Conflict Awareness ProjectConflict Awareness Project | Conflict Awareness Project http://conflictawareness.org Fri, 20 Apr 2012 01:26:51 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Minimum Sentence for “Merchant of Death” http://conflictawareness.org/2012/04/12/minimum-sentence-for-merchant-of-death/ http://conflictawareness.org/2012/04/12/minimum-sentence-for-merchant-of-death/#comments Thu, 12 Apr 2012 21:35:40 +0000 CAP http://conflictawareness.org/?p=410 CNN OutFront April 5, 2012
CNN OutFront (April 5, 2012) - Erin Burnett interviews Kathi Lynn Austin: Reaction and critical analysis as notorious arms trafficker Viktor Bout receives minimum sentence in US Federal Court…

WATCH FULL INTERVIEW

]]> http://conflictawareness.org/2012/04/12/minimum-sentence-for-merchant-of-death/feed/ 0 Defense Dept Linked to “Lord of War” http://conflictawareness.org/2012/04/08/defense-dept-linked-to-lord-of-war/ http://conflictawareness.org/2012/04/08/defense-dept-linked-to-lord-of-war/#comments Sun, 08 Apr 2012 21:11:15 +0000 CAP http://conflictawareness.org/?p=395 Kathi Lynn AustinDEMOCRACY NOW!
Friday, April 6, 2012
“Democracy Now!”‘s Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzales interview Conflict Awareness Project Executive Director Kathi Lynn Austin.   Amid calls for Congressional inquiry, serious questions emerge surrounding Viktor Bout trial prosecution strategy as well as US Department of Defense, VP Dick Cheney and US security contractors’ alleged past use of Viktor Bout’s services in violation of US laws and UN sanctions…
WATCH FULL INTERVIEW

]]> http://conflictawareness.org/2012/04/08/defense-dept-linked-to-lord-of-war/feed/ 0 El Paìs http://conflictawareness.org/2012/02/02/el-pais/ http://conflictawareness.org/2012/02/02/el-pais/#comments Thu, 02 Feb 2012 01:55:09 +0000 CAP http://conflictawareness.org/?p=379 “En Colombia las armas están en manos equivocadas”
Kathi Lynn Austin, experta en tráfico de armas, habla de los retos de los gobiernos para fortalecer leyes contra el armamento ilegal.

by Daniel Suárez Pérez, El Paìs, January 23, 2012

Cuando apenas se estaba graduando de la universidad, Kathi Lynn Austin sólo quería entender porqué en el mundo muchos conflictos terminaban en guerra. Después de varios viajes a África descubrió que uno de los combustibles de la violencia eran los traficantes de armas.  read more

]]> http://conflictawareness.org/2012/02/02/el-pais/feed/ 0 “2011 Arms Control Person of the Year” http://conflictawareness.org/2012/01/06/2011-arms-control-person-of-the-year/ http://conflictawareness.org/2012/01/06/2011-arms-control-person-of-the-year/#comments Fri, 06 Jan 2012 05:40:49 +0000 CAP http://conflictawareness.org/?p=370 (Washington, D.C.) Kathi Lynn Austin garnered the highest number of votes in an online poll to determine the “2011 Arms Control Persons of the Year.” Nine other individuals and institutions were nominated by the staff of the Arms Control Association for their achievements and contributions.   “It is an honor to be voted the ’2011 Arms Control Person of the Year.’ I hope this award will help galvanize the action needed to achieve a powerful Arms Trade Treaty in 2012 that will save innocent lives,” said Ms. Austin. “This is the best opportunity we have to once and for all establish an international regulatory regime for arms dealers and ensure greater law enforcement for violators of international law.”   Arms Control Association official announcement and complete list of nominees: read more

]]> http://conflictawareness.org/2012/01/06/2011-arms-control-person-of-the-year/feed/ 0 TRACKING BOUT http://conflictawareness.org/2011/12/06/tracking-bout/ http://conflictawareness.org/2011/12/06/tracking-bout/#comments Tue, 06 Dec 2011 22:55:37 +0000 CAP http://conflictawareness.org/?p=355 Trial blog, selected official court transcripts and documents, analysis, background, and more.

Click to access

]]> http://conflictawareness.org/2011/12/06/tracking-bout/feed/ 0 Stopping the Trade in Death http://conflictawareness.org/2011/12/06/stopping-the-trade-in-death/ http://conflictawareness.org/2011/12/06/stopping-the-trade-in-death/#comments Tue, 06 Dec 2011 22:04:54 +0000 CAP http://conflictawareness.org/?p=349 New York Times op-ed, December 6, 2011

by Kathi Lynn Austin

On a dark November morning in 2004, I woke up in my bungalow overlooking Lake Kivu, tense with anticipation. Our small United Nations team was about to undertake a surprise inspection of three airfields in eastern Congo, notorious for smuggling operations.

