This year, the Biden Administration proposed trading the world’s most notorious arms dealer “Merchant of Death”, with basketball player Brittney Griner and former marine Paul N. Whelan with Russia.
Basketball player Brittney Griner was caught with hashish oil, an oil made from an extract of a cannabis plant, and former marine Paul N. Whelan, who was charged with espionage. In contrast, “the Merchant of Death” Viktor Bout was finally hunted down and locked up for conspiring to kill Americans.
“We value our own citizens a thousand times more than we value the foreign criminal. Israel takes the same approach. They would trade a thousand Hamas fighters for one I.D.F. soldier.
We in the U.S. take the same attitude. We will do almost anything to save an American life.” According to Jeremy Bash, who was the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency)’s chief of staff when the US negotiated a high-profile spy exchange with Russia in 2010.
Whether the trade will happen remains unclear, but the Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken revealed the offer to the general public in order the reassure families of basketball player Brittney Griner and former marine Paul N. Whelan.
Russian officials have made it clear that they have long sought the release of Viktor Bout and have confirmed the discussion in July but said that Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov was too busy to speak with United States Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken.
However, other veterans are concerned due to the imbalanced trade between an athlete that many have vaped and a former marine charged with espionage with a “death-dealing arms merchant”. The transaction will only encourage imprisonment of more Americans.
“I take a pretty hard line on it,” commented former UN ambassador and national security advisor John R. Bolten. “It’s one thing to exchange prisoners of war. It’s one thing to exchange spies when you know what’s going on.”
What is the most peculiar about the trade is that Brittney Briner is a star NBA player. Her arrest came a week before Russia invaded Ukraine. Viktor Bout was a former soviet military officer and was accused of selling weapons to Al Qaeda, the Taliban, Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Alegria.
American agencies finally caught up with him in 2008 at Bangkok, leading up to his capture after a few years of searching.
Basketball player Brittney Griner was caught with hashish oil, an oil made from an extract of a cannabis plant, and former marine Paul N. Whelan, who was charged with espionage. In contrast, “the Merchant of Death” Viktor Bout was finally hunted down and locked up for conspiring to kill Americans.
“We value our own citizens a thousand times more than we value the foreign criminal. Israel takes the same approach. They would trade a thousand Hamas fighters for one I.D.F. soldier.
We in the U.S. take the same attitude. We will do almost anything to save an American life.” According to Jeremy Bash, who was the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency)’s chief of staff when the US negotiated a high-profile spy exchange with Russia in 2010.
Whether the trade will happen remains unclear, but the Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken revealed the offer to the general public in order the reassure families of basketball player Brittney Griner and former marine Paul N. Whelan.
Russian officials have made it clear that they have long sought the release of Viktor Bout and have confirmed the discussion in July but said that Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov was too busy to speak with United States Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken.
However, other veterans are concerned due to the imbalanced trade between an athlete that many have vaped and a former marine charged with espionage with a “death-dealing arms merchant”. The transaction will only encourage imprisonment of more Americans.
“I take a pretty hard line on it,” commented former UN ambassador and national security advisor John R. Bolten. “It’s one thing to exchange prisoners of war. It’s one thing to exchange spies when you know what’s going on.”
What is the most peculiar about the trade is that Brittney Briner is a star NBA player. Her arrest came a week before Russia invaded Ukraine. Viktor Bout was a former soviet military officer and was accused of selling weapons to Al Qaeda, the Taliban, Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Alegria.
American agencies finally caught up with him in 2008 at Bangkok, leading up to his capture after a few years of searching.
