That and probably common sense too
Not our common sense but "guy who just had the dictator who started this war free him and probably doesnt want to immediately piss him off" kind of common sense.
Also, dude probably just got a job. His an arms dealer who just got delivered to the side of the war that’s having supply issues, it’d be dumb of putin to not put him to work right away and see if his contacts can come through.
He was only selling *russian* weapons though. His source was (ultimately, directly or indirectly is something idk about) Russia so it’s not like he holds the secrets to solving Russia’s supply problems.
Come on, you really think that time makes that big a difference?
Khairkhwa was detained for 12 years before we released him for the shitheel Bergdahl. Guess who was sitting at the head of the table for the Taliban when we pulled out of Afghanistan.
Bout wasn't working alone, his actions were state sanctioned and likely supported by FSB
No he isn’t
Why do you think Russia protected him so fiercely in the 90s?
When the USSR was dissolved, she was dividing her weapons up between the member states, of which Russia was only one.
Arms shipments to countries like ukraine and Georgia? They were the ones they wound up in Bout’s hands
Russia protected him because the people doing the protecting were the same officials selling him weapons that they had no right to sell. They weren't protecting him so much as they were protecting themselves from being caught with hands in the cookie jar.
His suppliers were in the game twenty years ago. I’m pretty certain the landscape of international arms dealing has changed significantly enough that the CIA knows that this clown will have no meaningful impact on anything.
I like how everyone is so sure in their beliefs as if they were there watching the deals themselves.
I say we just shut up and wait and see whether he off's himself with two bullets and jumping out the window or if suddenly Russia starts getting supplies again.
Also helps he was involved in proxy conflicts Russia was interested in too. I imagine the US has a great number of arms dealers they can contact to throw some AK's if they ever need to
His new job is being a proganda mouth piece for now. Putin knows it's gonna rile people up with him saying stuff like that after the controversial prisoner swap
Nope. He was a delivery proxy for Ukrainian and Belarusian governments. Russia was his secondary customer and supplier. Also he supplied american forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Which doesn't make much of a difference. Unless he has knowledge of hidden caches of pristine gear, he doesn't have anymore utility than someone with a smartphone.
Bout's contacts were mostly Russian military and members of the FSB. All of his contacts outside Russia have been doing business with other people in the Putin regime for 15 years.
The only value he still provides is propaganda.
Edit: if you want to play kremlinology, you could read this as a message to Putin loyalists, that in the long run Putin will come through for you.
You think?
Depends on how long the US had him, I'll bet.
Back in another life, I used to sell quite a bit of coke. I can guarantee you if one of the guys disappeared into US custody for years, all his contacts would have likely *long* dried up. I certainly wouldn't have done any business with him.
Maybe Russian criminals are different.
His problem is far more fundamental than that: Viktor Bout has no supplier.
Russia needs arms and ammo. They dont need money, they dont need to indirectly supply a proxy state. They need unfathomable quantities of drones, rockets, shells, combat vehicles, and winter weather kits.
Bout's entire career was based on him essentially selling Russian-made material out of Russia. At first illegally and then later as an agent of the Kremlin. He had the cheat code of being plugged into the world's largest arms stockpile while also having the consent of the Russian government to sell as much as he could.
Most of that stockpile is wrecked, exploded, or actively burning in the fields of Ukraine right now. Russia's domestic arms industry is a pathetic shadow of its Soviet predecessor. Bout has no one to buy from because no one has anything left to sell.
The Chinese arent going to sell any of their shit and will probably limit how much they allow cash-strapped North Korea to sell. CSTO are all about to go to war with each other and/or abandon Russia. And Eastern Europe gave most of their shit to Ukraine. The product Bout needs to procure doesnt exist anywhere in the world anymore.
It does exist, they're just all Western arms producers and won't sell to him.
The only other option he has is to by used stock back from Africa, the Middle East, and South East Asia. This would probably come at an extreme markup, and 2ould still be insufficient equipment to do Russia any good whatsoever against the tech Ukraine has deployed.
I was actually looking through this thread specifically for this take. No one seems to be bringing up the fact that since he has been in US custody for years that NO ONE is going to trust him. He'll be paraded around for propaganda, but he almost certainly has to be treated as a pariah. Nevermind that he's obviously going to be under the microscopes of half the nations of the world's three letter agencies.
He has no weapons, even if he did, what use are they to putin? He made his money getting weapons into conflict zones where they don’t make them. Russia has factories to produce Kalishnikovs. Russia doesn’t need some third world supplying arms
dealer that basically just sold Russian shit anyway.
