FREE MERCHANT OF DEATH: MONEY, GUNS, PLANES, AND THE MAN WHO MAKES WAR POSSIBLE PDF

Douglas Farah, | 320 pages | 24 Apr 2008 | Turner Publishing Company | 9780470261965 | English | Chichester, United Kingdom Merchant of Death: Money, Guns, Planes, and the Man Who Makes War Possible by

The ultimate "man in the shadows," , is an arms dealer. Operating in the criminal and political underworld, he has generally managed to keep his name out of the mainstream media. But in this remarkable and courageous Merchant of Death: Money, two well-respected journalists - Douglas Farah, formerly of , and Stephen Braun, a national correspondent for the Los Angeles Times - have ripped the curtain of willful ignorance away from someone who can only be described as one of the world's most despicable people. This book is going to compel you to finish it in one sitting once you start it. A non-fiction thriller that is one of the best I have ever read. Senate carried out an investigation of the role of arms manufacturers in bringing about World War I. Viktor Bout, however, is Planes different sort of businessman, created by a different time. Rather than running giant factories creating artillery and other armaments for international conflicts, he has scavenged the massive arms depots in the former , and then fed the demands of dictators, warlords and the Man Who Makes War Possible bandits in "low-intensity" combat in the poorer countries of the world. Bout's chief area of operations has been - unsurprising considering the constant outbreaks of new and convoluted "insurgencies" and other ill-defined hostilities across the Merchant of Death: Money. Viktor Anatolijevich Bout was, according to official Soviet records, born in in , capital of the then-Communist Central Asian republic of , although in a radio interview in he claimed to have been born in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, another former socialist possession of the Russians. Other sources say he is Ukrainian, possibly of German ancestry, perhaps born in Smolensk. His education is apparently unchallenged: he graduated from the Military Institute of Foreign Languages - an obvious training center for future spies - and went to with a military air unit. The Planes were intent on bringing the former And the Man Who Makes War Possible African colonies into the "socialist camp. Innumerable innocents have perished because of his alleged devotion. Viktor Bout is also fickle in his passions. He enjoys selling weapons to both sides of the wars in which he does business. In the early s, Soviet was turning into the world's outstanding rust belt. Airplanes were falling apart, bombs disintegrating, pilots out of work. What once had been the world's second largest air force was turning into the world's biggest salvage lot. Bout bought up clunky, noisy Antonov and Ilyushin aircraft, and made his first sales of heavy weapons to the warlords shakily ruling in The Russians had been run out of the country and Bout was Planes by Ahmad Shah Massoud, the charismatic leader of Merchant of Death: Money . But in the , enemies of Massoud and his Kabul allies, captured one of Bout's Russian transports when the pilot was moved to offer a radio greeting to an acquaintance serving as a flight controller at the Taliban airport Merchant of Death: Money Kandahar. Bout got out of that by organizing his crew's escape, but Russian sources claim that the crew really owed their freedom to Bout's agreement to supply weapons Guns the Taliban as well as the Kabul regime. Bout's activities were Guns centered in Sharjah, one of the , and he had become a player in other conflicts involving Muslims. He organized arms shipments from the Shariah-enforcing dictatorship of Sudan, which brought the world several attempts at genocide even before Darfur, to the Bosnian Muslims, via Slovenia. TWRA was honeycombed with Islamist radicals, and in an Islamic replay of Afghanistan, and anticipation and the Man Who Makes War Possible events today in , mujahidin from various Arab countries flocked to the Balkans. Perhaps Bout's greatest advantage as an entrepreneur was that he was continuing a supply chain rather than creating a new one. The vicious "liberation movements" in Africa, the Northern Alliance, the Taliban, and the warring ethnic armies in ex-Yugoslavia had all been trained with and used Soviet weaponry for decades. There was no marketing gap; they knew what they were happy with, and Viktor Bout was happy to supply them. The intersection of radical Islam and African gangsterism brought Viktor Bout to the nightmare landscape of . Thug-in-chief Charles Taylor paid Bout in diamonds, which Bout was smart enough to have checked out by his personal gem expert. The Liberian affair produced perhaps the only humorous item in this gruesome account of human corruption - an aviation company called Air Cess. Apparently, nobody told Bout the meaning Merchant of Death: Money "cess," as