How the Merchant of Death got his nickname
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- Äas pĆidĂĄn 25. 12. 2022
- How did Viktor Bout become the Merchant of Death? By swooping in and taking advantage of the post-Soviet chaos of the early 1990s. #viktorbout #britneygriner
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Biggest trade in wnba history
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Probably in the NBA too
The Merchant of Death:
"I was a Business man... doing business."
u mean the guy who was a US contractor was entrapped when he turned down an offer from al quada who is also funded by the US while we arm african terrorists with weapons from ukraine
he was a business man and his business was war crimes
"Business is boomin"
Makes sense cause Soviet Union had Collapsed and Socialism was Replaced by Capitalism And he like Any good Capitalist benefited from it
@@prathamkalgutkar7538 exactly. Just being smart and taking advantage of situations
"How unfair you wanted this trade to be?"
The US: "YES"
She has a future, he was being released in a few years anyway, why not bring an American home too?
Edit: Also I guess it Russia offered the guy who committed espionage on us we'd take it. Can you guys find some sources for when Russia offered that trade because so far I can't find anything.
@@hobogrifter why bring a basketball player back instead of a marine who fought for his country
@@hobogrifter Ah yes letâs bring someone back whoâs there because of their own selfish actions instead of people who gave up their normal lives to do something for their countryâŠ
â@@chiqitabana6577Well she's a civilian who's been wrongfully imprisoned and he's a soldier who if I'm not mistaken volunteered to fight for the freedom of civilians potentially at the cost of his life so I don't see what your problem is he kind of signed up for it.
@@christhechrischris9226 preach
Thatâs Nick Cage in Lord of War
u mean the guy who was a US contractor was entrapped when he turned down an offer from al quada who is also funded by the US while we arm african terrorists with weapons from ukraine
I guess Viktor Bout Story was the basis for the movie, i guess arms dealer movie is enjoyable to watch
â@@Doyle- lord of war was enjoyable because of the direction. The written dialogue, well executed tension and drama.
@@Doyle- it was nick cages character was based on Viktor bout
Amazing movie
Again for all who still donât get it: The US government swapped a war criminal, arrested for, surprise surprise, war crimes, for a WNBA player that had weed in her luggage.
@@ivangarcia1327 He was a major factor in distribution of higher tech weapons in the African wars like mentioned in a video. These people were posed with threats they couldnât combat. What can you do when a missile is barreling towards your home?
A drug addict for one of the most dangerous man of the century
The merchant of death is the man responsible for people visualization of african guerrillas and terrorists with AK47
â@@FlutronkoI don't think distributing arms is considered a war crime.
@@angularsaxophone5820He supplied war criminals does that sound better to you
USSR collapsed in 1991....1989 was the year Berlin Wall was no more...
Want a cookie?
â@@ahmedharajli189ayo shut up no reason to shame him. Its imformative
They are talking about the government, not the union
â@@StrikerTheFirst. want a cookie?
@@yourfriendlyneighburhoodracist nah he was so aggressive with it for a minor detail that wasnât relevant here
''Superstar'' đđđ 99% of people didn't knew who she was
Exctly
Fr I watched this video literally just now and already forgot her name
FACTS!!
Who who was?
That's because no-one except North Americans watch WNBA
CIA was offended the he stole their turf.
u mean the guy who was a US contractor was entrapped when he turned down an offer from al quada who is also funded by the US while we arm african terrorists with weapons from ukraine
He didn't have a proper war crime license XD
@@castillogrande8926 "oi you got loicense for that?"
Ikr people in the comments act like heâs terrible, when the cia literally does the same.
So goofy đ
Brilliant!!
I love how they say âaka victor boutâ like itâs his nickname, like bros license says âDeath, Merchant O.â đ
That part confused me, I thought Victor Bout was his nickname and that they were going to explain why he got that nickname.
Ngl, "Merchant of Death" is a Badass nicknme.
Fr
Alfred nibel be like
The call me the "merchant of debt".
"Lord of war" is even cooler
The government of the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. 1989 was the year the governments of their satellite states collapsed, like Czechoslovakia, the GDR, Bulgaria and Romania.
Really disgraceful error. I mean, seriously, one of the most important events of the 20th century. And one of the more recent ones.
How hard is it to get these details right as a ânews source?â
I really despair for the future, when this is how people are informing themselves.
@@emilchandran546 right.
