By now we have all heard that Brittney Griner has safely landed in San Antonio.
From the Washington Post :
"Griner had been in Russian custody since her arrest at an airport near Moscow in February, when she was accused of entering the country with illegal vape cartridges containing less than a gram of cannabis oil. Her lawyers said it was prescribed as part of treatment for chronic pain and other conditions. The United States designated her detention “wrongful.”
"Biden stressed that he has not forgotten about Paul Whelan, a former Marine imprisoned in Russia on espionage charges. Some lawmakers criticized the administration for not securing Whelan’s release as well. A senior administration official told The Washington Post that the choice was between bringing home Griner or no one."
From CNN:
Biden chose humanity over geopolitics with Griner release | CNN Politics:
"While Biden is being castigated by some political opponents in Washington for doing a bad deal, administration officials insisted that he got the best one on offer.
...Evelyn Farkas, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense, told CNN she thought Putin was never going to hand over Whelan and all along wanted to swap only Griner for Bout.
“It’s happening now because Vladimir Putin wants this to happen now, he needs a win, he needs a victory in Russia because he is having trouble convincing the Russia people that it’s a good idea to be at war with Ukraine,” Farkas said.
She added that there remained some hope for Whelan because the Griner exchange did show that “the Russians will make a deal if they think it’s in their interests.”
Whelan isn’t the only American imprisoned in Russia. The family of US teacher Marc Fogel, who is serving a 14 year sentence at a hard labor camp, has also called for the White House to negotiate his release. Fogel was arrested last year in Moscow after traveling into the country with cannabis that his lawyer said was used for medical purposes.
...The fierce political divides that now challenge every US foreign policy decision did not take long to bubble over after Griner was freed – alongside a more vicious reaction on social media as some conservatives questioned her patriotism.
John Kirby, the National Security Council’s coordinator for strategic communications, told CNN that the Kremlin regarded Whelan in a different light than Griner, since he’s facing espionage charges – even though the US says such allegations are a sham. This added dimension to Whelan’s incarceration will fuel speculation that Moscow may leverage him as it seeks a three-way deal with Germany to free a former colonel from its domestic spy agency who was convicted of murder last year. CNN reported in August that Russia had requested Vadim Krasikov be included in a deal for the two Americans.
This adds another layer of complication for Biden as he seeks to get Whelan free, since it involves another government and would require German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to potentially agree to supersede his country’s own legal system. Whether the new German leader has the political capacity to do so is unclear, as is the kind of Russian concession Berlin might require."
I have a sense of deja vu. The controversy reminds me of the Bowe Bergdahl case in 2014 when the Obama administration secured his release from the Taliban. There was a similar howl from the politics gallery. The script now for any kind of a prisoner swap seems to be that the administration swapped this or that person's sorry a$$ for a "really big player".and wasted the opportunity to do ....what? Apparently hold out for a more worthy swap which may or may not happen.
Last place I'd ever visit would be Russia. But maybe I have the advantage of racial memory. Perhaps people think their American rights are portable. They are not. But I'm glad for anybody who gets freed from the GULAG.
ReplyDeleteMe too, Stanley. And I also would avoid China. The church is in a precarious position there.
DeleteI don't think we will ever know all the ins and outs of what went on behind the scenes, which makes it easier for politicos to make up a narrative and pass it off as the "real" story to make Biden look good/bad.
ReplyDeleteI am happy for anybody who gets out of a gulag. Possibly her debriefing will be helpful in some way.
But Griner's taking her dope into a police state with strict drug laws struck me as hare-brained at least. Like those kids who went hiking too close to the Iranian and North Korean borders.
Bergdahl was a mental case as far as I can see.
I don't know what Whelan's deal is. There may be more to that than meets the eye.
When it comes to national security matters, there is ALWAYS more than meets the eye.
DeleteI think any American in Russia can be taken hostage under some pretense to be used for an exchange with a real operative. If they are of high profile, all the better.
