US - VIKTOR BOUT - LAWYER PLANNING FILM OR DOCO

Russian Arms Dealer Viktor Bout Gets Biopic By His Own Lawyer By Allison Quinn Aug. 12 2014 16:49 Last edited 16:50 Convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout's lawyer has announced plans to create a film based on all the crimes his client "did not commit" to rival an earlier Hollywood blockbuster based on the arms dealer's life. "Together with a creative group of co-authors, I am looking into the possibility of producing and filming an alternative dramatic or documentary film about Viktor Bout, and about all those crimes that he did not commit," Alexei Binetsky said in comments to Interfax on Tuesday. The film would be similar to the sensational 2005 action film "Lord of War" starring Hollywood actor Nicholas Cage, he explained. Although the main character in the film, Yury Orlov, was reportedly based on several different well-known criminals, Bout is believed to have been a major inspiration. Bout is currently serving out a 25-year sentence in a U.S. prison for a 2011 conviction of conspiracy to kill U.S. citizens and officials. The charge stems from his 2008 arrest in Thailand by a team of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents following an elaborate sting operation where they posed as buyers for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia, or FARC. Prosecutors later argued that Bout had intended to supply the group, which the U.S. government considers a terrorist organization, with anti-aircraft weapons and other arms that he understood would be used to kill Americans. Both Bout and Russia's Foreign Ministry denounced the arrest and subsequent extradition in 2010 to the U.S., with the former accusing U.S. authorities of entrapping him with a "vindictive" prosecution and Moscow claiming the case was politically motivated. Bout has maintained his innocence, and Binetsky has backed up his client's claims. [...] Bout has already been the subject of at least one other film, "The Notorious Mr. Bout," which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in January. EXTRACT - FULL @ SOURCE http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/504980.html

What a load of crap.
The US sells arms worldwide. Should they be tried for conspiracy to kill?
What's selling arms to FARC got to do with the US?
Hey, maybe they should keep out of South America's business.

FARC are probably the good guys.

What jurisdiction would US drug enforcement have in Thailand?
And fancy using the drugs squad.  How shifty are they?

Whoever put Nicholas Cage in a film about Bout is an idiot.

Good luck with that sentence, Bout.  

HOLY HELLFIRE BATMAN - US 5000 HELLFIRE AIR-LAND MISSILES TO IRAQ

US to supply Iraq 5000 Hellfire missiles worth $ 700 million July 30, 12:50 UTC+4 WASHINGTON, July 30. / ITAR-TASS /. The US State Department has approved the deal of 5000 Hellfire air-land missiles AGM-114 that the Pentagon will give to Iraq, the Wall Street Journal reported. The total contract amount will be $ 700 million. According to the Pentagon press release, "the missile directly supports the Government of Iraq and serves the interests of the people of Iraq and the United States”. It also noted that "Iraq will use the Hellfire missiles to help improve the Iraq Security Forces’ capability to support current ongoing ground operations." The US Defense Ministry explained that the Iraqi armed forces that already possess rockets of this type should not have problems with their use. All the necessary equipment for missile use and transportation included to the cost. An American aerospace giant Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor for the production and supply of Hellfire missiles. These 5000 rockets have three versions of AGM-114 - K, N and R. http://en.itar-tass.com/world/742845l

Wall Street Journal - here. Iraq ... billions of dollars in deals for fighter jets, helicopters, armored vehicles, radar equipment and munitions. re Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, the U.S. has stepped up surveillance flights over the country, and dispatched more than 700 U.S. forces there Pentagon ... expedited the sale of hundreds of Hellfires, which can be fired from planes and helicopters, to replenish Iraq's stockpile. U.S. has delivered 780 Hellfires to Iraq so far this year, including more than 450 arriving this month. Another 366 are due in August Lockheed formally delivered the first F-16 of a multibillion-dollar order from Iraq for the fighters. [Delivery of]  three more F-16s [due] this  year --  U.S. government yet to formally approve [fly] Harris Corp., the military communications specialist, said Tuesday that it had recently booked an order from Iraq for military radios ... ... part of US effort to [bolster]  the Iraqi military while the Pentagon develops proposals to counter the Islamic State.

While I was reading this, I kept thinking no wonder Assad is so confident.  Then I realised I had the wrong country and that this is IRAQ. 

Oops.  Still can't keep Middle East straight.

What I got out of this is:  war is money and plenty of it.  

As it's a reference to 'deals' and $700 mil, I take it the US isn't giving away weapons -- it's selling them.

From the Itar-Tass article, it looks like it was an all-inclusive deal (ie ancillary equipment and transportation).  

Got to wondering how they're going to pay.  Looks like a poor country.  Whenever you see pics of the Middle East, looks like a barren wasteland.

Check Wikipedia, indicates:

Oil reserves in Iraq are considered the world’s fifth-largest proven oil reserves, with 140 billion barrels

Iraq also has natural gas reserves.

So that's an official 'arms deal', I guess.

UK - Arms Embargo - Cameron's Porkie Pies

Cameron claims export licenses allowing UK arms sales to Russia don’t breach embargo Published time: July 24, 2014 15:04 Edited time: July 24, 2014 23:23  ... Heated criticism of British arms deals with Russia emerged after a group of MPs revealed over 200 licenses allowing the sale of British military equipment to the Russian Federation. These revelations surfaced in a report published on Wednesday, conducted by four separate House of Commons committees. The Committee on Arms Export Controls’ hard-hitting review contradicted a public statement by David Cameron on July 21. The Prime Minister had indicated the government had enforced an absolute arms embargo against Russia. Speaking in the Commons on Monday, Cameron called for an outright EU-wide ban on arms sales to Russia, claiming such an embargo was already in place in Britain. “Future military sales from any country in Europe should not be going ahead,” the Prime Minister told Westminster MPs. “We have already stopped them from Britain,” he claimed. But the Commons committees’ report contradicted Cameron’s claims. The review carefully scrutinized controls on Britain’s arms exports to Russia, revealing 251 export licenses for the sale of controlled goods to the Russia Federation worth approximately £132m.   ... Previously, Britain’s new Defense Secretary Michael Fallon, said Britain does not export arms to Russia “that could be used for internal repression.”   Fallon claimed Britain has “one of the strictest arms sales policies in the world. We don’t sell arms to countries that might use them internally, or might use them to cause regional instability.” But MPs have called for stricter controls on weapons sales to “authoritarian regimes” - emphasizing that over 3,000 export licenses for arms deals worth £12bn have been approved for 28 states criticized by the UK's Foreign Office for their unacceptable human rights records. Such states include Israel, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Sri Lanka.  ...extracts only...article @ ... Source - RT News - here.

Well, fancy that!

And fancy calling for an EU outright ban while doing a roaring arms trade to Russia and DENYING it.