The description says "early 1990s" so I don't understand why they got it wrong or maybe he started doing this in 1989. Another thing I believe they didn't get right was that Britney was imprisoned because she had a marijuana-based oil in her baggage, at least that's the reason many people and media have been citing, I've never heard it was a discrimination based on sexuality matter
â@@emilchandran546 it's Vox. C'mon now
It was one long year for the Soviet Union, 1991 is the formal collapse into nations. Everyone knows the fall of the Berlin Wall marks the fall of the Soviet Union as an idea (shorts are more for ideas than for sources). This idea is that since the Berlin Wall was also the beginning of the Soviet Union and its iron curtain policy of isolationism the fall of the wall in 1989 marks the beginning of the end and also the end as a whole (in which the end has an end in 1991). The sale of arms was only able to happen in the proxy states of the Soviet Union in Eastern Europe in 1989, at the time Russia as a country existed as the Soviet Union, not the other way around where Russia existed as the greater part of the Soviet Union.
Wasn't Alfred Nobel (inventor of Dynamite) also called the "Merchant of Death" when the media mistakenly thought he'd died?
i believe so yeah, that's why he made the nobel prize because he realized that people thought of him as a monster for inventing dynamite even tho it wasn't used for military purposes for the most part anyway because other explosives were better for weapons, they are used for utility purposes tho which is why it was made and how it should be used
Merchant of Death is a title passed through generations
Literally an outrageous exchangeâŠ.
He's no threat anymore. If you'd just use that walnut in your head for a nanosecond your realize why.
â@@CaseyEm bro Russia know how to use people like him especially
@@adhitypratamairwanto5450 you give Russia way too much credit. They aren't some sort of supergenius hivemind. Just look at the war in Ukraine to see how smart they are. Also, he's literally useless. The only reason he was able to do what he did was because he was comparatively rich enough to bribe a lot of security guards in a crumbling ussr, and had the resources to move goods. The circumstances that allowed him to do as much as he did are no longer around.
@@CaseyEm why not? he can easily get back his weapons from Russia and sell them to third world countries to make a profit and tear them apart this trade is just going to lead to more war I doubt Russia will detain him
@@simpfinty6492 do you honestly think Russia will just give him weapons? What benefit would that have for Russia?
The CIA hates competition.
Bruh
Literally makarov
Nicholas Cage should have had that epic moustache in the movie
If heâs the merchant of death then what is the USA called?
The corporation of "lethal aid".
because freedom and democracy has always been handed over by authoritarians and colonizers peaceably
đ
Guardian of the Arsenal of Democracy.
The "mass murder magnates"
I'm sure both of the wnba fans are happy right now
Anyone who cares about releasing someone who should have never been imprisoned should be happy right now.
The funny thing is that the soldier everyone is whining about as deserving of the exchange more both wasn't being offered by Russia and has way worse charges on him. That are at least partially real. He wasn't a spy for the US, but he was definitely doing something shady and likely illegal in Russia that got him caught.
Wat fans?
@@Silverizael why shouldnât she be imprisoned?
Bwahaha. OMG, you have no idea how bad I needed a laugh . Thank you!
â@@Silverizael she was also doing something illegal?
So he basically just did what the US government and cia were doing (and still doing) yet he's the one with the nickname??
Well the us cant be merchants of death. They are bringing freedom and democracy. Dropping tonns of it on helpless civilians.
America controls mass media in the west so I cant imagine them letting this sort of idea spread in the public conscious.
@@manwithhinge not just the media in the west, more like the whole world except for China and Russia and Iran and north Korea, but every where else
@@Kareem.K true true
Lol imagine buying weapons from the US the paper work alone would tire you to death.
"1989 thats when the government of the soviet union collapsed" bruh the soviet union collapsed in 1991đ
The gov basically collapsed in 89 it was made official in 91
The government of the Soviet Union began collapsing in 1989. You people think that governments just spontaneously implode.
What a great swapđ
I canât imagine the look on the faces of future history nerds looking back at this prisoner swap đđđ
"This has been the worst trade deal in the history of trade deals, maybe ever"
It was one of the more middling of trades, actually. A gun seller who had served most of his sentence and had lost all of his connections and influence due to being in jail for so long being traded for a sports player who should have never been arrested in the first place.
â@@Silverizaelshe kinda broke the law there and was punished for it, and also the merchant of death is responsible for the deaths of many many people so he deserves to be locked up
ââ@@Silverizaelnd even still if they were gonna trade him they should've traded him for the marine who served his country instead of a WNBA player who broke the law
@@beans5762 A marine who was dishonorably discharged for stealing money from other marines? Who was caught in Russia involved in smuggling?
