THIS is what we get from ‘weeks of intense negotiations’? Sounds to me like we just caved to the Russians entirely
First of all, WHY are we trading for her instead of Paul Whelan? Politics? Because she's a female and a celebrity?
Back in August the US proposed a trade including Whelan AND Griner (although the State Department said we didn’t think they would negotiate in good faith)… what happened to THAT? How on Earth did the Kremlin’s negotiating position improve since then? What’s the rush to accept SO much less from the teetering Putin regime?
Former US Marine Whelan was just in Moscow for a wedding, when the Russians saw fit to arrest him on ficticious charges in 2018. And then they stole his money.
He’s been rotting in a Russian prison ever since.
Griner on the other hand was there purely to make money, a fat contract -from a pro-Putin Russian oligarch- that far exceeded her US income. I honestly would never take a dime of their blood money. Nobody ever told her these are bad people she’s dealing with? Can’t play in Italy or Serbia instead?
Then she waltzes through a Russian airport with cannabis oil (not just CBD), I really can’t imagine being so utterly reckless. Really, really stupid, that.
Anybody knows in that country -as an American- you gotta be careful. They don’t even need an excuse, but Griner certainly provided them one. And at the worst possible time, causing the US a major distraction & diplomatic headache we just don’t need.
Why do I never hear anyone speak of personal responsibility in this case? She knew it was in there, and just thought it would be easy to get away with. Her statement that it was some honest, innocent mistake was clearly written by her lawyers.
The sentence handed down was of course ridiculous, but they didn’t plant it on her. If you do something like that in Russia, that’s what you should expect. Justice there is whatever Putin says it is on that given day.
Now we spring an evil piece of garbage like Viktor Bout to get her out of hot water. We should’ve got at least Whelan back, if not something else in the bargain too. There’s NO comparison between these two arrests and what Bout’s done to bring death and destruction to this world while liquidating Soviet weaponry/propping up Russian arms manufacturers in the 1990s.
What a total reward to Putin, he coughs up a nothing case for another former Russian intelligence agent who is responsible for hundreds -or thousands- of deaths/(actual) drug trafficking/etc.
And now they’re gonna make him a hero like that skank Maria Butina (The spy that slept with moron Republicans and NRA officials).
WHY are the Russians dictating terms to us?
What a SHIT deal