4 ms·
He's pretty much a Bond villain from those articles, like the UN claiming he funded militias in Somalia to harvest hallucinogenic plants and shipping arms to Li
by pakled_engineer 11y ago
He's pretty much a Bond villain from those articles, like the UN claiming he funded militias in Somalia to harvest hallucinogenic plants and shipping arms to Liberia.
Probably would've made the same amount of money charging for TC premium support instead of building a pancontinental empire of mercenaries and arms trafficking.
- nickpsecurity 11y agoLord of War taught us such people won't enter such businesses because the "margins are too small." I'd also guess it's not as exciting and brings in less attention from the ladies.
- bithush 11y agoI think you underestimate how much can be made from arms trafficking!
- nxzero 11y agoClearly the US makes a massive amount of cash selling weapons; yes, US is not an "arms dealer" - but likely comparable.
- spacehome 11y ago> US is not an "arms dealer" > the US makes a massive amount of cash selling weapons DOES NOT COMPUTE
- nxzero 11y agoIt is semantics, illegal arms trafficking is a subset of the global market for arms. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arms_trafficking https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arms_trafficking
- spacehome 11y agonxzero said nothing about legality.
- nxzero 11y agoGiven he's called a "criminal kingpin" and compared to Viktor Bout, the merchant of death, pretty safe to assume he wasn't selling weapons legally.
- spacehome 11y agoI quoted you talking about the U.S.!
- nxzero 11y agoThen, I don't understand what you're comment means. Happy to respond again if you'd clarify want you intended.
- murjinsee 11y ago'Arms dealer': one who sells arms. The point he is making is that, regardless of what is considered legitimate, both this individual and the U.S. government are, by definition, arms dealers. Or at least that the U.S. is an arms dealer.
- afterburner 11y agoNo. 'Arms dealer' refers to illegal arms dealers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arms_trafficking#Notable_arms_dealers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arms_trafficking#Notable_arms_...
- nxzero 11y agoAgree, US is not a "dealer" they're an "exporter" -- and no one selling weapons for a government would ever offically refer to themselves as an arms dealer.