910wolf said:
Civilized said:
hokiewolf said:
packgrad said:
hokiewolf said:
packgrad said:
910wolf said:
Set aside the former marine and his family being fine with it.
This is still a completely idiotic trade. We release a Russian arms dealer during the Russian Ukraine war just to score some political points with a very specific portion of the population?
Putin is probably laughing and drinking his face off at how big of a moron Biden is.
Correct. But the woke are happy about it. The marine family had class, unlike what the woke would have had if the marine had been released in place of the pot head.
Pretty certain this is the outcome Russia wanted, They are never giving up Whelan. But, this is a win win for them in that they get back Bout and sow more discord amongst the American public
If that makes you feel better to say they are never giving Whelan back, so be it. Terrible decision. Ridiculous to think giving her back instead of the marine would sow more discord. The entire msm and pretindependents celebrate the transaction, partially because the Whelan family showed class. Pretending there wouldn't be more discord if the white marine was returned and the black woman kept is absolute nonsense though.
It's what the Russians wanted, or it wouldn't have happened. It doesn't sow more discord though. That's just what the left tells themselves to make themselves feel better about the right being disappointed that the left left another soldier behind.
Exactly my point.
I don't understand your first sentence. A 2 for 1 was never going to happen because the Russians are never going to release Whelan. That doesn't make me happy or feel better, it's terrible, but it's the most likely outcome based on their posturing. They see Whelan as an asset, Griner not so much.
Exactly.
Biden bringing them both home was absolute best case scenario for everyone. Griner and Whelan and their families win, and the news would be universally celebrated on both sides of the aisle. The administration had every reason to try their damndest to bring them both home.
But in negotiations no matter how badly you want to buy you can't make someone sell. Griner was for sale. Whelan was not. You want both but one is better than none.
You can only do the deal that's in front of you. You got Griner home. Now keep grinding looking for any daylight with Whelan, no matter how improbable.
Once again, ignore the Griner vs. Whelan debate for now.
Agreeing to Griner for Viktor Bout was a bad trade! This was not even close to the benefit of the country (which the President is supposed to serve). This was a political stunt for a very specific portion of the population.
There is no argument whatsoever that giving up Bout for Griner was a good deal for the US.
I don't see anyone arguing it was a good deal, but it was the only deal there for the taking.
So if you can bring an American home, even if it's not the deal you wanted, you refuse the deal and tell her and her family what, exactly? Russia wanted too much in exchange for her? This isn't a GM deciding whether to overpay for a league average shortstop. This is the United States deciding whether to "overpay" to bring an American prisoner home.
Some people are way too distracted by their anti-wokeness. Griner was an American political prisoner. Her freedom isn't worth any more or less than Whelan or any other political prisoner just because she's gay and black. Biden isn't trying less hard to bring home Whelan because he's a white dude; the reality is simply that bringing Whelan home is a lot harder because Russia values him much more highly.
Regarding the specifics of the case, hearing people talk about how bad a deal it was you'd think Bout had been sentenced to 47 consecutive life sentences without the possibility for parole and that was what had been commuted. His sentence was for 25 years, and it began 11 years ago. He was going to be out of prison in 14 years.
He was an arms dealer and her charges were petty by comparison. So yeah I agree it wasn't a "good" deal. But again it was the only deal on the table. Whelan wasn't coming home. The administration wasn't choosing between Griner and Whelan; they were choosing between Griner and nobody.