Why would they want him over a sports player?
@@Silverizael > who should have never been arrested in the first place
Russia was classified RED ZONE: DO NOT TRAVEL by the state department and she was willfully breaking their laws. Put two and two together, man. She sure couldn't.
Thatâs literally what the us and so many other countries did do for decades, no?
It's easier to pin it on one person than to put the whole country of the USA on trial for our war crimes.
Being as the USA doesn't even allow us to be tried by other countries.
Did? Still does.
US is tied with dum bureaucracy and enormous amounts of paper work, he skipped a lot of that so poorer countries went to him.
There are over 550 million firearms in worldwide circulation. That's one firearm for every twelve people on the planet. The only question is: How do we arm the other 11?
Is Warlord based on this guy or did it only take inspiration?
@@8is it's not based on him but it is heavily inspired by him.
@@Dimitris_Half That sounds way harder.
@@Dimitris_Half That's the tiny minority that includes professional soldiers, conscripts, police, hunters, gun owners, etc. All of whom each has their own vested interest in keeping their guns.
â@@Dimitris_Half 1 guy with a gun vs 11 people withouth guns. 11 bullets ought to do it
This man is literally the real life Makarov
Oh my god
Every Russian looks so badass omg
'Superstar'' đđđ 99% of people didn't knew who she was
very original
Brittney was lucky enough to be born in the United States. No other Nation would have made that trade.
How is that lucky? She shouldn't have gone to a State Department RED ZONE country, and shouldn't have broken laws when she went.
Alfred Nobel: am i a joke to you?
New record set with the biggest wnba transfer everđ„”
You traded the lord of war for a basketball player đ
I guess the US doesn't like competition.
zing
soyjak found
Stolen comment
Swapped a war criminal named The Merchant of Death, who caused the escalation of multiple armed conflicts for a basketball player
"Superstar"
Biggest trade in WNBA History!!! đ€Ł
So original. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. This is Laughter.
@@CaseyEm someoneâs mad đ
@@laccless turn away from the mirror for a moment
@@CaseyEm cry more đ
@@laccless đȘđ¶ââïž
Releasing a killer for a basket ball player. Nice one
A fairly young basket ball player vs an old man who stole loads of Russian weapons. Yes.
@@salokin3087 didn't you hear the "Arming african warlords " part ?
@@zUJ7EjVD there were literally US Veterans in Russian prisons
@@aneeshprasobhan which happened decades ago, he wasn't the only one arming them, nor the last
@@aneeshprasobhan such as? And what did they do?
Love how all the culture warrior magically cared about Bout when Fox News told them to, not when Bout contracted by the Pentagon in the Middle East.
Huh?
@@dukes19937242 of Viktor Boutsâs companies were contracted for US war in Iraq
Sorry I would reply but the translate to English button isnât showing up
It was one of Bout's shell companies and supposedly they hadn't yet connected it to him at the time. What makes me laugh is all the amateur national security specialists who are sure that Bout is going to go back to dealing arms. Uh, no he won't.
u mean the guy who was a US contractor was entrapped when he turned down an offer from al quada who is also funded by the US while we arm african terrorists with weapons from ukraine
The US: âWeâre mad cause we didnt do it firstâ
It's revealing about how those counties works and what they value.
One side want a basketball player.
The other side wants a litteral death dealer...
I don't like to quote Trump, but... This has been the worst trade deal in the history of trade deals, maybe ever
@@zUJ7EjVD I've seen this guy commenting on other's comment. Making me suspicious that this guy is just a bot or a simp
@@zUJ7EjVD The only person saying they are equally bad is you.
Why? Merchant guy was worthless, had served most of his sentence, and has no connections left to do anything. Might as well use him for something.
@@zUJ7EjVD let Britney Rot. Don't negotiate with terrorists
Worst trade deal in American history.
Nah it the best u see me in the future đ
He was a business man doing business
we really lost an arms dealer for a basketball player who couldnt leave her dab pen at home...
Ironic that AMERICANS are worrying about prison safety
Our prisons arenât that bad there are very few counties in the world with safe prisons
@@86kickass đđđđđđđđđđđđđđđđđđđđđđđ
â@@86kickassPure copium
Imagine how many conflicts and deaths this guy was behind... This hits even more deeply when you're an African...
He armed them equally, what they do with that is their choice
I mean US did like 10 times worse. He is pretty insignificant.
@@Cyborg_Lenin that is true but it still doesnt excuse him from his actions.
