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Score One for Putin
Back in February, American basketball player Brittney Griner was arrested in Russia for possession of marijuana. This was not her first problem with the law. Here in the States, she pled guilty to domestic violence after beating up her girlfriend last year. She was sentenced to a 26-week domestic violence counseling program.
Russia, however, did not feel that a marijuana counseling program would be helpful to Ms. Griner, and sentenced her to 10 years in prison for drug possession. Until, that is, she was released in a prisoner exchange for Viktor Bout. Mr. Bout has had problems with the law as well:
Bout, known as the “Merchant of Death,” was sentenced in 2012 to 25 years in prison on four counts of conspiring to kill Americans, acquiring and exporting anti-aircraft missiles, and sending material aid to a terrorist entity. The criminal was arrested in 2008 in a Thailand sting operation and was accused of providing weapons, which the U.S. alleges were intended to kill Americans, to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. Biden signed Bout’s commutation order ending his prison term early.
So Russia gives us a dopehead basketball player. And we give Russia “the Merchant of Death.” And President Biden, apparently, thought this was a good deal.
America is the most powerful country in the world. And it is being led by fools.
We have a problem. And so does the rest of the world.
Published in General
What’s the over and under for how soon she will kneel during the national anthem?
@westernchauvinist covered the Bowe Bergdahl travesty’s connection to the Biden administration:
https://ricochet.com/1028132/recognize-this-name-khairullah-khairkhwa/
You can pore through five pages of posts and podcasts mentioning Bergdahl (a farce in three acts):
https://ricochet.com/?s=bergdahl
This Brittney Bergdahl junk is just another page from a book I regularly throw across the room. And every morning, it’s back in my lap.
Merchant of Death sounds a bit more dangerous than a pothead. Not a fair trade.
And Ret. Marine Paul Whelan is still in a Russian prison. Maybe if he comes out as trans the Biden administration will try to help him.
Good grief!
A black football player just criticized President Biden for his handling of this matter. And he quickly found out that one does not criticize President Biden. Especially if one is black. The Democrat powers that be very quickly got him back on the plantation. At least Democrats are efficient about some things…
Doesn’t this just give incentive for the Russians to imprison more American citizens?
Jesse Kelly has a question:
I saw a couple of his tweets this morning and was impressed. Now he is apologizing. Sad.
But no Paul Whelan in the deal? Obviously the importance of a black gay female celebrity far outweighs a white male Marine (who I assume is a heterosexual Christian?).
Putin doesn’t like criticism, either.
Which makes you wonder, will people die because of this trade?
Pretty sure no Russians will be harmed by having Griner playing basketball in near empty arenas.
That’s news to me. Somehow I didn’t see that anywhere.
Be fair. There was more to the deal. Putin threw in a box of Twinkies and an ice cream cone (flavor to be named later). And if any Americans are killed with weapons sold by Bout then it’s a whole case of twinkies and two scoops.
This obviously occurred to President Biden. He knows who The Merchant of Death is – he was the second most wanted man in the world for years.
So, either President Biden is willing to have some people die if it helps his poll numbers (as long as that is a small number, I suppose), or perhaps he just doesn’t care if people die, as long as it helps his poll numbers. Both possibilities are horrifying.
You have to be out of your mind if you are an American businessman, a former veteran, or celebrity to travel to Russia. Unless of course you are going to Russia to praise Putin. Russia like Iran and China engage in hostage diplomacy.
Unless you have a diplomatic passport a citizen of the United States should understand that you have no rights if you are arrested for any reason outside of the US.
Mexico is a bit different, but the risk involves bribes to get out of a Mexican jail. College students should understand that if they are arrested during Spring Break in Mexico you may sit in that jail until your parents send enough money to get you back into the US.
But I’m pretty sure this makes Biden a Putin-licker, right?
I can’t figure out which side the U.S. is on anymore. I know it’s not in the side of the U.S.
No, it makes him a poor negotiator.
Think of how we used Stalin to defeat Hitler. Now we are using Biden to help defeat Putin. That doesn’t mean Biden has given up his regularly scheduled program.
If anyone finds that too complicated to understand, maybe he/she should stick to video games.
But Putin is using Biden to defeat Ukraine. And Biden is using Putin to assist Iran. And Ukraine is using Biden to enrich its oligarchs. And . . . is this all for show?
Bout’s history was much more complicated than what is let on. From the early 1990s until 2005 or so, Bout was working with American intelligence in getting weapons out of the former Soviet Union and its republics and selling them on to approved intelligence clients. This gave them plausible deniability. Then Putin stepped in and stopped the cooperation. What’s a poor merchant of death to do other than cooperate?
And as for the release, perhaps the Biden family is simply diversifying. With all the weapons going into Ukraine that are unaccounted for, who better to have as their sales rep?
In politics some things are always for show. But it’s not all for show. It’s constant work to figure these things out.
I’m gonna play a video game.
Perhaps you could give us a source for your information.
That a substantial amount of the weapons we’re sending are disappearing into the black hole of Ukraine and nobody knows what’s happening to them?
You weren’t aware of that? Why do you think there have been so many calls for audits?
And a part of being a good negotiator is a willingness to walk away from a bad deal. Sounds like Biden was going to give them anything they asked for in order to get a pre-Christmas photo-op.
Saw a joke about the uneven trade…said Russia got someone who could shoot. Tadum. 🥁
That has nothing do with my specific question.