History of Armenia 35: Sarkis Soghanalian, The Armenian Viktor Bout
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Once upon a time a Lebanese Armenian man became the CIA's #1 gun runner, this is his very strange story.
*this was recorded before Israel's invasion of Lebanon.
*it was also recorded before Viktor Bout was found to be back in business for Russia.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/06/world/middleeast/sarkis-g-soghanalian-arms-dealer-dies-at-82.html
Silverstein, Ken and Daniel Burton-Rose. Private Warriors
Kahaner, Larry. AK-47: The Weapon that Changed the Face of War
Cerf and Sifry. The Iraq War Reader
Melkonian, Markar. My Brother's Road: An American’s Fateful Journey to Armenia
https://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/sierraleone/soghanalian.html
https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/the-man-who-armed-iraq-6365143
Comments (19)
That was an even wilder story than Bout!
I can only imagine Reagan poking Thatcher over the phone about those Exocets, absolutely fascinating story there. Great piece!
Weird question - was his wife Armenian? If no, I wonder if that bothered his parents more than the arms dealings.
100%
Before you call William Eagleton the most American named US diplomat, you've got to remember former secretary of state, Lawrence Eagleburger, famous also for not so glorious reasons (such as denial of war crimes) linked to Yugoslavia
With Sarkis' politics, I would have figured he supported JCAG over ASALA.
I know!
Joe, did you know Mark Garagos’ wife’s maiden name is Kassabian?
You're fucking kidding me
If I ever become a CIA arms trafficker, I'll name my company "Front Airlines" and give each one of the planes names like "Plausible Deniability", "Spook", etc
I enjoyed this episode.
Now that this guy has been featured, I'm gonna listen to all of these episodes lol.
The Billings, MT airport has a nice lil fluff piece on Air America at baggage claim
Excellent episode. Enjoyed it thoroughly. Also, would enjoy more with this co-host!
This is why we pay the Patreon money. Excellent episode
Sarkis' honesty is so refreshing in a world full of plausible deniability
He is a bastard. But he is an honest bastard.
Right as I was in the middle of re-listening to the Bout 2 parter
i think i gotta give that another listen to i think its my favorite this year so far