The 2017 addition of Wagner to the sanctions list builds on a 2014 executive order signed by President Barack Obama. Ruling out the idea to run for office in his home state of Michigan, Prince met the residency rules having owned a home in Wyoming for over twenty-five years. The planes were meant to be outfitted with state-of-the-art surveillance technology and were supposedly able to fire missiles. Since being reined in by the Obama administration from his self-imposed semi exile Prince has continued to hire out his mercenaries, but as I said has never given up on re-establishing a significant role in U.S. military and law enforcement work. As documented by author Suzanne Simons in her 2009 book Master of War: Blackwater USA’s Erik Prince and the Business of War, Prince grew up in a religious household and attended Christian schools; the Princes were members of the Reformed Church in America, a conservative Christian sect that follows the philosophical template of theologian John Calvin. Last spring, Hifter’s forces, the Libyan National Army, moved to take Tripoli, but were thwarted within days. Prince surmised that Muslims could not be trusted to kill other Muslims. Prince has also served as an adviser to the de facto ruler of the United Arab Emirates, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, known as MBZ, for more than a decade. In the fall of 2017 Prince’s name rea­p­peared in news headlines with the announce­ment that he was considering running to unseat John Barrasso, the incumbent Republican senator from Wyoming. For this, he was paid $529 million. Since the 1960s, the Christian right has become the loudest voice in the Republican Party, moving their message from the revival tents and into the political arena. In early 2015, the Libya Dawn Air Force — the main aerial rival of Haftar’s own Libyan National Army Air Force — paid the Ukrainian companies Glissada and Amber Tiger and the Jordan-based Caravana … The conflicts between Prince’s commercial interests and the goals of the many governments that retain his services have piled up as Prince has tried to sell military and mercenary capabilities around the world. The DeVos dynasty, labelled a “family of extremists” by the Center for American Progress, is undoubtedly having an influence on the Trump White House. Early in the Trump administration, Prince proposed privatizing the war in Afghanistan and supplying Trump with a private spy service intended to circumvent the U.S. intelligence community. He has become a global figure, roaming between conflicts zones to sell various governments his expertise on private armies. “We have brought together strong international business leaders to team-up with talented Somali entrepreneurs to make development in South West Somalia a reality,” an FSG statement reads. Since leaving the Trump administration, Bannon has been campaigning with theocratic Christian groups and European nationalist groups to help elect far-right candidates into office. Prince was a Trump donor in 2016 and has worked to support the president politically while proposing private military solutions that would benefit his companies financially. Prince wanted to show the government two crop duster planes meant for agricultural use but refitted for military purposes. That’s the most dangerous thing, because they’re profiting–their motivation is not God and country; their motive is money.”, This article originally appeared on albawaba.com.