Off the I-15

Authorities arrested a real Yuri Orlav this week in Thailand. Viktor Bout, 41, a reputed Russian arms dealer dubbed the “Merchant of Death” for his aid in fueling African civil wars, bears a striking resemblance to the Nichols Cage character in the 2005 film “Lord of War.”In the film, Cage plays a Russian arms dealer who profits nicely from the surplus of guns after the disenegration of the Soviet Union and the unrest besetting Africa. In reality, Bout did the same thing.According to the Associated Press, Bout could face war crimes charges for running guns on behalf of former Liberian leader Charles Taylor and the Sierra Leone rebel group, The Revolutionary United Front, responsible in part for the artocities committed in connection to “blood diamonds.” His guns have also been connected to a long list of countries and terrorists organizations in Asia, Africa and South America.  Stephen Rapp, chief prosecutor of a U.N.-backed war crimes tribunal, said weapons were delivered into the war zone “at the time they were conducting operations with names like ’No living thing,’ and being paid for those shipments with diamonds dug by slave labor.”At the end of “Lord of War,” Cage’s character goes free after agents track him down and discover his cache of weapons and documents in New York City. The rationale, according to Orlav:”Some of these men are the enemies of ‘your’ enemies. And while the biggest arms dealer in the world is your boss - the President of the United States, who ships more merchandise in a day than I do in a year - sometimes it’s embarrassing to have his fingerprints on the guns. Sometimes he needs a freelancer like me to supply forces he can’t be seen supplying. So. You call me evil, but unfortunately for you, I’m a necessary evil.”Bout’s fate appears to be less Hollywood. Thailand wants to prosecute him for involvement with terrorist attacks. The United States wants him on similar charges and the United Nations is considering war crimes.Aaron Aupperlee | City Editor