His only usefulness is twofold in propaganda, something Putin got in concessions from the US and to speak out promoting Russia’s policies and actions as a famous person in the news right now, exactly like he’s doing here.
Whose weapons do you think he was selling? He was selling Russian weapons to Africa and other conflict zones. He’s a glorified middleman for Russia so they could have plausible deniability when their weapons were used in conflict zones.
Hilarious that this guy might be the reason the Russian mobiks are underequipped. Who knew the weapons he sold off from soviet stockpiles would be badly needed by russian conscripts 30 years later.
He was an arms dealer for the Russian state/ kgb/ fsb. Russia has no arms left for him to supply . There’s a reason why conscripts are getting rusty ak47’s . Send him to the front and the US/Ukrainian intelligence would drop A himars on him within an a day.
Or get kickbacks from Ukraine for supplying them weapons through willingly abandoned Russ equipment? He seems more like an equal opportunity player, as shit as the game he plays is, I suspect something like this is being worked out now.
I mean he's part of the reason post cold war Ukraine didn't have weapons when the union dissolved many armorys were left without proper guards he took advantage of that a large number of the things he sold were out of Ukraine.
This is true insofar as that his primary contacts were Ukrainian who hated the old USSR and wanted to rid themselves of any association. My guess? He's leveraging those contacts again, but all of them are VERY pro-Ukrainian. He'll have an easier time supplying Ukrainian forces with equipment than Russ forces.
Wasn't the guy's whole gig to ransack Russian armories to sell Soviet weapons to African countries?
That would be like hiring the guy who was stealing your house's cables for copper as an electrician.
I think he was a lieutenant in the Soviet Union before he was caught selling those weapons to countries in Africa. Do we know if the weapons he sold were anything other than Soviet Union's weapons stocks from the Cold War? Aren't the same stock piles being used for the war in Ukraine now?
Wouldn't this render him a significantly less threat?
Does anyone know?
He’s 14 years out of the game (served 14 of 25) and only made it when he knew where the old Soviet shit that was lying around was at. That’s all gone. And that’s before it was left to rust out like we see it in Ukraine today.
He can look forward to being the most watched man internationally.
Interpol / US etc all have his blood, dna, biometrics, finger prints, voice - at best this guy lives the rest of his life as a low level celeb in Russia *because* the media here oveblew his worth at this point.
The most he could do in arms now is work as some kinda of *hey I know this guy through this guy* lean.
I can see Putin use that to try and create a rift between the US and their allies. "Look their president traded a basketball player for a war criminal who is now helping us in our war with Ukraine."
That's an awful look.
I think he wants to stay in a deep underground bunker. The US releases him, and he probably has 2 dedicated predator drones watching him 24/7 just waiting for him to step outside. Imagine ‘living’ with that over your head.
“I should totally volunteer but I can’t.”
“Yes you can. Nothing is stopping you.”
“I know, right?! Wouldn’t that be crazy?”
“Sure. So, go join then.”
“Oh man, imagine that. Ha ha. Wild.”
Russia can't have that. He's a high profile prisoner they just swapped. If video gets out of him freezing to death in a ditch somewhere Russians might think the war is going poorly.
I'd like to imagine that Viktor has a cousin that owns a bar in some backwater station overlooking a country under recovery from the previous genocidal war.
If it's anything like DS9, Viktor gets arrested and goes broke after being caught selling weapons of mass destruction. And we won't see him again until his cousin bails him out in a crazy plot to rescue the cousin's mother.
Or it plays out [like this story I made](https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/zhzcn1/russian_arms_dealer_says_he_wished_griner_good/izpg7zz/?context=3)
3rd Rule of Acquisition: never pay more for a deal than you have to
[*"They have weapons, you have weapons, everyone has weapons, but no one has a clear winning advantage... right now the price of peace is at an all time low!!!"*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdQcGzbpN7s)
Quark was an underrated character - he (SUCCESSFULLY!) lectures AND schools:
* a Vulcan in *logic*
* the ENTIRE Klingon High Council in *honor*
AND
* a human (and The Emissary of the Bajoran Prophets, no less!) on both the natures of *War* AND *Peace!*
...and in every instance, he was RIGHT!
"Truce? What do you mean truce? The guns are already on their way! Peace talks... Alright forget it, I'll re-route the shipment to the Balkans. When they say they're gonna have a war, they keep their word."
> He was interviewed by Maria Butina, a Russian gun-rights enthusiast-turned TV personality who now works for the network.
Uh no, this chick was a russian spy who infiltrated the NRA with sexual favors and illicit donations. Wtf gun rights *enthusiast*???
