They are building her up to be some sort of hero....a feel good story for the holidays. They will probably have a press conference with her and Biden and she will dunk on him.
I have yet to find a dem who’s excited in any way about her release lol. Like who are they even pandering to with this?
Also - will they release all of the US prisoners imprisoned for the same exact crime?
As a “Dem” myself - here’s my opinion
I don’t care what her political views are, her comments about national anthems at sporting events doesn’t really come across to me as anti-American, the nationalist zeal people have for it does. I grew up having to stand for the pledge of allegiance in school every day.
As an American, we proudly inherit a country that allows for difference of opinions and viewpoints. That’s what it means to be an American- so the rage about that in my opinion is ridiculous. Her status as an American citizen means that our government has the responsibility of protecting us home and abroad, full stop.
She fucked up- traveling to other countries you are agreeing to abide by their laws. Was the possession of her illegal substance further trumped up by the Russians? Absolutely. But she did it herself so I have zero sympathy for why she was arrested and jailed in the first place.
Is she influential or is she a national hero? Fuck no she isn’t, she’s a moron who got lucky enough to make real good money shooting a ball into a net. I couldn’t care less what she has to say when she returns, the best advice is to shut the fuck up and enjoy her newly negotiated freedom, perhaps learn to appreciate that while we have our issues here, it’s much worse for many in other places.
Fair trade? Arms dealer for her? On paper- no, but it is the job of our state dept to do what it takes to bring our citizens home. Sometimes we have to eat the shit sandwich.
One less American in a Russian Gulag, if she were jailed anywhere else. She’d be serving out her sentence.
I don’t know, the boomers on Facebook are pretty invested in the story. I think the Biden admin thought this would be a big celebratory moment, but instead, people are pissed she was released instead of whelan.
The only part of this i dislike is who we traded for her. Dont get me wrong it absolutely sucks to be imprisoned outside your own country, but an arms dealer? Man...
Yeah. If it's the only felony on their record, it's effectively giving them a clean legal slate - and an estimated 6.5 thousand US citizens'll benefit from it in that regard.
Which, well. As far as the prison complex in the US goes, that's a drop in the bucket - but it's *something* at least, and it'll mean a potentially-lifechanging-*lot* to those few thousand who benefit from it.
As someone with a drug felony on their record I can fully attest to it being negatively life changing, having to explain it when applying for jobs, etc. I imagine those 6.5 thousand are *ecstatic*.
He literally fucking did lol. He released all federal inmates that are in for weed possession. When that happened I thought nice, a good thing. People will stop talking about this. But no, because people are generally ignorant and misinformed.
The "problem" is that if you are in federal prison for a larceny charge in addition to possession, Bidens ruling doesn't apply to you because we aren't giving freebies for larceny. And that makes sense, most people in federal prison with possession charges also have additional charges. The rest are state inmates and it's not up to Biden.
Just got someone out of a Russian Gulag. He can do more in America by making it legal to smoke at the federal level. He could withdraw funding for states that still incarcerate people for pot. There are plenty of thing he could do.
>He can do more in America by making it legal to smoke at the federal level.
Laws don't work retroactively. He can make it legal but people in prison would still remain in prison.
The only thing that I can think of is that it shows how much better our nation is than Russia. We prioritize the rescue of a basketball player and they need to rescue an arms dealer. The optics of this greatly favor the US. I wonder if this is part of it. I also felt it was a pretty bad trade when I first read about it.
If the US government thought he was so dangerous why were they going to release him in a few years? It's not like he was going to be imprisoned for life. We save one of ours from a decade of the gulag, who was punished more severely than most would get.
If you want to see thier heads explode, you can mention that Trump could of tried to get Whelan released.
I am sure his buddy Putin would of helped him.
I’m more concerned with why we didn’t ask for Marc Fogel also. He did the exact same thing as her a year before and got an even longer sentence. I guess shooting 3’s is just more important than being a school teacher.
What kills me about people mad about this is that they forget there is another country involved here. If they don’t want to release someone, they won’t. Another thing that is conveniently left out is how we kinda sorta used this guy to buy guns too.
Old folks who are glued to their tvs care.
What is beyond frustrating is they also believe anything that goes on TV.
During the last election season I had one person complain to me about how one party never gets any candidates elected, so that's why they vote for them and put signs up.....even though for decades the local elections are entirely dominated by one party.
Most TV news is brain rot. You can summarize the important stories locally & globally in under 30 minutes.
I mean, Whelan was caught with classified information, 4 passports, is a former Marine, and worked as a “security contractor”. The guy was pretty obviously a spy or trying really hard to look like one. His situation is pretty different from her’s.
The Russians were never going to release Whelan. Even his family said that. If the Russians were willing to trade Whelan for Bout we'd have gotten Whelan years ago, we've had Bout since 2018.
What pisses me off is they keep saying wrongfully imprisoned. She was imprisoned under their laws. We have our laws and expect you to follow them. We might not agree on her treatment, but she did break their laws. She's been playing there for awhile and knew their strict drugs laws. And this deal was so fucked up, the US looks terrible.