@@manwithhinge No but it makes america hypocritical for acting like hes the monster here.
So, he's not a threat to literally anyone. There was no real reason to keep him locked up
I love that he gave them to BOTH sides. didn't even have a particular favour of one side winning. he literally just wanted chaos
Obviously a fair and equal trade
He sounds like an American politician.
bruh
They act like the usa as a whole hasn't been selling weapons as our main export for years.
Like seriously.
It's not right for the EITHER of us.
i am extremely grateful - although i continue to do my fact-checking independently - that ya'll at vox DO fact-checking in advance. 25 years ago, I took that for granted. now, the playing field, goals, the rules, etc. have all changed on that front. makes ya'll that much more valuable.
It's not different now, you just know it's happening, when you didn't before. You have taken your sudden awareness of this fact as the point when the trouble started, instead of realizing it's always been this way.
Superstar đ
Griner is worth about 10 nongshim ramen packs and a macha kitkat. And the US traded her for Lord of War.
This is just hilarious. Nice trade, US! Lol
The US govt only did it because Kanye West (Ye) was set to meet with Putin and plead for Grinerâs release. They ended up making this lopsided exchange to prevent the publicity for him
It's a great trade actually. Get the person who should have never been arrested anyways away from Russia, release the guy who was going to be released in just over a year anyways for time served.
@@Silverizael is that true? If so I guess it IS a good trade.
@@alexandrabej187 and it also seems like this was the only trade on offer by the Russians and also it doesnât seem likely that heâll actually be a threat anymore (who would buy millions in arms from a guy who was just in American prison for arms dealing - also, there arenât really any more vulnerable post-Soviet military bases to plunder for arms).
@@Silverizaelthatâs cap he had a little over a decade to serve and how is it a fair trade a wnba player for a guy named âmerchant of deathâ are you fr đ
Reminds me of France selling nukes to both Pakistan and India đ€Łđ
its good buisness
Philippines need this , to France
The biggest weapons producer in the world calls someone the merchant of deathđź
Putting WNBA and superstar in the same sentence is like putting Yugo and supercar in the same sentence.
He has the best nickname ever in modern times.
man im dead đ
Superstar ? Nobody knew her before this
A lot of those weapons are being used today, the good thing is that if they break, spare parts are almost impossible to come by.
since he is free now
guess whats comming back
You have no idea what you're talking about and it shows. If there is armament that is known for having plentiful of cheap spare parts is soviet weapons
real life richard roper
Bro, this dude is literally the jackal from far cry 2
Donât actual counties do the same thing
Yup, but nobody wants to talk about that ever. Doesn't make what this guy did okay, but it certainly is a "pot calling the kettle black" moment for sure.
Yes but this is a single person not a country.
Exactly.
1 man was able to do what a multi billion dollar government could do.
1 man had that much power.
@@wisewolfds since when are a country and a single person comparable?
â@@SlavaSlavenimaindeed. Countries doing this are way worse.
Isn't this is CAPITALISM
FINALLY someone said it
no it's wrong when it's not the Americans
You just couldn't stop his grindset
he goot cool nickname , now i want it
Ok, what he did is just plain evil. But what is illegal bout it? Can someone explain why heâs in a US prison?
@@Dimitris_Half you canât imprison evil, because evil is subjective.
@@Dimitris_Half It's not though. Abortion can and cannot be considered evil for example.
@@Dimitris_Half Abortion is punishable in some societies by law. Again what's your point.
Us doesn't like competition. Thats why.
He was providing weaponry to terrorist organizations
Yâall need to stop calling this a trade. Itâs a hostage negotiation.
when the country holding her hostage is a permanent member on The UN Security Council⊠you kinda have to call it a prisoner exchange
bruh itâs a trade how is it not a trade
She break the law of russia đ€Ł. Marijuana is banned there
đ€
When you order groceries online and they substitute fresh salmon for tinned sardines.
That music In the background is goatedđ
Average Americans are all about, "no one gets left behind." Up until the person behind is someone they don't like. Now galf the country is complaining that we saved someone.
Try to get past the media hype people. Who named him the merchant of death. Oddly he was barely valued enough to be traded for a WNBA player.
I don't know about you, but a guy that sold weapons to armed conflicts is a pretty bad man in my book.
it was more of a hostage negotiation than a trade
@@Max-ve5tu I guess, but youâd have to say the US is worse than him then, they were just mad he was taking their profits.