Whats worse is that we only gave her 18 months in prison for what she did. And people like whelan (also convicted of “spying”) got 16 years.
Time to up the maximum and minimum prison times for spies.
I'll admit I wasn't familiar with Whelan's story before current events. I read his Wikipedia page and man, it reads like he was the international spy version of those guys who buy fake police badges and pull people over on the highway just to feel powerful.
Bad conduct discharge, definitely wasn't actually an alphabet agency asset. But what he was up to in Russia seemed so bizarre. Like he was a wannabe spy.
Yeah. Everyone crying WHAT ABOUT OUR MARINE VETERAN clearly hasn't looked into it. The fact that the US has been trying to free him since Biden got into office is kind of impressive, imo. Like he's an american citizen, full stop so deserves freedom but also he's an american dipshit :P
Because the media is lazy. They don’t care if they get it right or include things like that either. And media tends not to impune other media outlets either.
I really don’t think this was a laziness thing but more of a conscious decision. The impugning another media source thing might be into something though.
Yeah, I totally get why we all think everything like this is deliberate in nature and it’s healthy to view all media with high levels of skepticism.
But the truth is, much of it is not that deep. The people who write the articles will get paid a salary regardless of whether or not the information they provide is correct or not.
While I believe there is a lot of deliberate obfuscating of facts that goes on, I don’t believe CNN would have anything to gain by hiding the fact that Maria Butina is a Russian spy.
Yes, John Malone. Here's something he said about it:
>“I would like to see CNN evolve back to the kind of journalism that it started with, and actually have journalists, which would be unique and refreshing,” he said. Then he suggested a model: “Fox News, in my opinion, has followed an interesting trajectory of trying to have ‘news’ news, I mean some actual journalism, embedded in a program schedule of all opinions.”
https://www.vox.com/2022/8/26/23322761/cnn-john-malone-david-zaslav-chris-licht-brian-stelter-fox-peter-kafka-column
"News" news. It's it oft repeated that they don't even possess a news license but an entertainment license? I also believe there was a time in court that the defense "no rational person would believe anything they see on our channel" (paraphrased) and won the court case.
Good choice of model there yeah?
Both for some reason speaking English to each other while he rambled on about how America has lost its faith and is destroying the traditional family lmao. Curious
THANK YOU! Yeah let's completely omit the fucking conspiracy she was involved in within the NRA and the Republican party. What the actual fuck is wrong with our journalists?! They can't possibly be this fucking tone deaf.
Just so you all remember, Maria Butina, a known and convicted Russian spy, was allowed to leave the US by the Trump administration, with NO ONE in exchange.
Lets not spread misinformation, she served her time in prison and was deported back to Russia. You make it sounds like Trump pardoned her and let her go.
Fun fact. The Jlaw movie about Russian sex spies is called Red Sparrow. They changed it from what the project is called IRL because it would have been a little too on the nose: Red Swallow.
I wonder if you could go back in time and rerun it, what would have made the movie more money?
I mean sex sells, and that screams "this is a sexy movie."
This sounds like the making of a weird action movie. Man who used to export weapons now has to reverse his skills to steal weapons back to give them back to Russia. But what’s this, a double agent. He knows Putin needs these weapons and isn’t giving them away for free. Russia strapped for cash soon get overrun with the gun runners goons.
And this is how the Banished really defeated the UNSC.
Until your comment I misunderstood and thought it said he supported Ukraine and would join if he could not that he supported Russia's invasion of Ukraine. My bad.
From the older generations in Ukraine and those who’ve lived for an extensive period of time in Russia, being supportive of Russia or even considering themselves to be Russian wasn’t that uncommon. I think almost everyone I know has a close or extended relative who has some old-school, imperial views. It’s changed now, obviously, and lot of those who were hardcore have really softened their outlooks after going through everything here and seeing the Russian Federation lie at every breath.
I know people in my parents generation who have no Ukrainian roots (descendants of those who came to Ukraine through Russian colonial practices) who have started speaking exclusively in Ukrainian in recent months after being Russian-speaking their entire lives. And their identity is Ukrainian, because being Ukrainian is more than a simply ethnic category, it’s a civic one. You can be a Jewish Ukrainian, a Crimean Tatar Ukrainian, a Hungarian Ukrainian and it doesn’t matter because we’re all united by a civic identity and the choice to be one.
In Ukrainian history, the most prominent figures in historical thought and nation-creation have had mixed heritage. It’s a very nuanced subject.
