Some issues of the day give me heartburn. This is one of them. It’s about whether we should send the Russians a notorious arms dealer now serving time in the slammer in exchange for the release of a noted women’s basketball star and a fellow accused of spying on the Russians.
I keep asking whether we are giving up too much for Britney Griner and Paul Whelan.
Griner was caught in an airport carrying some cannabis oil in her luggage. The Russians said it is illegal and promptly jailed her. She pleaded guilty to the charge and now is standing trial, I presume to determine the kind of sentence she will get from the Russians.
Whelan has been in prison for years. He was arrested in dubious charges that he engaged in espionage.
Brittney Griner part of potential U.S.-Russia prisoner trade, CNN reports | The Texas Tribune
President Biden has declared that both Americans are being held without good cause. He wants them released, but he is willing to give up a lot to get them back. The Biden administration dangled in front of the Russians the release of Viktor Bout, a notorious arms dealer serving a 20-year sentence. This is a bad dude.
Griner and Whelan aren’t, shall we say, anywhere close to Bout’s league of badness.
But I understand why the administration wants to bring these two Americans home. I mean, they are being held reportedly on specious grounds and that they are being denied many of the civil rights accorded to Russian citizens.
I must point out that Griner happens to be Black and is gay. The Russians aren’t keen on Blacks or gay people and have been persecuting gays since Vladimir Putin assumed power in Russia.
Oh, and we have that war in Ukraine that has thrown a terribly high obstacle between U.S. and Russian negotiators.
My bottom line is that I want Griner and Whelan returned home to their families. However, I hope that if Viktor Bout gets to go home to his family that he won’t return to the heinous activity that got him in trouble in the first place.