Angola for example already had military equipment because in the years prior, it was already supported by the GDR, Cuba and the USSR. Also, some military equipment was already there due to the Portuguese colonization era.
interesting. = )
All these pro-gun Republicans in the comments admitting that guns are tools of death, implying that this dude is responsible for what was done with them. Love to see it.
The USSR collapsed in 1991.
Bro is a Call of Duty villain đđ
The real jackal from far cry 2
An absolute disgrace that we traded a woman who can barely throw a ball and brought drugs into a country which is known to not allow drugs, for a dude called the merchant a death, all while we still have people in prison here for having a little bit of weed.
A woman who had less than 100 milligrams of marijuana?
And the guy who was done with most of his sentence and who has no more connections anyways in his old position? He's a merchant who no longer can do his job anymore.
And we shouldn't have people in jail for weed either.
@@Silverizael u REALLY think he has no more connections
A man like him has back ups in case he gets out
A secret cache involving a list of people who owe him and some money
Anyone in this trade has at least something like that
â@@Silverizael that guy is responsible for many hundreds of thousands of deaths.
Brittney Griner is a two-time Olympic gold medalist? So yes, she can 'throw a ball'.
She had brought vape cartriges which used marijuana-based oil, and she had a doctors prescription for medicinal marijuana which she uses to treat joint inflammation. That prescription wasn't recognised in Russia, but it's not literal weed. That's just a lie.
Griner's 9 year sentence wasn't in a regular prison, it was a forced-labour prison colony in the Rep. of Mordovia. 'She described working up to 17-hour days in a sewing shop, sleep deprivation, freezing conditions, a lack of basic hygiene, dangerous and humiliating working conditions, and regular assaults on other prisoners.' Leader of the Russian opposition, Alexei Navalny, was also imprisoned in one such penal colony, and described it as a 'concentration camp'.
While the Russian military is very much an embarrassment, it is not the same as it was in the 90s and 2000s. It has much more control over it's own assets, and it is much more difficult for someone like Bout to sell weapons on such an enormous scale so easily. His investigation and conviction essentially ruined his arms empire; he wouldn't have pleaded not-guilty if he didn't think so. Bout has lost much of his contacts and connections, and simply isn't as relevant in Russian politics beyond a PR 'victory' peice.
So yea, don't spread misinformation
â@@SilverizaelI'll call you invredneck logic slayer
Only in the WNBA will there be "superstars" that literally no one has ever heard of
That's just sports in general
I think you / the video with editor forgot to install your usual fonts đ
âSuperstarâ lol
As someone from Europe, we see USA as an absolute joke for this.
I see the US government as a joke for this, also
and Iâm an American
@@SlavaSlavenima the guy isnât dangerous anymore heâs old and it doesnât really matter lol, idk why everyone is acting like we freed someone whoâs gonna start ww3
â@@dinty7265 How is being old make him not dangerous?
@@imaginehavingpfp5779 heâs been sitting in prison for years heâs done⊠do you really think the us would release an active and dangerous arms dealer?? I donât think so, but if that guy ends up doing something bad, then you have proved me wrongâŠ
Time will tell i guess
C'mon dude had to feed his family and make a living. He was the sole bread earner
If thatâs the criteria to be called âmerchant of deathâ shouldnât America be called âthe land of the death merchantsâ?
calling britteny a wnba "superstar" is a bit of what we would like to call an overstatement
âSuperstarâ
I thought he was like a scary assassin, nah heâs just like every other government ever
The film âLord Of Warâ is about him.
"It's just good business"
-Admiral Beckett
In fact, every politician is sold into the hands of the super rich. But the superrich is the poorest person on the earth. He has succeeded in being important, in being powerful, but he has lost his soul. Inside, there is just emptiness and darkness.
-Osho
you know who else "isn't safe" Paul Whelen let's go Brandon
The guy that was dishonorably discharged that was born in Canada with US, British, Irish and Canadian citizenship that was arrested in 2018 for spying charges?
The dishonorably discharged soldier involved in smuggling stuff in Russia? What about him?
Dude is literally Jackal from Far Cry 2
Heck yeah
And we swapped him for a random WBNA star that doesnât support america, instead of a US marine
that's just tony hawk with a moustache
Just vox doing vox things.
He is not the merchant of death. The merchant of death is Sir Basil Zaharoff
Who cares about someone who died in 1930s? Terrible comment
@@deathyyyyy the irony. A title sticks throughout history. It doesn't change cause someone is too lazy to do a little reading
The toleratable 2016 film war dogs comes to mind.
So he just did what defense companies do đ