in "cesspool," in English. But he might not have objected, since he was profiting in a swamp of filth and blood. and Liberia had both been established in the 19th century as colonies of freed slaves - the first by the British, the second by the U. But when Bout arrived on the scene, they had other things in common: Liberia's Charles Taylor was the RUF's patron, both countries had produced terrorist "child soldiers," and "blood diamonds" had become the favored currency for high-value commerce - like that in arms. As the millennium drew to a close, U. His Taliban contract and other Muslim-oriented ventures, along with his African blood diamond trade, had put him in and the Man Who Makes War Possible same environment as . Byaccording to Farah and Braun, then-adviser on counterterrorism to the White House Richard Clarke called for Merchant of Death: Money arrest, even considering his "extraordinary rendition. Wolosky succeeded in getting the Belgians to issue a warrant for Bout, but Bout fled to Moscow. Inthe U. But the survival powers of Viktor Bout are not to be doubted. The authors of this book note Planes he may have been involved in the shipment of arms to Hizballah during the terrorist movement's war with last year. According to U. Many troubling questions remain about Viktor Bout. His reach is astonishing: Farah and Braun allege that his air fleet was used and the Man Who Makes War Possible deliver weapons to the U. Last year U. ATF considered that compelling reason to continue a high-level investigation of Bout. Bout now lives in a fancy apartment in Moscow, maintaining business connections among former Soviet officials who have also found the military-industrial complex created by Communism to be a rich source of recyclable commodities. Although the has Guns an air travel ban on him, he commutes from Moscow, in the words of the authors of this book, "with ease across. Western Europe and the former Eastern bloc, ranging from his home base to satellite operations in Moldova, , and Kazakhstan and arms depots in and the Ukraine. In outstanding service to journalism and the public interest, Farah and Braun have written a book that should be read by everybody interested in knowing the depths of human greed and its involvement with . It is disturbing to imagine how many Viktor Bouts the collapsed Soviet Union loosed on the world, and whether they might not, as many fear, end up selling nuclear materials or other weapons of mass destruction to groups like al-Qaida or Hizballah. Viktor Bout has lived in the heart of darkness, Planes character in a horrific reality show we could call Apocalypse Forever. As noted, the reach of Bout's network is staggering. His presence is so pervasive that when Nicolas Cage starred in the movie Lord of Warsupposedly based on Bout's life, an aircraft used in the production was and the Man Who Makes War Possible of Bout's Antonovs. Merchant of Death: Money professed to be unimpressed by the film. Kudos to Farah and And the Man Who Makes War Possible. Related Topics: Steven Emerson. Yuri Orlov. Submitted by PazDec 22, Note: IPT will moderate reader comments. We reserve the right to edit or remove any comment we determine to be inappropriate. This includes, but is not limited to, comments that include swearing, name calling, or offensive language involving race, religion or ethnicity. All comments must include an email address for verification. Click here to see the top 25 recent comments. Learn more about "Merchant of Death. 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See what's new with book lending at the Internet Archive. Better World Books. Uploaded by lotu. Search icon An illustration of a magnifying glass. User icon An illustration of a person's head and chest. Sign up Log Planes. Web icon An illustration of a computer application window Wayback Machine Texts icon An illustration of an Planes book. Books Video icon An illustration of two cells of a film strip. Video Audio icon An illustration of an audio speaker. Audio Software icon An illustration of a 3. Software Images icon An illustration of two photographs. Images Donate icon An illustration of a heart shape Donate Ellipses icon An illustration Merchant of Death: Money text ellipses. Merchant of Death : money, guns, planes, and the man who makes war possible Item Preview. EMBED for wordpress. Want more? Advanced embedding details, examples, and help! Includes bibliographical references and index The delivery man -- Planes, guns and money -- A dangerous business -- Continental collapse -- At Planes crossroad -- The chase begins -- The Taliban connection -- Black charters -- Gunships and titanium Guns "Get me a warrant" -- Now or never -- "We are very limited in what we can do" -- Welcome to Baghdad -- Blacklisted and still flying -- Epilogue. There are no reviews yet. Be the first one to write a review. Books for People with Print Disabilities. Internet Archive Books. Scanned in China.

Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Preview — Merchant of Death by Douglas Farah. Stephen Braun. Praise for Merchant of Death "A riveting investigation of the world's most notorious arms dealer--a page-turner that digs deep into the amazing, murky story of Viktor Bout. Farah and Braun have exposed the inner workings of one of the world's most secretive businesses--the international arms trade. Farah Merchant of Death: Money Braun have skillfully documented how this notorious arms dealer has stoked violence around the world Merchant of Death: Money thwarted international sanctions. Even more appalling, they show how Bout ended up getting millions of dollars in U. A truly impressive piece of investigative reporting. This is an important book about a hidden world of gunrunning and profiteering in some of the world's poorest countries. Guns Viktor Bout, they have given us a new , a man who knows no side but his own, and who has a knack for turning up in every war zone just in Guns to turn a profit. As Farah and Braun uncover and document his troubling role in the Bush Administration's Global War on Terror, his ties to Washington almost seem inevitable. The true story of Viktor Bout, a sociopathic Russian gunrunner who has supplied weapons for use in some of the most gruesome conflicts of modern times--and who can count amongst his clients both the former Taliban regime in Afghanistan and the U. This book Guns spy thrills with crucial insights on the and the Man Who Makes War Possible of a U. Get A Copy. Hardcoverpages. More Details Original Title. Other Editions 9. Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Merchant of Death: Money of Deathplease sign up. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 3. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Jun 22, Patrick rated it liked it. Sep 30, Eduard rated it really liked it. Lord Of War movie Nicolas Cage was based on this book. Insightful about the global arms trade but more insightful to the post cold war end that created opportunity for slick businessmen like Bout same as the Oligarchs. Bout filled a need for products and services to customers while disregarding international laws. Bout fit right in the wild west arms trade controlling planes and weapons that were mothballed all over the former Soviet Union nations that become suddenly available on the cheap after the USSR collapse. Equally important Bout had access to fearless Russian pilots were able to fly into areas nobody would with a "whatever, as long as I'm paid attitude" on low tech but highly durable and easily repairable Antonov prop planes. Newer higher tech planes couldn't handle the dirt runways all over africa. Guns the book and watch the movie and documentary "The Notorious Mr. The book was published before the final demise of Bout: Bout was convicted by a jury at a court in on 2 November Apr 01, Jacque rated it liked it Recommends it for: Steve Franklin. Merchant of Death was amazing for how seemingly easy it is for a smart arms merchant with skill and experience to succeed because of the lack of national and international coordination and will to bring the thug to justice. Countless deaths, including American lives and those of children, were facilitated by this unindicted criminal. Sep 14, Christian Roeder rated it liked it. Very interesting topic but without much structure. What strikes me at times is the repetitiveness. Whole paragraphs or sentences seem to appear twice. A good read, though, if you are interested in the topic and not too much after literary skills. Aug 02, Kathleen McRae rated it liked it Planes history. This was a pretty dry read but interesting too. Rambles a bit, but interesting. Oct 22, Vinayak Malik Guns it liked it. In hindsight convenient scoundrels Merchant of Death: Money despicable villains. Nothing new to the story. May 13, Daniel Gildner rated it it was ok. Very choppy. Writing and research is good Sep 30, Don rated it it was ok. In fact, I could not finish the epilogue. Now, I have to admit, I learned quite and the Man Who Makes War Possible bit reading this book and I surprised myself several time with the amount of knowledge I retained as I explained what I was reading. The subject matter itself is utterly fascinating. Victor Bout managed to put into service all of the discarded planes, weapons and pilots of the dissolved Soviet Merchant of Death: Money and turn a hefty profit. In fact he ran one of the worlds largest commercial air freight networks, shuttling everything imaginable from helicopter parts to flowers. He flew peace keepers, the Red Cross and terrorists. He was utterly indiscriminate and a brutal business man and the Man Who Makes War Possible managed to keep out of the reach of international and national laws. Then one night, over beers, they sorted out the bits to establish the minimum context. So while I give them great credit for assembling the massive amounts of information, I cannot abide their missed opportunity at churning out a compelling must-read. View 2 comments. Nov 30, Justine rated it liked it. I really rate this book more like a 2. It is very factual--both on the black market trade as well as the politics of st century Africa. This makes it a bit dry at times, but that is what the book is supposed to be. Those that are looking for the action of the Nicholas Cage movie will be disappointed. It wasn't horrible, but I felt it was very skewed. I would have enjoyed it more except for the glaring fact that the And the Man Who Makes War Possible States was getting the majority of the blame for what Victor B I really rate this book more like a Guns. I would have enjoyed it more except for the glaring fact that the was getting the majority of the blame for what Victor Bout has become. No doubt the US did a LOT of stupid things--namely hiring the man due to typical government red tape. The man almost solely operated out of Belgium and Bulgaria in Europe. And considering that a Planes of these African countries buying from Bout were at one time controlled by Western European powers, I feel they should have stepped up to the plate long before he even came on the radar for Planes US. This is the typical damned if you do, damned if you don't scenario. People don't like when the US becomes involved. People don't like Planes the US doesn't become involved. Another irritating factor is the now cliched "blame it on Bush" attitude. I don't like Bush. I think he is a god-awful President. But it seems like the fashionable thing to do with any political Planes is to say that Bush is at fault. The bottom line is, Bout was in heavy rotation during the Clinton administration as well. No doubt, I think the blame lies equally between the two. Read the book if you want a short overview of the gun-running trade or modern-day African history. But take the rest with and the Man Who Makes War Possible grain of salt. View 1 comment.