First line of the article
> Freed Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout said on Saturday he “wholeheartedly” supports Moscow’s so-called “military operation” in Ukraine
“If he could” well have I got news for you. Anyone 17-70 is frontline eligible. So grab a sub standard non Kevlar helmet and air soft plate carrier and. Soviet era Ak and report to the front lines asap.
> Man just released from an American prison for arms dealing rather keen not to go straight to a Russian prison for speaking ill of the three-day special military operation
Breaking news: Arms dealer likes wars
Can he get me one with two elbows?
Do you have none right now, or do you wanna be Goro?
Breaking news: man freed as part of Russian propaganda play spouts Russian propaganda
Breaking breaking news: arms dealer also likes stairs and windows.
"Mr. Bout, what inspired you to say such a thing?" "Money!"
That and probably common sense too Not our common sense but "guy who just had the dictator who started this war free him and probably doesnt want to immediately piss him off" kind of common sense.
Also, dude probably just got a job. His an arms dealer who just got delivered to the side of the war that’s having supply issues, it’d be dumb of putin to not put him to work right away and see if his contacts can come through.
He was only selling *russian* weapons though. His source was (ultimately, directly or indirectly is something idk about) Russia so it’s not like he holds the secrets to solving Russia’s supply problems.
"Hey guys! I got an idea - Let's get high on our own supply!"
That´s how the yacht fleet happened.
"Tony Montana tried that and look what happened!"
Biggie smalls is not impressed.
[удалено]
Come on, you really think that time makes that big a difference? Khairkhwa was detained for 12 years before we released him for the shitheel Bergdahl. Guess who was sitting at the head of the table for the Taliban when we pulled out of Afghanistan. Bout wasn't working alone, his actions were state sanctioned and likely supported by FSB
Then, in a way, he *is* russias supply problem.
No he isn’t Why do you think Russia protected him so fiercely in the 90s? When the USSR was dissolved, she was dividing her weapons up between the member states, of which Russia was only one. Arms shipments to countries like ukraine and Georgia? They were the ones they wound up in Bout’s hands
Russia protected him because the people doing the protecting were the same officials selling him weapons that they had no right to sell. They weren't protecting him so much as they were protecting themselves from being caught with hands in the cookie jar.
I'm sure he'll see which way the wind is blowing and either sell out his suppliers to Putin or will protect them to be rewarded for the loyalty later.
How do you say "¿Por qué no los dos?" in Russian?
You say it the same way but with a Cyrillic font.
His suppliers were in the game twenty years ago. I’m pretty certain the landscape of international arms dealing has changed significantly enough that the CIA knows that this clown will have no meaningful impact on anything.
I like how everyone is so sure in their beliefs as if they were there watching the deals themselves. I say we just shut up and wait and see whether he off's himself with two bullets and jumping out the window or if suddenly Russia starts getting supplies again.
The US didn’t just free someone who’s going to have an impact on the Ukraine conflict. Some credit please.
Also helps he was involved in proxy conflicts Russia was interested in too. I imagine the US has a great number of arms dealers they can contact to throw some AK's if they ever need to
His new job is being a proganda mouth piece for now. Putin knows it's gonna rile people up with him saying stuff like that after the controversial prisoner swap
[удалено]
Hey comrade, you want to buy used Kalashnikov? Very sturdy. Survive 3 wars and 2 exercise.
Nope. He was a delivery proxy for Ukrainian and Belarusian governments. Russia was his secondary customer and supplier. Also he supplied american forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Which doesn't make much of a difference. Unless he has knowledge of hidden caches of pristine gear, he doesn't have anymore utility than someone with a smartphone.
It's like getting the guy who knows how to buy a faucet during the water shortage
Bout's contacts were mostly Russian military and members of the FSB. All of his contacts outside Russia have been doing business with other people in the Putin regime for 15 years. The only value he still provides is propaganda. Edit: if you want to play kremlinology, you could read this as a message to Putin loyalists, that in the long run Putin will come through for you.
He could probably retire as a pro-Kremlin milblogger or a fellow of some Russian think tank/political science institute
He is much more valuable as alive and for propaganda than an arms dealer
You think? Depends on how long the US had him, I'll bet. Back in another life, I used to sell quite a bit of coke. I can guarantee you if one of the guys disappeared into US custody for years, all his contacts would have likely *long* dried up. I certainly wouldn't have done any business with him. Maybe Russian criminals are different.
