TLDR - Russia has traded Brittney Griner and a future 2nd round pick to the United States for shooting guard Viktor Bout.
Not getting the former Marine out at the same time, while releasing "The Merchant of Death" is a horrible trade.
She has been in imminent danger. Getting her home is good. Her supporters can't be quiet, fight for release of Whelan.
Good for her and I am happy she is coming home, but this was a terrible deal. There is so many things wrong with this whole situation though. We traded a basketball player for the merchant of death and not also getting Paul Whelan is an embarrassment. Also the whole situation is a slap in the face of every American sitting in our own jails right now for marijuana related charges. I hope she becomes and activist for either cause, it would make me feel a lot better if she realized her privileges in this situation and used her influence to try and make a difference.
You think Whelan is going to get the same media coverage and focus she got ... not a chance in hell. Griner better be wearing a "Free Paul Whelen" shirt every single day of her life until he gets released!
Glad she’s free finally her case doesn’t have to do with others. Good to have a high profile american out of the gulag
It's not a good situation. We are not dealing with honorable people. There was a chance to get an American citizen out of danger. Do it. I will gladly wear a Free Paul Whelan shirt.
It's very difficult dealing with a psychopathic terrorist like Putin. We in USA actually have a heart so we some times have to make bad deals.
I don't like it. It sets the precedent that countries can basically take Americans hostage and get whoever they want released. Or maybe it's only celebrities. If I was a celeb I would think long and hard before visiting unstable countries in the future.
Here is some speculation on why russia valued Bout: The arms trafficker refused to cooperate with U.S. authorities, even as he sat for over a decade, isolated and alone, in a cell thousands of miles from his home in Moscow. That silence could be rewarded. “He kept his cool in prison, never exposed anything to the Americans, as far as I can tell,” said Russian journalist Andrei Soldatov. Simon Saradzhyan of Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs said that Bout could never have operated such a large smuggling business without government protection, but that he never spoke about it. “The Russian government is eager to retrieve him so that it stays that way,” Saradzhyan said. Freeing Bout would send a message to others who could end up in trouble, said Mark Galeotti, an expert on Russian security, over the summer: “The motherland will not forget you.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/07/29/victor-bout-gru-sechin/
It’s weird to be both furious and happy at the same time. I’m happy Griner is free and safe, but exchanging her for THE MERCHANT OF FUCKING DEATH is infuriating. Found guilty of trying to kill Americans…..ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!! I am not as angry that they “chose” Griner over Paul Whelan because Russia could have simply put him off limits…..WHICH IS WHAT WE SHOULD HAVE DONE WITH BOUT unless at least both Griner and Whelan were coming back Just needed to express my thoughts.
The people who wanted this don't seem to care that this could lead to more people dying... in fact... I'd say it's likely that people will die as a result of this guy getting released.
This arms dealer has a Marvel Comics bad guy name but he's an arms dealer....he's been replaced by another arms dealer already...maybe even an American one. If the feds lock up an arms dealer, there's a real good chance the underground networks will balk at trusting him knowing he could have been flipped as part of the swap. Let's not pretend Russia has all the Bond villains and a broke arms dealer in Russia today is not going to raise cash in that depressed economy....his billiionaire friends are long gone.....I'm glad Brittany is free and sad Whelan isn't.....also we have 44 thousand prisoners in America for the same thing Brittany was arrested for.....all of them need to be set free....one good thing Kate Brown did before leaving office. If Bout goes back to dealing arms and being a boogie man....arrest him again in some Columbian jungle camp or wherever he's shopping his wares.
Should she have been left to rot for 9 years? No good options. Tell me. If instead of Grinder it was Dame, would you want the exchange?
No she shouldn't and I'm glad she's free.....I don't care that she's a celebrity but Whelan needs to be freed as well as all the pot offenders in prisons across our country today.
When Trevor Reed was freed in a prisoner swap back in April, were people pissed off that it wasn't Whelan then?
All major underground arms dealers are merchants of death...let's understand that at least. Putin is also a merchant of death. Brittany's carelessness with contraband in a fascist country is the real cause of this arms dealer gaining his freedom...I hope she uses this as a teachable experience because if she didn't have celebrity...she would rot in that labor camp ..fact is the govt wouldn't trade anyone to get you or I out of prison under the same circumstances.
No. Again, happy for her and her family. Infuriated we traded Viktor Bout. Sad we couldn’t get Paul Whelan out who has been there for multiple years