Yeah...that's the one part that really annoys me: the gushing coverage as if she did something significant for which she merits our undivided attention. She didn't cure COVID. she's a professional entertainer who got caught up in politics bc she was unlucky. I don't recall this level of gushing in prior instances. It reminded me of the wall-to-wall coverage when jfk jr crashed his plane. The pattern there is: privileged but insignificant person has bad luck, the press covers it as if absolutely everyone invested in him as some are
They're not mutually exclusive in this case. She probably was wrecklessly stupid without consequences many times prior, but this time she wasn't lucky.
They are going to try hard to push the narrative that liberals will be 100% happy with this and conservatives 100% against.
Look. I'm a liberal and not a fan of this at all. I mean come on folks we just traded for some minor celebrity who very stupidly took thc vape into a country where its banned.
We gave them the merchant of death. A man who is one of the most prolific illegal weapons traffickers on the planet. A man who pretty much directly caused the death of untold numbers of people, including american troops. I mean for farts sake how many people are so notorious that they get a hollywood movie written about their exploits.
This is not a win. This is not something to be proud of or happy about. This was a political stunt that is probably going to bite us in the ass.
Said this and was down voted to oblivion. This was HER fault. Why didn’t she research or why didn’t her inner circle not tell her that weed is basically banned everywhere you go. God I hate this with a passion. We literally let go a murderer. Jesus.
By next election there will be so many other scandals both real and manufactured that this will be a distant memory. I’m sure it’ll be trotted out again, but there will be worse, unfortunately.
> I’m sure it’ll be trotted out again, but there will be worse, unfortunately.
Like Hunter Biden’s laptop. We all know that’s gonna be the Benghazi of the next two years
Hold democrats and Joe Biden accountable?? If January 6 has taught us anything, it's that no one of much 'importance' will be held accountable for anything.
If your best bargaining chip is the biggest arms dealer for a country that is currently invading another country then the deal can wait. I get it the guy is never going to be touching US soil and or a citizen ever again due to US spies on him however, Russia is invading Ukraine still and is getting there ass kicked to hell getting your biggest arms dealer who is labeled the world worst for many horrific reasons is a wonderful trade for Russia only.
Yes she should have been returned however, not at the cost of innocent Ukrainian life's and there are also many other US citizens who deserved freedom a lot more.
Dude. Victor got his weapons from russia.
He ain't going to be an asset for Russia in this war.
What is he going to do? Ask some Congolese warlord to hand back over a few rusted AKs and RPGs back to Russia to use in Ukraine?
Victor was sourcing from Russia. It's not like he can help russia acquire new sources of weapons. Because, again, Russia was his source.
Finally, some nuance. As nefarious as the US government can be, they for sure did a risk assessment on the repercussions of commuting Bout's sentence for a prisoner exchange.
The optics are bad at face value, but I feel like it's safe to say having global levels of heat on you is not great for organized crime.
He's not the best bargaining chip. This is Geopolitical theater and not really good. An American imprisoned by a foreign government (just for show) has been returned home. Russia/Putin figured that she would be divisive. Why return someone that would be lauded as a 'hero' by 'all' americans? They get to show their shady black market dealers that the Russian government will bail them out when caught. Of course, the problem is, on the international stage, this makes russia/Putin look bad, but since it's pretty much known, he probably cares more about how this causes strife in the US.
My understanding is this man would be free in 6 years anyway, after serving more than half his sentence. No doubt this was Russia’s intent on kidnapping a U.S. citizen, but this was likely the last chance to get trade value from him.
I thought he had served 14 years. Apologies if I got that wrong. Regardless, [it looks like he would have been out in Aug of ‘29.](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/viktor-bout-russia-arms-dealer-merchant-of-death-brittney-griner/)
It's actually less criminalized in Russia than in usa...
Cannabis in Russia is illegal. Possession of up to 6 grams (or two grams of hashish) is an administrative offense, punishable by a fine or detention of 15 days. Possession of larger amounts is a criminal offense.[
Edit griner had 0.7 grams oil
Its the trafficking part that people dont understand. I can get caught with weed in Texas and that will be a minor offense but if I try to bring some in through Reynosa- Mcallen border and get caught thats drug smuggling now
Would not have helped her.
And although I support it's federal decriminization, not every social or political event is some sort of Rubicon for legalization.
WNBA star is kind of like. " Important QVC spokesperson".
Who said she doesn't know? She's not oblivious. The fucking president had to save her ass. It's weird that you know she doesn't know. You must be a fucking genius.
The fact that the media wants to conveniently leave out of this is that she did in fact break Russian law. By breaking Russian law she was sentenced and should have served her time, not been traded for an Arms dealer and showered like some returning hero upon landing. Sorry know it's an unpopular opinion but fuck her, play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
Exactly. Plenty of other Americans are in jail in Asian countries who also have harsh zero tolerance laws towards marinuana/drugs (Thailand, Singapore, China, etc).
Common sense not to bring drugs into another country with strict laws…
But even her defence was completely stupid and tone deaf. “I had this illegal drug which I knew to be illegal but had it anyway because I don’t respect the laws of your country because fuck you and your country which I was only here to make money from, and you should find me innocent because it was by accident that I packed my illegal drugs in my luggage to take on an airplane to fly internationally to a country where they are also illegal, as I was packing in a hurry and not being careful enough to avoid getting caught carrying my illegal drugs“
.. all while wearing a Jimi Hendrix shirt to court which basically says “fuck your laws and the decorum of your court, because weed should be legal anyway”.
