Silk Way, two US generals and a lot of cash: a tale from Azerbaijan

© Gordzam

And yet another tale of possible skulduggery, relating to a freighter operator, for you to get stuck into over the holiday period. The full, fascinating version is from the Washington Post (and apparently free-to-read).

The paper’s investigation centres on the relationship between the US military and Azerbaijan – and its freighter airline Silk Way, which won $369m in defence contracts from the US in the period the story relates to. It is then claimed that two Air Force generals, who headed US Transcom at the time, then cashed in on their relationships with Azerbaijan. They both won generous contracts to consult for the airline, according to documents obtained by Wapo under the Freedom of Information Act. One of the generals was reportedly set to earn a healthy $5,000 a day.

We can thoroughly recommend reading through the whole Wapo story, (particularly if you are bored at work during the holiday period). It covers supply chains to Afghanistan, Azerbaijan’s government and relationship to Silk Way, and the “thriving job market for American veterans trying to profit from their overseas deployments”.

Alternatively, if you want a more Silk Way-focused, and shorter take, we can recommend CH Aviation’s abridged version of the story. Either way, it’s a good read…