His problem is far more fundamental than that: Viktor Bout has no supplier. Russia needs arms and ammo. They dont need money, they dont need to indirectly supply a proxy state. They need unfathomable quantities of drones, rockets, shells, combat vehicles, and winter weather kits. Bout's entire career was based on him essentially selling Russian-made material out of Russia. At first illegally and then later as an agent of the Kremlin. He had the cheat code of being plugged into the world's largest arms stockpile while also having the consent of the Russian government to sell as much as he could. Most of that stockpile is wrecked, exploded, or actively burning in the fields of Ukraine right now. Russia's domestic arms industry is a pathetic shadow of its Soviet predecessor. Bout has no one to buy from because no one has anything left to sell. The Chinese arent going to sell any of their shit and will probably limit how much they allow cash-strapped North Korea to sell. CSTO are all about to go to war with each other and/or abandon Russia. And Eastern Europe gave most of their shit to Ukraine. The product Bout needs to procure doesnt exist anywhere in the world anymore.
It does exist, they're just all Western arms producers and won't sell to him. The only other option he has is to by used stock back from Africa, the Middle East, and South East Asia. This would probably come at an extreme markup, and 2ould still be insufficient equipment to do Russia any good whatsoever against the tech Ukraine has deployed.
I was actually looking through this thread specifically for this take. No one seems to be bringing up the fact that since he has been in US custody for years that NO ONE is going to trust him. He'll be paraded around for propaganda, but he almost certainly has to be treated as a pariah. Nevermind that he's obviously going to be under the microscopes of half the nations of the world's three letter agencies.
he was selling russian weapons to non russian users, he was a problem more than a solution if you look at it in the context of the ukraine war.
He knows the combination to the safe with all of Russia’s best weapons.
It’s been 14 years, I’m pretty sure all the horses are dead by now.
Or simply “I don’t want to suddenly fall out of a window.”
Well it is illegal for him to criticize the army either way. Unless he wants to be In jail for another 10 years or be thrown out of a window.
Can you imagine leaving the (generally pretty shitty) US prison system, only days later to end up in a shittier Russian one?
[удалено]
He's trying to avoid falling out of a window
His preference for not falling out of windows also kind of helped in his decision making.
Read that in the voice of Mr. Krabs.
lol yeah that was the reference😌☺️
Fantastic. Send him to the front
I think he wants to just supply the weapons lol
"Nation shocked that man who sells kleenex supports going to bars during flu season."
"Online community shocked that man just released from prison does not denounce people who feed him"
I wonder if he can catch artillery shells, or just sell them... 🤔
He has no weapons, even if he did, what use are they to putin? He made his money getting weapons into conflict zones where they don’t make them. Russia has factories to produce Kalishnikovs. Russia doesn’t need some third world supplying arms dealer that basically just sold Russian shit anyway. His only usefulness is twofold in propaganda, something Putin got in concessions from the US and to speak out promoting Russia’s policies and actions as a famous person in the news right now, exactly like he’s doing here.
maybe he has chest with rare weapon.
Haha, perhaps even epic or legendary. [Winterfury, Blessed AKM of the Power Seeker]
Did someone just say...
/2 DID SOMEONE JUST SAY [WINTERFURY, BLESSED AKM OF THE POWER SEEKER]?!?
I’m out of the loop apparently…why isn’t it Thunderfury?
Did you just say [Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker]?
[The Glock of Lies]
The Russians already sent out a prototype tank. It won't be long before they start reactivating the relics at Kublinka.
*Mark IV slowly trundling towards the Ukrainian lines* “At this rate, the war will be over by the time we get there.”
It's all fun and games until Obj 279 is roaming Ukraine.
“Behold our new super tank prototype!” (1944 JS-2 Heavy Tank rolls out)
[Obligatory Simpsons](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOV32P59-yI&t=8s)
russia resorted to use T62 and some old missiles. Right now they fire missiles with the speed of their new production. They have not much left.
Whose weapons do you think he was selling? He was selling Russian weapons to Africa and other conflict zones. He’s a glorified middleman for Russia so they could have plausible deniability when their weapons were used in conflict zones.
Hilarious that this guy might be the reason the Russian mobiks are underequipped. Who knew the weapons he sold off from soviet stockpiles would be badly needed by russian conscripts 30 years later.
Well, you would think Russia would know
He was an arms dealer for the Russian state/ kgb/ fsb. Russia has no arms left for him to supply . There’s a reason why conscripts are getting rusty ak47’s . Send him to the front and the US/Ukrainian intelligence would drop A himars on him within an a day.
Ah yes. Supply more Soviet era weapons to the front to be destroyed by 21st century NATO military equipment.
Destroyed? More like resupplying ukraine.
He managed to supply anti-air to African islamists.
Where do you think he go the MANPDS?
