Thailand Comes Through on the Side of Justice and the U.S.

Walter Lohman / August 21, 2010

It’s good to know who your friends are. In the case of “Merchant of Death” Viktor Bout, it looks like Thailand knows. It also looks like the Obama Administration’s careful treading during Thailand’s ongoing political crisis has yielded some benefit.

On Friday, a Thai appeals court ordered Viktor Bout, the notorious international arms dealer responsible for fueling wars from Africa to Afghanistan, extradited to the U.S. to face terrorism charges. Bout’s arrest was made possible by a joint Thai-U.S. sting operation in 2008 that caught him agreeing to a massive a sale of weapons to agents posing as FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia) rebels. Following this celebrated law enforcement collaboration with our long-time Thai allies, last year, a lower Thai court ruled against a U.S. request for his extradition. (more…)