Blogging on Meds

Thursday saw the arrest in Thailand of one of the world’s largest arms dealers — no, not Lockheed CEO Bob Stevens — but former Soviet air officer Viktor Bout.

Believed to have trafficked billions of dollars worth of weapons to conflict-ridden nations like Afghanistan, Angola, Congo, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Sudan, Bout is also said to have inspired the 2005 film Lord of War, which featured Nicholas Cage as an unscrupulous international arms dealer admittedly fueling conflicts around the world.

I have no sympathy for arms dealers. But here’s what I don’t get.

“His capture was prompted by a tip from the United States in connection with the procurement of weapons for the Colombian FARC rebels”, reads the IHT’s Friday edition.

“His arrest in Thailand came after a Colombian military raid into Ecuador on Saturday, during which the Colombian Army killed 24 guerrillas and obtained a computer laptop belonging to a senior FARC rebel commander. It was not immediately clear whether the arrest and the seizure of information on the laptop were related.”

It goes on to say: “Colonel Petcharat [Sengchai of Thailand's Crime Suppression Division] said Bout… was wanted for ‘the procurement of weapons and explosives for Colombian rebels,’ referring to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC…”

Did I miss something?

So last week’s supposedly independent cross-border raid into Ecuador by Colombian forces in pursuit of FARC rebels — which has sparked a flurry of diplomatic rows and military stand-offs on Latin America’s borders, as well as an escalation in US-Chavez tensions — just happened to give US intelligence the evidence they needed to nab Bout?

Neither the IHT nor, after a quick search, any of the other respectable news agencies, even blinked an eye.

The US government gives Colombia military aid to the tune of $500 million each year — more money than any other country in the region — putting the narco-plagued nation as the 6th highest recipient of US military funding after Israel, Egypt, Pakistan, Jordan, and Afghanistan. Between 1999 and 2004, Colombia received over $3.5. billion in military aid, according to the US-based Center for Public Integrity.

While Latin America seems to have recently shrugged off US hegemony in the region, there’s noway that cross-border raid wasn’t orchestrated, funded, and approved by the US to a) allow Colombia to nail Raul Reyes, a senior FARC leader, and b) get the US the clincher it needed to seize Bout.

I can’t also help but assume US officials are reveling in the forum this has given them to face off Chavez, whose provocative moves in the aftermath of the raid have launched a regional diplomatic crisis.

Keep it up, Chavez, and we might just have to stage a coup to stabilize the region. Seriously.

An Op-Ed in the IHT/NY Times writes:

“…the U.S. should be prepared for a more active approach if events escalate. The region might object to a direct U.S. military intervention, but Washington might consider quietly stepping up the supply of aid, training, and equipment to Colombia.”

Federal prosecutors in New York have yet to unseal the criminal charges they’ve brought against the Russian arms dealer. Bout is wanted in a number of countries, including Thailand and Belgium among others, but US attorneys say it is likely they will get a crack at him in court.

Charges will most likely center around Bout’s alleged supply of weapons to Al-Qaeda and Taliban forces, which he categorically denied on a Moscow radio station several years ago.

“The accusations against me,” Bout said, “resemble more a script for a Hollywood thriller.”

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