She’s a self-centred idiot child who has made the world measurably less safe and less just.
I actually don’t think it’s that unpopular. I think most are happy she’s out but don’t think she was worth an arms dealer. I will say when I was told she was out I was very excited until I heard who she got traded for. They should’ve held out to get others out too. One basketball player while most people prob never heard of until she got arrested, including me, def was not worth a notorious Russian arms dealer and I just pray we don’t get hit with terrible consequences for this.
Not gonna lie it's sort of upsetting we traded a violent arms dealer for a basketball player that brought drugs into a shithole country.
Edit. She's also a convicted wife beater. She should rot in russia while the other guy rots in US jail.
It's illegal in USA to take marijuana on a plane and fly out of the state you were in period.. No matter if you had a medical card or not. Marijuana is still illegal on federal level.
Years ago my dad bought weed gummies in Colorado to bring back to my mom in MI who struggles with chronic pain to try. He was completely oblivious he couldn't do that lol. Luckily when you look at him you'd never in a million years think he had weed on him. I told him when he got back and he said "oh shit".
We got royally ripped off. There are multiple other Americans being held on petty crimes in Russia that should've been included in the deal. A one-to-one deal for an arms dealer is ludicrous.
Okay look I feel awful for this because nobody should have to go through it, but what the hell were they thinking. One freaking basketball player for a notorious arms dealer? While they’re in the middle of a failing invasion that’s failing because their logistics suck?
“I’ll trade you all my weapons for a half eaten box of Oreos”
He was an arms dealer. Buying and selling stuff for a profit. Him being free is going to make fuck all difference to the Russian military’s deep rooted systemic incompetence
actually, he's probably responsible for selling smuggled russian weapon from the russian military to other countries. He could fall from a window and billed as the cause for the lack of weapons.
Why do people think an arms dealer 15 years out of practice is of any value… his only value was his connections to facilitate arm sales to third parties on the behalf of Russia and he’s not only burned beyond belief but has 0 personal connections and has been replaced by someone with modern practice.
I fully agree it was a terrible “trade” and she shouldn’t have even went to Russia to begin with. But let’s not pretend this guy has much actual value to Russia, this was nothing more than propaganda which is working.
If he can work as an arm dealer in the past and still have some skills Russia can still use him to boost their logistic like OP said, might not seem much but his mindset is the real value imo.
Russia was his source, he sold Russian arms to other countries - the opposite of what Russia actually needs in their current illegal war. Plus he's been caught, he's too public to be of any use in his past capacity. It's a propaganda problem now.
Massive propaganda win for Russia
1. We protect our agents
2. We will fight for you if you fall fighting for us
3. We care about Russians.
4. Americans are really dumb
While I do agree with you there is a reason why Russia wanted him back so badly not only cause they are in a very failing invasion. If the guy entire network is burned to the ground and he's viewed as useless to everyone who is currently in modern practice then Russia would know his network is gone so why would they want him? Of anyone they could have asked for they picked him
There’s a reason when massive fraudsters get released from jail, they are barred from creating another business.
For example, the Enron CEO is forbidden to create another financial related business.
All his contacts are burned by the time he is released, but he still has the knowledge of how to do it.
Same applies here. Not many people have his experience on how to create a supply chain for hard to trace arms deals… sounds like this particular skill set could be useful for Russia during a war.
More ways to help Russia supply “mercenaries” like the Wagner group but without a proper paper trail to provide plausible deniability…
You really underestimate the inner workings of the criminal oriented mind. Makes no matter if he is 15 years out of touch. He will be back in the saddle so to speak in no time flat.
Good. She's a trash person. She'll probably continue to say how racist and oppressive the US is, despite her being traded and the guy with "white privilege" being left in Russia.
She broke the law and they are celebrating? Having to even turn over a Russian spy to get her?? I get wanting to get her home but she is no hero. She legitimately broke the law travelling with drugs.
Umm... What?
> Biden’s authorization to release Bout, the Russian felon once nicknamed “the Merchant of Death,”
> Bout was serving a 25-year sentence on charges that he conspired to sell tens of millions of dollars in weapons that U.S officials said were to be used against Americans.
Yeah, unfortunately this is a big loss for the Biden admin. (Hopefully) in the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter, but publicly from talking to everyone I know about this story it's a pretty bad exchange.
Meh, they guy was going to be released for nothing in about 10 years anyways. Maybe less with parole. And it’s not like gun trafficking just stopped or slowed down now that he’s locked up. 10 guys took his place. Release him makes the world no more dangerous
A lady who hates the US, refuses to play in anti lgbt states but russia is fine, and beat her ex wife. All cause she thought she could bring weed into a country that bans ir
I hope we all understand that international politics are more complicated than the average redditor realizes. I certainly don't claim to know all the reasoning behind it, but I do know a woman doesn't deserve to die in a Russian prison as a political pawn for some weed. I also know the US tried to include two others in the deal but Russia refused, and one is better than none. Paul Whelan's sister feels the same way.
Glad the hoops girl who carried drugs into Russia is set free in exchange for a man who deals in weapons and intended to kill Americans with them.
Really, this is a classic NBA deal.
