I watched the movie Blood Diamond last night and it made me all the more incensed at that activities of arms dealer Viktor Bout.
Former Soviet military officer Viktor Bout, the inspiration for Nicholas Cage’s character in the Lord of War, remade himself as an international arms dealer and blood diamonds trafficker following the break-up of the USSR. Using his air charter business to smuggle weapons into the world’s conflict zones (circumventing U.N. embargoes), Bout traveled the world with a precious gems expert and accountant in tow, supplying arms to a notorious clientele: Liberia’s Charles Taylor, a cast of Congolese warlords, and the Taliban, among others.
Check out the interview Mother Jones did with Douglas Farah and Stephen Braun, authors of a new book about Bout, Merchant of Death. Just because they are shiny doesn’t mean you need a diamond on your finger.
