“Big fish are more likely to get caught now. Having said that, there are plenty of arms dealers around the world right now as a result of inadequate controls. There are a lot of little fish out there causing a lot of damage.”
••• Big fish Viktor Bout has been searching for a lawyer in advance of a court hearing in New York today.
On March 1, federal agents acting on a tip searched Fermanova’s luggage at New York’s JFK International Airport. They discovered a Raptor night-vision weapons sight and two advanced rifle sights stuffed in a pair of Ugg boots.
••• Little fish Anna Fermanova copped a plea.
We recently supplied the Ministry of Interior with 20,000 AK-47 rifles. We are also discussing the possibility of providing the Afghan army and police with transport helicopters. If the Afghan army or police have other needs, we will consider it.
••• The government of Russia, now the second-largest global weapons supplier, is cutting deals in Kabul.
Afghanistan is also plagued by a dizzying and increasing array of armed groups, including criminal gangs, drug traffickers and freelance militias. Often with powerful backing — sometimes even potentially from police — Afghanistan’s growing underclass of thugs has been terrorizing civilians across large swaths of the country, extorting money, demanding sanctuary or kidnapping for ransom.
••• In other words, it’s a real growth market.
Pakistan’s deteriorating law and order has led to a boom in the private security industry in the country. Companies are investing millions of dollars to train and update their security operations.
••• Private guards in Pakistan earn roughly $118 per month.
The military is a prime player in Pakistani economy and runs some of the largest listed companies on the Karachi stock exchange. It is active in a wide variety of public and private sector businesses ranging from farming and banking to education and construction. Its strong economic grip puts multinational companies at a disadvantage as they find it difficult to compete with these military institutions that enjoy tax exemptions, subsidised electricity, strong political connections and immunity from public accountability.
••• Maybe the multinationals should stop pouting and start their own army?
And asked to choose among cuts to Medicare, Social Security and the nation’s third largest spending program — the military — a majority by a large margin said cut the Pentagon instead.
••• Americans want more welfare, fewer bombs. Did I read that right? It must be a mistake.
……Faker Ben Abdelaziz Boussora, a Canadian, [is] distressingly still at large. He’s got “prominently protruding ears and is believed to have a serious pituitary gland illness.” Plus, judging from his picture, he needs major orthodontic work on the uppers. He’s pretty easy to spot, and he’s worth $5 million.
••• The official 2011 US counterterrorism calendar is not available in stores.
Pendzich, using the moniker “bulletproofvest” offered “world-wide” shipment of armor, including protective insert plates governed by [arms control laws]… Pendzich shipped the plates in boxes labeled “gifts” and “ceramic plates” to Bogota from a post office in Carter County, where he lived.
••• The hazards of online retail.
British-funded tax consultants earn up to £900 a day advising [the Afghan government] on how to expand his tax base. Their employer, Adam Smith International (ASI), claims boosting revenue is helping build a “viable Afghan state”.
Yet none of the advisers pays a penny into Afghanistan’s treasury, and because many of them live in Kabul, they are also exempt from British tax.
••• This is why your mother wanted you to become an accountant. [rssless][visitor]
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JOIN THE INVESTIGATION.
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“Where are our assurances that these people will have the same loyalties?”
••• A Canadian union of spies opposes the privatization of their work.
China has escalated a campaign of pressure against the U.N.’s chief sanctions enforcers, blocking the reappointment this month of a U.N. arms investigator who discovered Chinese bullet shells in Darfur, Sudan, in violation of a 6 year-old U.N. arms embargo.
••• C’mon, Beijing, that’s so middle-school.
BAE Systems…has planned to acquire financial crime specialist Norkom.
••• Why, when BAE already has so much expertise in financial crime?
“It’s all legal & fun — No permits or licenses required!!!!” read an ad on the club’s website.
“You will be accompanied to the firing line with a Certified Instructor to guide you. But You Are In Control — “FULL AUTO ROCK & ROLL,” the ad said.
••• In the context of this very sad story, the promotional copy for this gun bazaar is ironic.
[W]hen a brutal war or devastating plague significantly reduces a human population, forests have the chance to re-grow and absorb carbon dioxide, mitigating the greenhouse effect.
••• At last: Good news?