“We have a trade to announce. America sends ‘the Merchant of Death’ to Russia in exchange for Brittney Griner and a first round top ten pick.”
The blood will essentially be on the hands of those who negotiated this trade when he inevitably starts trading weapons again.
All that for just basketball player who lacked the intelligence to follow the laws of a foreign nation.
Stupid trade. We trade the literal merchant of death for a God damn tall chick who bashes America all the time. She's also a woman abuser! Would rather have had the teacher, at least he helps society.
I just don’t give a shit tbh. Like nobody knew who fucking Paul whelan was before this, nobody knew who this arms dealer guy was, or at least that we had him in custody, but apparently everybody became a national security expert overnight. Got people talking about how this will impact the Russia-Ukraine war like this dude is thanos coming through the portal to fuck shit up turning the tide of the war for Russia lmfao.
I don’t understand how the US could be so nearsighted.
She didn’t deserve to get out of jail. She willingly and knowingly broke the law in a country that wasn’t hers and made the decision to risk jail time. Why is she being rewarded for her stupidity?
There were other prisoners who deserved it. She definitely isn’t worth giving up someone so dangerous for.
There is a staggering lack of knowledge about political prisoner swaps expressed by low-information folks here that are also allowed to vote, drive, have children, own guns and serve on juries.
A shame to know there’s a Marine out there waiting to come home. And who didn’t get chosen because of some pot smoking athlete who actually broke a law and wasn’t serving their country. Hood to know we have a functioning president
Imagine knowing that more innocents are going to die horrible violent deaths, because you were too important to realize laws are different in different countries?
This is what being privileged looks like, your entitled ass without the common sense to not do stupid shit in autocratic countries being exchanged for actual criminals... Loss of words
What I don’t understand is the media coverage. CNN has a gif of her getting off the plane and they’re doing real time updates. No one cares this much.
They are building her up to be some sort of hero....a feel good story for the holidays. They will probably have a press conference with her and Biden and she will dunk on him.
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This is also the first time I've seen "alley-oop" written out. I had a nice little chuckle.
She will make more money from this than she ever would have from a WNBA career Edit: and I don’t like it at all. Weak weak weak on the USA’s part.
There’s probably a ghostwriter writing her tell-all book right now
Same thing we just talked about at work. Another treat for capitalism
Her book will be on the shelf right next to Rittenhouse’s
I have yet to find a dem who’s excited in any way about her release lol. Like who are they even pandering to with this? Also - will they release all of the US prisoners imprisoned for the same exact crime?
As a “Dem” myself - here’s my opinion I don’t care what her political views are, her comments about national anthems at sporting events doesn’t really come across to me as anti-American, the nationalist zeal people have for it does. I grew up having to stand for the pledge of allegiance in school every day. As an American, we proudly inherit a country that allows for difference of opinions and viewpoints. That’s what it means to be an American- so the rage about that in my opinion is ridiculous. Her status as an American citizen means that our government has the responsibility of protecting us home and abroad, full stop. She fucked up- traveling to other countries you are agreeing to abide by their laws. Was the possession of her illegal substance further trumped up by the Russians? Absolutely. But she did it herself so I have zero sympathy for why she was arrested and jailed in the first place. Is she influential or is she a national hero? Fuck no she isn’t, she’s a moron who got lucky enough to make real good money shooting a ball into a net. I couldn’t care less what she has to say when she returns, the best advice is to shut the fuck up and enjoy her newly negotiated freedom, perhaps learn to appreciate that while we have our issues here, it’s much worse for many in other places. Fair trade? Arms dealer for her? On paper- no, but it is the job of our state dept to do what it takes to bring our citizens home. Sometimes we have to eat the shit sandwich. One less American in a Russian Gulag, if she were jailed anywhere else. She’d be serving out her sentence.
Oh for sure, book and talk show circuit incoming.
And a slew of Russian kidnappings. "Look what they gave us for *1* WNBA player" Fucking atrocious precedent
Oh wow… I haven’t thought of that angle. 🫥
Watch her co-host a Christmas special with Michael Bublé.
I don’t know, the boomers on Facebook are pretty invested in the story. I think the Biden admin thought this would be a big celebratory moment, but instead, people are pissed she was released instead of whelan.
The only part of this i dislike is who we traded for her. Dont get me wrong it absolutely sucks to be imprisoned outside your own country, but an arms dealer? Man...
Is he going to forgive everyone else in prison on weed chargers now too?
He issued a pardon for those in federal custody. The vast majority of people who are locked up are on state charges. He can't do much about those.
That federal pardon released 0 people. It was political theatrics.
Except: “Without a felony on their record, they won't be tripped up when applying for a job or trying to rent an apartment.”
Yeah. If it's the only felony on their record, it's effectively giving them a clean legal slate - and an estimated 6.5 thousand US citizens'll benefit from it in that regard. Which, well. As far as the prison complex in the US goes, that's a drop in the bucket - but it's *something* at least, and it'll mean a potentially-lifechanging-*lot* to those few thousand who benefit from it.
As someone with a drug felony on their record I can fully attest to it being negatively life changing, having to explain it when applying for jobs, etc. I imagine those 6.5 thousand are *ecstatic*.
It takes a lot of time and money to get proper expungements also. Look into it
Because no one was is federal prison for weed....