With the backing of U.N. peacekeeping forces and a U.N. Security Council mandate, we searched almost every incoming and outgoing aircraft that day. By evening, we had the evidence…

Read full article

]]> http://conflictawareness.org/2011/12/06/stopping-the-trade-in-death/feed/ 0 TO A NEW ARMS TRADE TREATY http://conflictawareness.org/2011/11/08/to-a-new-arms-trade-treaty/ http://conflictawareness.org/2011/11/08/to-a-new-arms-trade-treaty/#comments Tue, 08 Nov 2011 21:33:49 +0000 CAP http://conflictawareness.org/?p=326 SPECIAL TO PBS “WOMEN WAR AND PEACE”

Unchecked merchants of death are about to face a new reality… Read more

]]> http://conflictawareness.org/2011/11/08/to-a-new-arms-trade-treaty/feed/ 0 CNN OutFront: The next Viktor Bout http://conflictawareness.org/2011/11/05/cnn-outfront-the-next-viktor-bout/ http://conflictawareness.org/2011/11/05/cnn-outfront-the-next-viktor-bout/#comments Sat, 05 Nov 2011 21:34:43 +0000 CAP http://conflictawareness.org/?p=301 November 4, 2011 (CNN) – One of the world’s most notorious–and hunted–arms dealers was convicted in New York. Viktor Bout, the Russian dubbed “the Merchant of Death,” has been studied for fifteen years by Kathi Lynn Austin, who joined Erin Burnett on CNN’s OutFront.
Austin recounts the early discovery of Bout’s illicit activities in the world’s worst conflict zones, how he built an arms trafficking empire, and how similar criminal war profiteering continues apace due to the lack of international law to monitor and regulate arms transfers…
WATCH THE CNN INTERVIEW

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]]> http://conflictawareness.org/2011/11/05/time-world-quotes-of-the-day/feed/ 0 BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT http://conflictawareness.org/2011/11/03/beyond-a-reasonable-doubt/ http://conflictawareness.org/2011/11/03/beyond-a-reasonable-doubt/#comments Thu, 03 Nov 2011 01:00:41 +0000 Kathi Lynn Austin http://conflictawareness.org/?p=277 By Kathi Lynn Austin – SPECIAL TO CNN

Beyond a reasonable doubt:  That Viktor Bout was one of the most prolific arms traffickers in the post-Cold War area…Read full CNN blog

]]> http://conflictawareness.org/2011/11/03/beyond-a-reasonable-doubt/feed/ 0 VIKTOR BOUT: GUILTY ON ALL COUNTS http://conflictawareness.org/2011/11/02/viktor-bout-guilty-on-all-counts/ http://conflictawareness.org/2011/11/02/viktor-bout-guilty-on-all-counts/#comments Wed, 02 Nov 2011 21:33:06 +0000 Kathi Lynn Austin http://conflictawareness.org/?p=258 At courthouse as jury returns verdict on “Merchant of Death” arms trafficker Viktor Bout: GUILTY ON ALL CHARGES. End of era for one of the world’s most prolific traffickers, a billion-dollar profiteer on human misery. All 4 counts guilty.
Trial documents and updates

• • •
For media inquiries and interview requests for Kathi Lynn Austin: contact by email

]]> http://conflictawareness.org/2011/11/02/viktor-bout-guilty-on-all-counts/feed/ 0 Viktor Bout & arms-smuggling planes http://conflictawareness.org/2011/11/02/viktor-bout-arms-smuggling-planes/ http://conflictawareness.org/2011/11/02/viktor-bout-arms-smuggling-planes/#comments Wed, 02 Nov 2011 18:40:46 +0000 Kathi Lynn Austin http://conflictawareness.org/?p=263 By Kathi Lynn Austin – Special to CNN
There were three chilling moments for me during the final week of Viktor Bout’s trial — and they all had something to do with airplanes…
READ FULL BLOG ON CNN.COM

]]> http://conflictawareness.org/2011/11/02/viktor-bout-arms-smuggling-planes/feed/ 0 Viktor Bout’s Formula for War http://conflictawareness.org/2011/10/28/viktor-bout%e2%80%99s-formula-for-war/ http://conflictawareness.org/2011/10/28/viktor-bout%e2%80%99s-formula-for-war/#comments Fri, 28 Oct 2011 22:32:28 +0000 Kathi Lynn Austin http://conflictawareness.org/?p=244 By Kathi Lynn Austin

Amid the clanking of teacups, sitting on a blue couch in the Mezzanine area of the swank Hotel Sofitel in Bangkok, Viktor Bout shares a recipe.

The concoction appeals to Carlos Sagastume, seated next to Bout on the couch. As a DEA confidential source, he continuously prompts Bout to reveal all the secret ingredients.

If Carlos can get Bout to describe the preparation in full, he stands to earn over $7 million dollars. This is the amount Carlos, a former Guatemala military officer involved in cocaine trafficking, earned for his role in a previous DEA sting operation in which he acted as a confidential informant.

