MovieChat Forums > Lord of War (2005) Discussion > Was Yuri's speech at the end accurate?

Was Yuri's speech at the end accurate?

posted 15 years ago by RParmly-3
14 replies | jump to latest

The whole part where he's tied in with shady Pentagon intelligence guys, that I have no trouble believing.

But it seems to me that he was overestimating his own importance. Once he'd been arrested, would the U.S. government really stick its neck out to free a two-bit criminal when there are legions of two-bit criminals waiting to take his place? I find that hard to believe. I think it's more likely that they would applaud Interpol and help them keep Yuri behind bars (thus winning brownie points in public opinion) while quietly finding themselves a new partner in crime.

So Yuri's right that the arms trade would have gone on exactly as before. But he's wrong to think he was irreplaceable.

Keep flying, son. And watch that potty mouth!

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[–] RParmly-3 15 years ago

No, I get that.

What I'm saying is that Yuri wasn't the only proxy who could have done the U.S. a favor that way; there are other arms dealers out there, not to mention countries or corporations with the same interests as the U.S, that could easily have replaced him.

After he was arrested, I wouldn't expect the United States to stick its neck out to save him the way they did. They'd simply find themselves a new partner who would do the same thing for them that Yuri used to.

Keep flying, son. And watch that potty mouth!

[–] alinadixon 15 years ago

I would expect that the highest premium for a role like that would be the thing that you can't buy, only earn - and that is trust. Sure there might be other people out there who could perform the same job of arms dealing but how would you know you could trust them unless they had an established track record? I don't find it hard to believe that they look after someone with a proven track record whom they know they can trust. How hard must it be to cultivate that sort of reliability in the world of corrupt dealings, e.g. arms, drugs, whatever.

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[–] nafs_i_ammara 15 years ago

True that.

But he does say right at the end, that he has no illusions about how important he actually is to the government, the fact that they like him now doesn't mean they won't scapegoat him sooner or later. Remember that? It's like one of the last things he says.

He knows his position isn't rock solid.

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[–] liven1812 15 years ago

It wasn't about being replaceable or not. From my understanding, his "fingerprints" comment meant that he had dirt on people who were... irreplaceable. In the U.S.'s lovely justice system, the defense gets to call witnesses, and is privy to all the prosecutions evidence. Getting arrested was the best thing for him. If he didn't get picked up at the airport, a "thug" may have just decided to kill him on the street.

Once they bought him out and gave him his get out of jail free card, there is no longer any reason to shut him up, or kill him for giving them bad press. The damage, minor damage, had been done. Clean up, move on.

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[–] chicago85 14 years ago

During the Iran/Iraq War the US supplied intelligence from their satillites to Iraq about Iran's troop movements. They didn't supply Jet fighter spare parts and missiles to Iran but their ally Israel did. It kept both sides bleedind each other to death. I think Iran was several times bigger than Iraq.

One thing that made Iraq angry is they were encouraged to attack Iran by other countries. They borrowed money from Kuwait to finance the war. Iraq claimed they had a huge oil field that touched Kuwait's border which was ill defined.

They said Kuwait was siphioning off oil that belonged to Iraq and selling it on the world market. This drove down oil prices and made it harder for Iraq to pay back their debt to Kuwait. They felt they were being screwed. Sadam met with the woman the who was our ambassador. There must have been a major disconnect. He claimed he asked if the US had a stake in a dispute between Kuwait and Iraq and she said no.

I doubt we will ever know where things broke down but it turned into a major war involving this country.

George Bush weakened Sadaam until he was able to maintain control of his country but not strong enough to threaten his neighbors anymore. His son George W. Bush toppled the regime and the country disintegrated into feuding clans and religious secte that hate each other.

Tito was supported by the US government against Stalin in Yugoslavia even through he was a Communist. Truman said "Tito is an SOB but he is our SOB." After he died Yugoslavia did the same thing Iraq did, fly apart.

Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia went up into genocidal flames. Yugoslavia and Iraq were artificial countries of people who hate each other held together by power alone.

[–] P-K-One 14 years ago

It's not just his importance but probably also his knowledge. He KNEW somebody was coming for him so I assume he had had contact with that man before and the last thing shady pantagon guys want is a public process where their names are mentioned.

I think humanity should be wiped out and then we can give evolution a second chance.

[–] AtheistRevolution 14 years ago

You keep the most loyal criminal in power until they go too far and then you get rid of them. Eventually he will supply the wrong person and get screwed over.

Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by rulers as useful.

[–] colby-badhwar 14 years ago

It wasn't the US government that freed him it was the US Army Lieutenant Colonel. He pulled the strings because he needs Yuri. He gets Yuri the guns, Yuri sells them, and they split the cash.