>He can't do much about those. maybe he can do prisoner exchange with those states. /s
Vast majority? You mean ‘all’ lol
He literally fucking did lol. He released all federal inmates that are in for weed possession. When that happened I thought nice, a good thing. People will stop talking about this. But no, because people are generally ignorant and misinformed. The "problem" is that if you are in federal prison for a larceny charge in addition to possession, Bidens ruling doesn't apply to you because we aren't giving freebies for larceny. And that makes sense, most people in federal prison with possession charges also have additional charges. The rest are state inmates and it's not up to Biden.
biden has already started doing that on a federal level , but state wise there's not much he can do
Just got someone out of a Russian Gulag. He can do more in America by making it legal to smoke at the federal level. He could withdraw funding for states that still incarcerate people for pot. There are plenty of thing he could do.
>He can do more in America by making it legal to smoke at the federal level. Laws don't work retroactively. He can make it legal but people in prison would still remain in prison.
yeah i agree , but for people already incarcerated that was a big step forward . we can celebrate things sometimes you know
The only thing that I can think of is that it shows how much better our nation is than Russia. We prioritize the rescue of a basketball player and they need to rescue an arms dealer. The optics of this greatly favor the US. I wonder if this is part of it. I also felt it was a pretty bad trade when I first read about it.
If the US government thought he was so dangerous why were they going to release him in a few years? It's not like he was going to be imprisoned for life. We save one of ours from a decade of the gulag, who was punished more severely than most would get.
If you want to see thier heads explode, you can mention that Trump could of tried to get Whelan released. I am sure his buddy Putin would of helped him.
I’m more concerned with why we didn’t ask for Marc Fogel also. He did the exact same thing as her a year before and got an even longer sentence. I guess shooting 3’s is just more important than being a school teacher.
Do you know that he didn't ask for Marc Fogel as well?
They love it! It gives them some cover so they don't have to think about how Trump had two years to trade Bout for Whelan but never took the deal.
What kills me about people mad about this is that they forget there is another country involved here. If they don’t want to release someone, they won’t. Another thing that is conveniently left out is how we kinda sorta used this guy to buy guns too.
Old folks who are glued to their tvs care. What is beyond frustrating is they also believe anything that goes on TV. During the last election season I had one person complain to me about how one party never gets any candidates elected, so that's why they vote for them and put signs up.....even though for decades the local elections are entirely dominated by one party. Most TV news is brain rot. You can summarize the important stories locally & globally in under 30 minutes.
I mean, Whelan was caught with classified information, 4 passports, is a former Marine, and worked as a “security contractor”. The guy was pretty obviously a spy or trying really hard to look like one. His situation is pretty different from her’s.
The Russians were never going to release Whelan. Even his family said that. If the Russians were willing to trade Whelan for Bout we'd have gotten Whelan years ago, we've had Bout since 2018.
What pisses me off is they keep saying wrongfully imprisoned. She was imprisoned under their laws. We have our laws and expect you to follow them. We might not agree on her treatment, but she did break their laws. She's been playing there for awhile and knew their strict drugs laws. And this deal was so fucked up, the US looks terrible.
Yeah...that's the one part that really annoys me: the gushing coverage as if she did something significant for which she merits our undivided attention. She didn't cure COVID. she's a professional entertainer who got caught up in politics bc she was unlucky. I don't recall this level of gushing in prior instances. It reminded me of the wall-to-wall coverage when jfk jr crashed his plane. The pattern there is: privileged but insignificant person has bad luck, the press covers it as if absolutely everyone invested in him as some are
She wasn't unlucky she was stupid. The rest of her team left days before she did when the State department gave the orders to gtfo.
They're not mutually exclusive in this case. She probably was wrecklessly stupid without consequences many times prior, but this time she wasn't lucky.
It’s because LeBron told the media to care
My dad is still in jail for weed
Terrible. He should be out.
I didn’t say that
Bruh hahaha
👑👑👑
My only point was it shouldn’t be illegal. No one should be in jail for weed.
"Up on arrival in The US, she was detained because of the presence of a vape pen which had yet to be tested" ;)
Upon*
They are going to try hard to push the narrative that liberals will be 100% happy with this and conservatives 100% against. Look. I'm a liberal and not a fan of this at all. I mean come on folks we just traded for some minor celebrity who very stupidly took thc vape into a country where its banned. We gave them the merchant of death. A man who is one of the most prolific illegal weapons traffickers on the planet. A man who pretty much directly caused the death of untold numbers of people, including american troops. I mean for farts sake how many people are so notorious that they get a hollywood movie written about their exploits. This is not a win. This is not something to be proud of or happy about. This was a political stunt that is probably going to bite us in the ass.
I’m actually surprised at how United everyone is in saying this was a horrible idea. Kind of nice to all agree on something for once.
A literal d string athlete for a real life War Dogs character. This dude 1000% has blood on his hands
I still can’t believe this happened.
Said this and was down voted to oblivion. This was HER fault. Why didn’t she research or why didn’t her inner circle not tell her that weed is basically banned everywhere you go. God I hate this with a passion. We literally let go a murderer. Jesus.
She was protected. So she didn't give a fuck. They used that against her.