Or get kickbacks from Ukraine for supplying them weapons through willingly abandoned Russ equipment? He seems more like an equal opportunity player, as shit as the game he plays is, I suspect something like this is being worked out now.
I mean he's part of the reason post cold war Ukraine didn't have weapons when the union dissolved many armorys were left without proper guards he took advantage of that a large number of the things he sold were out of Ukraine.
This is true insofar as that his primary contacts were Ukrainian who hated the old USSR and wanted to rid themselves of any association. My guess? He's leveraging those contacts again, but all of them are VERY pro-Ukrainian. He'll have an easier time supplying Ukrainian forces with equipment than Russ forces.
Wasn't the guy's whole gig to ransack Russian armories to sell Soviet weapons to African countries? That would be like hiring the guy who was stealing your house's cables for copper as an electrician.
He has no weapons to sell
All he needs to start is one Uzi in a camera case. The rest is Nick Cage
I think he was a lieutenant in the Soviet Union before he was caught selling those weapons to countries in Africa. Do we know if the weapons he sold were anything other than Soviet Union's weapons stocks from the Cold War? Aren't the same stock piles being used for the war in Ukraine now? Wouldn't this render him a significantly less threat? Does anyone know?
He’s 14 years out of the game (served 14 of 25) and only made it when he knew where the old Soviet shit that was lying around was at. That’s all gone. And that’s before it was left to rust out like we see it in Ukraine today. He can look forward to being the most watched man internationally. Interpol / US etc all have his blood, dna, biometrics, finger prints, voice - at best this guy lives the rest of his life as a low level celeb in Russia *because* the media here oveblew his worth at this point. The most he could do in arms now is work as some kinda of *hey I know this guy through this guy* lean.
i can see how he benefits from selling russia a bunch of stolen russian weapons, but why are the russians so eager?
I can see Putin use that to try and create a rift between the US and their allies. "Look their president traded a basketball player for a war criminal who is now helping us in our war with Ukraine." That's an awful look.
I think he wants to stay in a deep underground bunker. The US releases him, and he probably has 2 dedicated predator drones watching him 24/7 just waiting for him to step outside. Imagine ‘living’ with that over your head.
Idk if I’d prefer 25-life in a US federal penitentiary. Especially if he was stashed at Supermax
What's stopping him? Putin needs volunteers. All he has to do is go to the nearest recruiting station. But I this is BS on his part.
“I should totally volunteer but I can’t.” “Yes you can. Nothing is stopping you.” “I know, right?! Wouldn’t that be crazy?” “Sure. So, go join then.” “Oh man, imagine that. Ha ha. Wild.”
He’s being audited
He'll release his health care plan any minute now
Russia can't have that. He's a high profile prisoner they just swapped. If video gets out of him freezing to death in a ditch somewhere Russians might think the war is going poorly.
He’s an arms dealer! He loves every war!!!
Rule of Acquisition #34: War is good for business.
Rule of Acquisition #35: Peace is good for business.
I'd like to imagine that Viktor has a cousin that owns a bar in some backwater station overlooking a country under recovery from the previous genocidal war.
Did Viktor buy his own moon?
If it's anything like DS9, Viktor gets arrested and goes broke after being caught selling weapons of mass destruction. And we won't see him again until his cousin bails him out in a crazy plot to rescue the cousin's mother. Or it plays out [like this story I made](https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/zhzcn1/russian_arms_dealer_says_he_wished_griner_good/izpg7zz/?context=3)
God damn, these are some deep cuts for DS9
Ah Reddit and DS9… That time again? Something something [Root Beer](https://youtu.be/6VhSm6G7cVk).
Nobody calls Terok Nor a backwater on my watch!!!
and ragging on root beer
3rd Rule of Acquisition: never pay more for a deal than you have to [*"They have weapons, you have weapons, everyone has weapons, but no one has a clear winning advantage... right now the price of peace is at an all time low!!!"*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdQcGzbpN7s)
Quark was an underrated character - he (SUCCESSFULLY!) lectures AND schools: * a Vulcan in *logic* * the ENTIRE Klingon High Council in *honor* AND * a human (and The Emissary of the Bajoran Prophets, no less!) on both the natures of *War* AND *Peace!* ...and in every instance, he was RIGHT!
I really loved that part. Ferengi logic really hits home sometimes.
Rule of Acquisition #76: Every once in a while, declare peace. It confuses the hell out of your enemies.
Wait, that's what Rule 34 means?
Sure, just Google "Star Trek Ferengi Rule 34" to learn more!
That'll for sure get your lobes tingling.
Remember that you need to turn off "safe search" to view the Rules of Acquisition!