Within several hours, Carlos gets what he is after. It is Bout’s special recipe for disaster—a formula that packs a lot of punch for enabling and fueling war… READ MORE

]]> http://conflictawareness.org/2011/10/28/viktor-bout%e2%80%99s-formula-for-war/feed/ 0 Cold War Redux: The trial of the alleged “Merchant of Death” http://conflictawareness.org/2011/10/23/test/ http://conflictawareness.org/2011/10/23/test/#comments Sun, 23 Oct 2011 22:25:43 +0000 Kathi Lynn Austin http://conflictawareness.org/?p=236 By Kathi Lynn Austin – SPECIAL TO CNN

A former KGB official residing in Moscow who says he has “friends” in high places in Russia?
Who is the real Viktor Bout?
The ultimate capitalist, who once had the world’s largest arms transport fleet and was contracted by the U.S. Pentagon during the Iraq War?
Or a puppet on the international stage in a show trial reenacting the Cold War?
There is no denying the tug of war between the Russia and the U.S. during the extradition battle in the Thai courts. The process was prolonged as both countries flexed their muscle and weighed in heavily. Hence, Bout was not extradited to the U.S. until November 2010, despite his arrest in a Thai hotel in March 2008.
But the back story is far more complicated… Click here to read more

]]> http://conflictawareness.org/2011/10/23/test/feed/ 0 ‘Merchant of death’ trial opens in New York http://conflictawareness.org/2011/10/12/merchant-of-death-trial-opens-in-new-york/ http://conflictawareness.org/2011/10/12/merchant-of-death-trial-opens-in-new-york/#comments Wed, 12 Oct 2011 08:20:23 +0000 Kathi Lynn Austin http://conflictawareness.org/?p=220

http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/11/justice/new-york-arms-dealing-trial/?hpt=ju_c2

]]> http://conflictawareness.org/2011/10/12/merchant-of-death-trial-opens-in-new-york/feed/ 0 Arms and The Investigator http://conflictawareness.org/2011/10/11/arms-and-the-investigator/ http://conflictawareness.org/2011/10/11/arms-and-the-investigator/#comments Tue, 11 Oct 2011 22:29:38 +0000 Kathi Lynn Austin http://conflictawareness.org/?p=241 By Kathi Lynn Austin

The long awaited trial for the world’s most notorious weapons smuggler, Viktor Bout, will begin this morning at 10:00 am in the Federal Courthouse for the U.S. Southern District of New York. I’ll arrive early, before the TV journalists set up their cameras and the court reporters bound up the courthouse stairs to take their seats in the gallery. Today is a milestone in the battle against war profiteers, and I want to be there from the start to catch every moment unfolding before me.

Two decades ago, I chose to become an investigator in the public interest. Working for human rights groups and the United Nations as an arms trafficking expert, I’ve documented Viktor Bout’s smuggling activities for fifteen years, beginning with his activities in Rwanda, the Congo (then Zaire) and Angola…

Read the complete blog at http://trackingbout.posterous.com

]]> http://conflictawareness.org/2011/10/11/arms-and-the-investigator/feed/ 0 VIKTOR BOUT TRIAL BEGINS http://conflictawareness.org/2011/10/11/viktor-bout-trial-begins/ http://conflictawareness.org/2011/10/11/viktor-bout-trial-begins/#comments Tue, 11 Oct 2011 04:49:18 +0000 Kathi Lynn Austin http://conflictawareness.org/?p=187 On the opening day of the Viktor Bout trial in New York, Executive Director Kathi Lynn Austin appears on CNN talking about unregulated arms traffickers.

]]> http://conflictawareness.org/2011/10/11/viktor-bout-trial-begins/feed/ 0 MEDIA CONFERENCE http://conflictawareness.org/2011/10/07/media-conference/ http://conflictawareness.org/2011/10/07/media-conference/#comments Fri, 07 Oct 2011 04:49:30 +0000 Kathi Lynn Austin http://conflictawareness.org/?p=189 Executive Director Kathi Lynn Austin joined a group of experts in an Oxfam-hosted Teleconference calling for stronger global regulations on arms brokers ahead of the Viktor Bout trial in New York.

]]> http://conflictawareness.org/2011/10/07/media-conference/feed/ 0 INVESTIGATORS ROUNDTABLE IN BRUSSELS http://conflictawareness.org/2011/09/12/investigators-roundtable-in-brussels/ http://conflictawareness.org/2011/09/12/investigators-roundtable-in-brussels/#comments Mon, 12 Sep 2011 04:49:57 +0000 Kathi Lynn Austin http://conflictawareness.org/?p=192 Executive Director Kathi Lynn Austin in Brussels for a roundtable sponsored by the Open Society Fund on What Hurts: Does Investigative Reporting Really Deter Corruption.

]]> http://conflictawareness.org/2011/09/12/investigators-roundtable-in-brussels/feed/ 0 HUMAN RIGHTS CONFERENCE http://conflictawareness.org/2011/01/25/human-rights-conference/ http://conflictawareness.org/2011/01/25/human-rights-conference/#comments Tue, 25 Jan 2011 04:50:22 +0000 Kathi Lynn Austin http://conflictawareness.org/?p=194 Executive Director Kathi Lynn Austin participates in keynote talk on Philanthropy, New Media and Human Rights at the International Human Rights Funders Group Semi-Annual Conference in San Francisco.

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