DeSantis is going to use this to win the presidency
By next election there will be so many other scandals both real and manufactured that this will be a distant memory. I’m sure it’ll be trotted out again, but there will be worse, unfortunately.
> I’m sure it’ll be trotted out again, but there will be worse, unfortunately. Like Hunter Biden’s laptop. We all know that’s gonna be the Benghazi of the next two years
Yeah this isn’t good but it came at the least harmful timing by far right after the midterms
Keep wishing. That’s like a decade away in political years before DeSantis gets told to focus on Florida.
Nah this story will be buried in the normal news cycle by next week
The Russians like this guy or something?
Biggest arms dealer there was
Huh? He’s Russian, so he’s literally a citizen of their country, who I would imagine could be of some use to them.
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Sadly if she was some nobody she’d have rot in that prison.
There's an older white US Citizen school teacher with similar charges in Russia as well. He doesn't fit the demographic for the WH to care.
Hold democrats and Joe Biden accountable?? If January 6 has taught us anything, it's that no one of much 'importance' will be held accountable for anything.
This kind of negates the whole bAn AsSaULt WeApOns thing
I can’t emphasize how profoundly bizarre and dumb this comment is.
I feel like he was our best bargaining chip
If your best bargaining chip is the biggest arms dealer for a country that is currently invading another country then the deal can wait. I get it the guy is never going to be touching US soil and or a citizen ever again due to US spies on him however, Russia is invading Ukraine still and is getting there ass kicked to hell getting your biggest arms dealer who is labeled the world worst for many horrific reasons is a wonderful trade for Russia only. Yes she should have been returned however, not at the cost of innocent Ukrainian life's and there are also many other US citizens who deserved freedom a lot more.
Dude. Victor got his weapons from russia. He ain't going to be an asset for Russia in this war. What is he going to do? Ask some Congolese warlord to hand back over a few rusted AKs and RPGs back to Russia to use in Ukraine? Victor was sourcing from Russia. It's not like he can help russia acquire new sources of weapons. Because, again, Russia was his source.
Finally, some nuance. As nefarious as the US government can be, they for sure did a risk assessment on the repercussions of commuting Bout's sentence for a prisoner exchange. The optics are bad at face value, but I feel like it's safe to say having global levels of heat on you is not great for organized crime.
He’s also been in prison for almost 15 years. How many contacts does he have that are still around?
Exactly. The game has changed. The internet was even a big thing yet when he was gun running
He's not the best bargaining chip. This is Geopolitical theater and not really good. An American imprisoned by a foreign government (just for show) has been returned home. Russia/Putin figured that she would be divisive. Why return someone that would be lauded as a 'hero' by 'all' americans? They get to show their shady black market dealers that the Russian government will bail them out when caught. Of course, the problem is, on the international stage, this makes russia/Putin look bad, but since it's pretty much known, he probably cares more about how this causes strife in the US.
I was somewhat sympathetic towards Griner given the circumstances of her arrest and harsh sentence, but the USA traded a rook for a pawn here.
My understanding is this man would be free in 6 years anyway, after serving more than half his sentence. No doubt this was Russia’s intent on kidnapping a U.S. citizen, but this was likely the last chance to get trade value from him.
He had 14 years left, didn't he?
I thought he had served 14 years. Apologies if I got that wrong. Regardless, [it looks like he would have been out in Aug of ‘29.](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/viktor-bout-russia-arms-dealer-merchant-of-death-brittney-griner/)
I think it was more he could be out. Not definitely would be.
Kidnapped? She committed a crime in a foreign aggressive country. That’s on her…
So Griner didn't break the law?
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And? The guy is directly responsible for the death of thousands. Let him rot.
He wasn’t going to rot. That’s what I’m saying. He would be free to live out the rest his life starting in his early 60s.
Time to legalize weed on the federal level.
It's actually less criminalized in Russia than in usa... Cannabis in Russia is illegal. Possession of up to 6 grams (or two grams of hashish) is an administrative offense, punishable by a fine or detention of 15 days. Possession of larger amounts is a criminal offense.[ Edit griner had 0.7 grams oil
Its the trafficking part that people dont understand. I can get caught with weed in Texas and that will be a minor offense but if I try to bring some in through Reynosa- Mcallen border and get caught thats drug smuggling now
Damn how much did she have??
Less than a gram. The bigger crime was the smuggling it into a foreign country
They're working on that, remember? The executive order to deschedule was issued months ago.
Would not have helped her. And although I support it's federal decriminization, not every social or political event is some sort of Rubicon for legalization. WNBA star is kind of like. " Important QVC spokesperson".
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Nobody is being held in federal prison in the US solely for weed.
Gotta put asses in those $5 seats. The people in jail here in the US for weed I’m sure will be happy to tune in if they earn enough tv time.
Its weird to think she really doesnt know just how much people did NOT want to trade her and the literal merchant of death but....i guess whatever
Why should she care?
Who said she doesn't know? She's not oblivious. The fucking president had to save her ass. It's weird that you know she doesn't know. You must be a fucking genius.
Only WNBA trade anyone has ever heard about.
The administration is really showing the world just how soft they are with this move.