ReplyDeleteI think that is likely true. The amount of cannabis oil Griner had was obtained legally in the US. Now was it prudent to assume that it wouldn't have been a problem in Russia? Obviously not. But if the authorities there wanted to cause trouble they didn't really need a good reason. I hope this will make sports players from the US think twice about going over there to make money in the off-season. And US tourists? Just plz fiind another destination.
DeleteStanley is right - any American in Russia is a possible target if a hostage is needed for political purposes. A pretext for an arrest will always be found. But it’s still common sense to not test the laws with something like medical marijuana. Every American is tracked in Russia. Even those on group tours. In her case, she had some (minimal) celebrity value, but her value as a pawn was greatly enhanced by being African American. Given the racial complexities of our country, if no effort was made to negotiate a deal, it would have been used against Biden politically.
DeleteUnder the heading "damned if you do, damned if you don't" the right wing is trashing Biden for favoring Griner over other supposedly more worthy candidates for rescue.
DeleteKatherine, that was predictable. They're also complaining that The Merchant of Death is now at large and we're all going to get blowed up and no place is safe.
DeleteThere are probably valid arguments to be made that he's too dangerous, that we should have traded him for someone else, or that we shouldn't be making these swaps at all.
But the arguments we get are pretty much tainted with partisanship and the implication that "worthier" = "whiter."
Absolutely right, Katherine.
DeleteUgh. I'm not "trashing" anyone or anything - except Vladimir Putin. If anyone deserves blame for this situation, it's him, not Biden.
DeleteThe alternatives to Griner were two Americans who have been held captive by the Russians for a longer time - in Paul Whelan's case, considerably longer. (But just talking about "alternatives", as though we have to choose one American over another, is to play Putin's game. He shouldn't be holding any of these Americans.)
I am sure Whelan's family feels that Griner somehow "cut in line".
I believe Biden and his State Department when they say this was the best they thought they could do.
Yes, there has been quite a bit of criticism of Biden for not striking a better deal. But more importantly, there has been bipartisan criticism for his making any deal at all. The traditional American stance for kidnapping-by-arrest has been, "We don't make deals with tyrants". The exceptions would be prisoner exchanges of soldiers and spies. Paul Whelan might possibly qualify as the latter (although I don't think any Americans are claiming that), but Griner almost certainly doesn't fit either of those profiles.
DeleteEven Chris Coons, who is as big a Biden supporter as you're likely to find, criticized the deal. Adam Kinzinger said that Biden has just telegraphed to authoritarians that it's 'open season' on Americans abroad, because the president will give up valuable "assets" and really bad guys get Americans back.
Weird, I tested positive for Covid this morning after testing negative on Saturday. Still feeling okay, no symptoms. But don't know if I'm contagious or not. It's ten days in, which they say is the course of the disease.
ReplyDeleteHome tests, Katherine? False positives are more likely than false negatives with home tests.
DeleteYeah, home tests. Going to call my doctor's office and find out what they recommend.
DeleteThis happens with Paxlovid, too. Good idea to talk to the doc!
DeleteThat's true. Forgot about the Paxlovid.
DeleteWhile on the subject - I went to Costco this morning ( not a fun errand, but…) and it was mobbed. Christmas and Hanukkah shopping time. I was pleasantly surprised that around 90% of the shoppers were wearing masks. Now the clientele at the local Costco does have a high proportion of Asian Americans, who have never stopped wearing masks, most of the other customers were also wearing masks.
DeleteMask-wearing is pretty much restricted to store employees and old people here. Maybe a little uptick as flu surges here and people don't want to be sick for their family Xmas. There's no more hasseling of people with or without masks, so it's nice to see the political overlay has dissipated.
DeleteGot the call back from the doctor's office. They said it was possible to test positive on the home tests for weeks, whether or not you took Paxlovid. The recommendation is to quarantine for five days after you get sick, and monitor symptoms until ten days are up. At the end of that time if you feel well and aren't coughing and sneezing, you are no longer contagious. So that makes me feel more encouraged.
DeleteGood to know! My friend Polly keep waiting for a neg test and was cooped up close to three weeks. The Boy's workplace policy was quarantine for 5 days or until symptoms gone, then mask 10 days after returning to work.
Delete