Recently negotiations have started regarding a trade of prisoners between a basketball player and a former seal and one of the world’s most notorious arms dealers.
The “Merchant of Death,” known as Mr. Bout, a former Soviet military officer once one of the most wanted men, was accused of selling arms to Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and various other governments and militants around the world. He was finally hunted down by American agencies in Bangkok in 2008 before being extraditing in 2010.
The other American in custody is WNBA star player, Brittney Griner, who was arrested due to having a few bottles of marijuana oil.
At first, the negotiations might seem simple. But the negotiations become more complex when it involves exchanging non-soldiers for a dangerous criminal, a threat to civilians whose actual crime is being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“The fact that Bout is a big fish isn’t part of the calculus,” said Jeremy Bash, chief of staff at the C.I.A. when the United States made a high-profile spy swap with Russia in 2010. “We value our citizens a thousand times more than we value the foreign criminal. Israel takes the same approach. They’d 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.”
Veterans of past administrations expressed concern about the exchange. The experts were concerned about swapping an arms dealer for an athlete who vaped would only encourage Russia to take more Americans hostage.
“In essence, since ’79, we are over and over and over again trying the same failed approach to recover our hostages,” Mr. Genser, a human rights lawyer, said in an interview.
“We do this case-by-case basis, country by country, with blinders on as we do these negotiations. A case gets a lot of public profile and more resources and attention. But if you can’t get a higher profile, you get no or little help at all.”
It was time to “end hostage-taking once and for all.”
Link:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/appforest_uf/f1659263427193x621719543737524700/Why%20the%20U.S.%20Offered%20to%20Swap%20Griner%20for%20Bout%2C%20a%20Russian%20Arms%20Dealer%20-%20The%20New%20York%20Times.pdf
The “Merchant of Death,” known as Mr. Bout, a former Soviet military officer once one of the most wanted men, was accused of selling arms to Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and various other governments and militants around the world. He was finally hunted down by American agencies in Bangkok in 2008 before being extraditing in 2010.
The other American in custody is WNBA star player, Brittney Griner, who was arrested due to having a few bottles of marijuana oil.
At first, the negotiations might seem simple. But the negotiations become more complex when it involves exchanging non-soldiers for a dangerous criminal, a threat to civilians whose actual crime is being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“The fact that Bout is a big fish isn’t part of the calculus,” said Jeremy Bash, chief of staff at the C.I.A. when the United States made a high-profile spy swap with Russia in 2010. “We value our citizens a thousand times more than we value the foreign criminal. Israel takes the same approach. They’d 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.”
Veterans of past administrations expressed concern about the exchange. The experts were concerned about swapping an arms dealer for an athlete who vaped would only encourage Russia to take more Americans hostage.
“In essence, since ’79, we are over and over and over again trying the same failed approach to recover our hostages,” Mr. Genser, a human rights lawyer, said in an interview.
“We do this case-by-case basis, country by country, with blinders on as we do these negotiations. A case gets a lot of public profile and more resources and attention. But if you can’t get a higher profile, you get no or little help at all.”
It was time to “end hostage-taking once and for all.”
Link:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/appforest_uf/f1659263427193x621719543737524700/Why%20the%20U.S.%20Offered%20to%20Swap%20Griner%20for%20Bout%2C%20a%20Russian%20Arms%20Dealer%20-%20The%20New%20York%20Times.pdf