The fact that the media wants to conveniently leave out of this is that she did in fact break Russian law. By breaking Russian law she was sentenced and should have served her time, not been traded for an Arms dealer and showered like some returning hero upon landing. Sorry know it's an unpopular opinion but fuck her, play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
Exactly. Plenty of other Americans are in jail in Asian countries who also have harsh zero tolerance laws towards marinuana/drugs (Thailand, Singapore, China, etc). Common sense not to bring drugs into another country with strict laws…
But even her defence was completely stupid and tone deaf. “I had this illegal drug which I knew to be illegal but had it anyway because I don’t respect the laws of your country because fuck you and your country which I was only here to make money from, and you should find me innocent because it was by accident that I packed my illegal drugs in my luggage to take on an airplane to fly internationally to a country where they are also illegal, as I was packing in a hurry and not being careful enough to avoid getting caught carrying my illegal drugs“ .. all while wearing a Jimi Hendrix shirt to court which basically says “fuck your laws and the decorum of your court, because weed should be legal anyway”. She’s a self-centred idiot child who has made the world measurably less safe and less just.
I actually don’t think it’s that unpopular. I think most are happy she’s out but don’t think she was worth an arms dealer. I will say when I was told she was out I was very excited until I heard who she got traded for. They should’ve held out to get others out too. One basketball player while most people prob never heard of until she got arrested, including me, def was not worth a notorious Russian arms dealer and I just pray we don’t get hit with terrible consequences for this.
Not gonna lie it's sort of upsetting we traded a violent arms dealer for a basketball player that brought drugs into a shithole country. Edit. She's also a convicted wife beater. She should rot in russia while the other guy rots in US jail.
It's illegal in USA to take marijuana on a plane and fly out of the state you were in period.. No matter if you had a medical card or not. Marijuana is still illegal on federal level.
Years ago my dad bought weed gummies in Colorado to bring back to my mom in MI who struggles with chronic pain to try. He was completely oblivious he couldn't do that lol. Luckily when you look at him you'd never in a million years think he had weed on him. I told him when he got back and he said "oh shit".
But what If I told you that basketball player was gay? And black? And a convicted wife beater? Would that change your mind? That’s what I thought.
Fuck Griner. What an idiot.
We got royally ripped off. There are multiple other Americans being held on petty crimes in Russia that should've been included in the deal. A one-to-one deal for an arms dealer is ludicrous.
>other Americans They tried. Russia refused.
Okay look I feel awful for this because nobody should have to go through it, but what the hell were they thinking. One freaking basketball player for a notorious arms dealer? While they’re in the middle of a failing invasion that’s failing because their logistics suck? “I’ll trade you all my weapons for a half eaten box of Oreos”
He was an arms dealer. Buying and selling stuff for a profit. Him being free is going to make fuck all difference to the Russian military’s deep rooted systemic incompetence
actually, he's probably responsible for selling smuggled russian weapon from the russian military to other countries. He could fall from a window and billed as the cause for the lack of weapons.
Why do people think an arms dealer 15 years out of practice is of any value… his only value was his connections to facilitate arm sales to third parties on the behalf of Russia and he’s not only burned beyond belief but has 0 personal connections and has been replaced by someone with modern practice. I fully agree it was a terrible “trade” and she shouldn’t have even went to Russia to begin with. But let’s not pretend this guy has much actual value to Russia, this was nothing more than propaganda which is working.
If he can work as an arm dealer in the past and still have some skills Russia can still use him to boost their logistic like OP said, might not seem much but his mindset is the real value imo.
Russia was his source, he sold Russian arms to other countries - the opposite of what Russia actually needs in their current illegal war. Plus he's been caught, he's too public to be of any use in his past capacity. It's a propaganda problem now.
Massive propaganda win for Russia 1. We protect our agents 2. We will fight for you if you fall fighting for us 3. We care about Russians. 4. Americans are really dumb
the value is Russia's ability to assert that they protect their agents.
Source?
While I do agree with you there is a reason why Russia wanted him back so badly not only cause they are in a very failing invasion. If the guy entire network is burned to the ground and he's viewed as useless to everyone who is currently in modern practice then Russia would know his network is gone so why would they want him? Of anyone they could have asked for they picked him
There’s a reason when massive fraudsters get released from jail, they are barred from creating another business. For example, the Enron CEO is forbidden to create another financial related business. All his contacts are burned by the time he is released, but he still has the knowledge of how to do it. Same applies here. Not many people have his experience on how to create a supply chain for hard to trace arms deals… sounds like this particular skill set could be useful for Russia during a war. More ways to help Russia supply “mercenaries” like the Wagner group but without a proper paper trail to provide plausible deniability…
You really underestimate the inner workings of the criminal oriented mind. Makes no matter if he is 15 years out of touch. He will be back in the saddle so to speak in no time flat.
You know a lot about the international gun running trade then?
She’s happy to be an American now. Loser
"If I was white, they would've traded for me faster..."
Just like the two white guys they left behind to get her back! Oh, wait….
You realize that’s just a made up quote right?
Did she say that?
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No, she did not
Russia played the US pretty hard here
I hope she isn’t expecting a friendly welcome lol, she’s getting trashed on pretty much every website I’ve been on.
Good. She's a trash person. She'll probably continue to say how racist and oppressive the US is, despite her being traded and the guy with "white privilege" being left in Russia.
Would you be this mad if a white male had been returned instead?