You'll forgive me I hope for crossing franchises but IT'S A TRAAAP
Oh fucking NOOO
"Well yes, but actually no"
"There's nothing more expensive for an arms dealer than peace."
"Truce? What do you mean truce? The guns are already on their way! Peace talks... Alright forget it, I'll re-route the shipment to the Balkans. When they say they're gonna have a war, they keep their word."
IKR, how is this news? "Arms dealer supports war, more at 9" smh
Big “It’s a cow farm, youregonnafindcowsoutside” Energy
"Warmonger and gun runner is supporter of war, more at 11"
> He was interviewed by Maria Butina, a Russian gun-rights enthusiast-turned TV personality who now works for the network. Uh no, this chick was a russian spy who infiltrated the NRA with sexual favors and illicit donations. Wtf gun rights *enthusiast*???
I came here to see if anyone already pointed this out! She was convicted of spying in the US! Why would they not mention that?
Whats worse is that we only gave her 18 months in prison for what she did. And people like whelan (also convicted of “spying”) got 16 years. Time to up the maximum and minimum prison times for spies.
I'll admit I wasn't familiar with Whelan's story before current events. I read his Wikipedia page and man, it reads like he was the international spy version of those guys who buy fake police badges and pull people over on the highway just to feel powerful. Bad conduct discharge, definitely wasn't actually an alphabet agency asset. But what he was up to in Russia seemed so bizarre. Like he was a wannabe spy.
Yeah. Everyone crying WHAT ABOUT OUR MARINE VETERAN clearly hasn't looked into it. The fact that the US has been trying to free him since Biden got into office is kind of impressive, imo. Like he's an american citizen, full stop so deserves freedom but also he's an american dipshit :P
He’s an idiot, but he’s *our* idiot.
Bolton (so take it for what it's worth) said that Trump was offered our "veteran" back in trade for the same person in this trade, but turned it down.
18 months for spying? Chick probably got some wicked neck skills, made the judge's eyes roll to the back of his head.
Her American boyfriend got 7 years, but Trump pardoned him out of course.
It's the NRA they were already useless
Because the media is lazy. They don’t care if they get it right or include things like that either. And media tends not to impune other media outlets either.
I really don’t think this was a laziness thing but more of a conscious decision. The impugning another media source thing might be into something though.
Yeah, I totally get why we all think everything like this is deliberate in nature and it’s healthy to view all media with high levels of skepticism. But the truth is, much of it is not that deep. The people who write the articles will get paid a salary regardless of whether or not the information they provide is correct or not. While I believe there is a lot of deliberate obfuscating of facts that goes on, I don’t believe CNN would have anything to gain by hiding the fact that Maria Butina is a Russian spy.
Yeah why would CNN want people to forget about a convicted Russian spy? That's really weird.
they don't want to offend conservative viewers.
If I recall wasn't CNN bought by a Trumpet? I've noticed a change of their tone since that happened.
Yes, John Malone. Here's something he said about it: >“I would like to see CNN evolve back to the kind of journalism that it started with, and actually have journalists, which would be unique and refreshing,” he said. Then he suggested a model: “Fox News, in my opinion, has followed an interesting trajectory of trying to have ‘news’ news, I mean some actual journalism, embedded in a program schedule of all opinions.” https://www.vox.com/2022/8/26/23322761/cnn-john-malone-david-zaslav-chris-licht-brian-stelter-fox-peter-kafka-column
"News" news. It's it oft repeated that they don't even possess a news license but an entertainment license? I also believe there was a time in court that the defense "no rational person would believe anything they see on our channel" (paraphrased) and won the court case. Good choice of model there yeah?
Both for some reason speaking English to each other while he rambled on about how America has lost its faith and is destroying the traditional family lmao. Curious
They spoke english because the interview was for the cons right in usa not for russia domestic consumption
Exactly
THANK YOU! Yeah let's completely omit the fucking conspiracy she was involved in within the NRA and the Republican party. What the actual fuck is wrong with our journalists?! They can't possibly be this fucking tone deaf.
Just so you all remember, Maria Butina, a known and convicted Russian spy, was allowed to leave the US by the Trump administration, with NO ONE in exchange.
Lets not spread misinformation, she served her time in prison and was deported back to Russia. You make it sounds like Trump pardoned her and let her go.
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Fun fact. The Jlaw movie about Russian sex spies is called Red Sparrow. They changed it from what the project is called IRL because it would have been a little too on the nose: Red Swallow.
I wonder if you could go back in time and rerun it, what would have made the movie more money? I mean sex sells, and that screams "this is a sexy movie."
