mr. Bout was actually an important Russian agent who was very close to the top Russian leadership and worked closely with the Russian FSB (the old KGB) on its international activities. Mr. Bout is not some renegade weapons dealer. As cited in my blog post, he was in charge of a Russian fleet of airplanes who shipped Russia’s secret cargoes all over the world and he doubtless knows the names, locations, addresses and activities of many well-connected “deep cover” Russian agents all over the world. It is an intelligence goldmine for the West to have him in indefinite American custody. No wonder Russia tried so hard to motivate the Thais to release him and send him back to Russia.
If the Americans can coax all the secret information about the Russian FSB networks around the world out of Mr. Bout, the Russian spy networks will suffer a major blow which could set them back for years. American interrogators are likely to give Mr. Bout an offer he can’t refuse in order to obtain that information. Russian spymasters will have to assume that the CIA will soon know whatever Mr. Bout knows about Russian intelligence activities.
I urge you to read the second link (which includes a link to the Newsweek report about his spy background) for the full story of how important his presence in American custody really is. The outcome of this story also indicates that Thailand has decided to ally itself solidly to the USA, NATO and the West because you can be sure Russia is very wrathful toward Thailand right now.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/11/16/major-arms-suspect-flown-russians-protest/
http://stevenmcollins.com/?p=2867