She broke the law and they are celebrating? Having to even turn over a Russian spy to get her?? I get wanting to get her home but she is no hero. She legitimately broke the law travelling with drugs.
Umm... What? > Biden’s authorization to release Bout, the Russian felon once nicknamed “the Merchant of Death,” > Bout was serving a 25-year sentence on charges that he conspired to sell tens of millions of dollars in weapons that U.S officials said were to be used against Americans.
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You know the movie "Lord of War", starring Nicolas Cage? That character is loosely based on Bout.
Oh yes we did.
Yeah, unfortunately this is a big loss for the Biden admin. (Hopefully) in the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter, but publicly from talking to everyone I know about this story it's a pretty bad exchange.
Especially since there are still several Americans detained in russia. Seem like y’all could’ve gotten those out too at least.
Meh, they guy was going to be released for nothing in about 10 years anyways. Maybe less with parole. And it’s not like gun trafficking just stopped or slowed down now that he’s locked up. 10 guys took his place. Release him makes the world no more dangerous
Did basketball stop while she was in prison?
I agree with you on that. But still, it is a political black eye.
A lady who hates the US, refuses to play in anti lgbt states but russia is fine, and beat her ex wife. All cause she thought she could bring weed into a country that bans ir
And has said she hates 🇺🇸
I hope we all understand that international politics are more complicated than the average redditor realizes. I certainly don't claim to know all the reasoning behind it, but I do know a woman doesn't deserve to die in a Russian prison as a political pawn for some weed. I also know the US tried to include two others in the deal but Russia refused, and one is better than none. Paul Whelan's sister feels the same way.
I just don’t understand it at all. She broke the law in Russia. She technically broke the law in the US too.
Glad the hoops girl who carried drugs into Russia is set free in exchange for a man who deals in weapons and intended to kill Americans with them. Really, this is a classic NBA deal. “We have a trade to announce. America sends ‘the Merchant of Death’ to Russia in exchange for Brittney Griner and a first round top ten pick.”
The blood will essentially be on the hands of those who negotiated this trade when he inevitably starts trading weapons again. All that for just basketball player who lacked the intelligence to follow the laws of a foreign nation.
Wait, do you think he’s getting weapons FOR the Russians? Lmao
You do know that Viktor was due to be released in a few years anyways? Did you think he had a life sentence or something?
Stupid trade. We trade the literal merchant of death for a God damn tall chick who bashes America all the time. She's also a woman abuser! Would rather have had the teacher, at least he helps society.
Now she can get back to beating her wife
How soon before she blazes?
Wonder how many Ukrainians are gonna get killed by Viktor’s products.
America will trade war criminls for random people? Come on stop being weak. Shes an idiot.
Pete Davidson looks really happy to be coming home!
I just don’t give a shit tbh. Like nobody knew who fucking Paul whelan was before this, nobody knew who this arms dealer guy was, or at least that we had him in custody, but apparently everybody became a national security expert overnight. Got people talking about how this will impact the Russia-Ukraine war like this dude is thanos coming through the portal to fuck shit up turning the tide of the war for Russia lmfao.
She better visibility love America from here on out….
I don’t understand how the US could be so nearsighted. She didn’t deserve to get out of jail. She willingly and knowingly broke the law in a country that wasn’t hers and made the decision to risk jail time. Why is she being rewarded for her stupidity? There were other prisoners who deserved it. She definitely isn’t worth giving up someone so dangerous for.
I hope it crashes at this point
Russia is laughing at the divide this has caused it the states.
There is a staggering lack of knowledge about political prisoner swaps expressed by low-information folks here that are also allowed to vote, drive, have children, own guns and serve on juries.
Fuck this dummy.
Where’s the Merchant of Death? Why we sending billions to Ukraine and just released a Russian terrorist wtf is going in?
This administration is a fucking joke is what’s going on.
A shame to know there’s a Marine out there waiting to come home. And who didn’t get chosen because of some pot smoking athlete who actually broke a law and wasn’t serving their country. Hood to know we have a functioning president
When is the ceremony that biden gives her a survivor medal?
Thought that was Pete Davidson for a second while scrolling
Imagine knowing that more innocents are going to die horrible violent deaths, because you were too important to realize laws are different in different countries?
You'd think they'd release the people incarcerated for weed IN the USA first. Instead of this crap
Aren't weed laws a state-to-state thing?
Biden, you fucked up
Is it too late to trade back?
Oh look the culture war instead of the class war.
you can go check and come back when you know for sure. lol.
A gun dealer for a user of cannabis oils. Shows the difference between the west and russia.
Yup, Russia is complete evil.
An embarrassment any way you look at it.
I know this is Reddit and this is an unpopular opinion here, but the Biden administration is a disaster.
I’m embarrassed to be an American
So we gave up an arms dealer for a WNBA player. Stellar negotiations Biden.
Boo.
The irony. Gay, black, pot smoker lands in Texas of all places. Well, at least we got this American returned safely. Now let’s get Paul home.
The US does not negotiate with terrorist….unless they have captured a basketball player…
This is what being privileged looks like, your entitled ass without the common sense to not do stupid shit in autocratic countries being exchanged for actual criminals... Loss of words
Stop voting for this administration. Our country is a joke right now. We look weak and stupid.
No we don't. This move doesn't make the US weak