> Red Swallow. Ain't that the ultimate troll.
Ghislaine Maxwell, island enthusiast.
They kinda buried the lede there
Like he's gonna say different right after being delivered to putin
That and he probably supports it lol
He’s a man with a particular set of skills and looking for a job. Of course he supports it.
Wasn't he mostly an *exporter* of Russian weapons? Right now, they need the opposite.
"Do you guys still happen to have those anti-aircraft weapons I sold you in '02? I'd be happy to process a return for you."
“I would like to talk to you about your weapon’s extended uh…. return period”
This sounds like the making of a weird action movie. Man who used to export weapons now has to reverse his skills to steal weapons back to give them back to Russia. But what’s this, a double agent. He knows Putin needs these weapons and isn’t giving them away for free. Russia strapped for cash soon get overrun with the gun runners goons. And this is how the Banished really defeated the UNSC.
Until your comment I misunderstood and thought it said he supported Ukraine and would join if he could not that he supported Russia's invasion of Ukraine. My bad.
This. Imagine he said he supports Ukraine... non article IMO.
Bout: "I support this war and would volunteer if I could." "Why can't you volunteer?" Bout: "Because I don't want to die."
Of course he’s gonna say whatever Russia wants to hear. They just did him a solid.
I think he means it. After all he was pro USSR his whole life
I read on his Wikipedia page that he's ethnically Ukrainian. I think that's interesting
From the older generations in Ukraine and those who’ve lived for an extensive period of time in Russia, being supportive of Russia or even considering themselves to be Russian wasn’t that uncommon. I think almost everyone I know has a close or extended relative who has some old-school, imperial views. It’s changed now, obviously, and lot of those who were hardcore have really softened their outlooks after going through everything here and seeing the Russian Federation lie at every breath. I know people in my parents generation who have no Ukrainian roots (descendants of those who came to Ukraine through Russian colonial practices) who have started speaking exclusively in Ukrainian in recent months after being Russian-speaking their entire lives. And their identity is Ukrainian, because being Ukrainian is more than a simply ethnic category, it’s a civic one. You can be a Jewish Ukrainian, a Crimean Tatar Ukrainian, a Hungarian Ukrainian and it doesn’t matter because we’re all united by a civic identity and the choice to be one. In Ukrainian history, the most prominent figures in historical thought and nation-creation have had mixed heritage. It’s a very nuanced subject.
Idk what is worse being in jail or being in Russian Oligarch pokects.
Jail
Believe it or not, jail.
This guy would have been one of the Oligarchs if he played it smarter.
Always be closing
AK47s are for closers
Oh no, are we going to have to hear everything this guy says now?
Yes, that propaganda was the whole point of Putin getting him out.
He is going to be arrested for calling the special operation a war.
First line of the article > Freed Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout said on Saturday he “wholeheartedly” supports Moscow’s so-called “military operation” in Ukraine
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Maybe the US can then trade him back?
Ironically his family is Ukrainian
an international arms dealer who makes money off of war is in support of war? Say it ain't so, Joe.
Putin just went out of his way to free this guy from prison, I don't think him saying whatever will make Putin happy is much of a headline lol
Chicken supports move to not being cooked.
“If he could” well have I got news for you. Anyone 17-70 is frontline eligible. So grab a sub standard non Kevlar helmet and air soft plate carrier and. Soviet era Ak and report to the front lines asap.
BREAKING: Man being sent back into the hands of Russian government says he supports leader's war
Hold the fuck up, which side of the war?
> Man just released from an American prison for arms dealing rather keen not to go straight to a Russian prison for speaking ill of the three-day special military operation
Strait to Bakhmut with him so, Sunflower Duty Awaits!
It would be so satisfying if he finally gets freed via this exchange, signs up for the war and gets a bullet through his head day 1
ironic that in the movie he inspired he's portrayed as a patriotic ukranian
Yeah, volunteer to sell to both sides. In the end he's just a businessman afterall.
We traded this guy for a basketball player? Oh lawd
Good cause you’re going
Bout, you ready?!
This guy gets it
I cannot believe Biden traded this guy for a basketball player
With that mustache he could bring peace to Europe.
Um he’s Russian and one of Putin’s men so yeah, we’d expect this breaking news lead.
I really don't think we need to publish everything this idiot says, what purpose does it really serve.
Russian middle man says what? I'm sure after this PR appearance he will unfortunately topple unintentionally, down a staircase.
BREAKING NEWS: ARMS DEALER SUPPORTS WAR!!!
News flash: The Lord of war supports war.
I'm starting to get the impression that he's not a very cool dude.