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The Western world wakened Thursday morning and discovered that the WNBA’s Brittney Griner was returning residence from a Russian jail after President Joe Biden had secured her launch. For just a few seconds, it appeared like excellent news.
After which it was shortly revealed that Biden, in his infinite knowledge, traded Griner for a harmful Russian arms supplier, Viktor Bout. His nickname, the “Service provider of Dying,” says all the things one must know to comprehend that is the shaping as much as be one of many worst prisoner trades within the historical past of prisoner trades.
Whereas Griner will get to come back again to America and eat bacon double cheeseburgers and take sizzling showers, adorned fight U.S. Marine veteran Paul Whelan, who was nabbed in Russia 4 years in the past on trumped-up “espionage” costs, stays trapped in a Russian gulag and, based on CNN, he’s not completely satisfied.
“I’m vastly disenchanted that extra has not been executed to safe my launch, particularly because the 4 12 months anniversary of my arrest is arising,” Whelan informed CNN, including that he was completely satisfied Griner made it out.
“I used to be arrested for a criminal offense that by no means occurred,” Wheland mentioned to CNN from the Russian penal colony the place he’s imprisoned. “I don’t perceive why I’m nonetheless sitting right here.”
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“I used to be led to imagine that issues had been transferring in the appropriate path and that the governments had been negotiating and that one thing would occur pretty quickly,” Whelan continued.
There’s nonetheless a lot to unpack relating to the commerce, which dominated the headlines on Thursday morning. Nonetheless, the underside line is that on the very least, one may assume Biden and his staff would be capable to wrangle two Individuals — who aren’t arms sellers — in trade for Bout, who, based on the New York Instances, has spent a lot of his profession supplying arms to the Taliban, Al Qaeda and different terrorist factions.
Biden on Thursday was requested after an unrelated speech what he would say to Whelan’s household regarding the surprising developments. His reply was a non-answer; as seen within the video beneath, his handlers shortly scurried him away from cameras and inquiring reporters.
“We’re chatting with them,” Pres. Biden says when requested what he would say to the household of Paul Whelan, who name it a “disaster” that he stays in Russia jail whereas U.S. secured launch of Brittney Griner. https://t.co/J6rRNVS2bQ pic.twitter.com/AYjxyZrYRl
— ABC Information Politics (@ABCPolitics) December 8, 2022
Are you indignant with Joe Biden?
Nationwide Safety Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby was pressed on the state of affairs Thursday and insisted that the negotiations for Whelan had been nonetheless ongoing in what sounded extra like a pre-approved White Home response.
“We’ve got been in energetic discussions with the Russians on Mr. Whelan’s case for a really, very very long time. Actually, these conversations accelerated in latest months, and I can guarantee you that we’re going to keep at these energetic discussions going ahead,” Kirby mentioned.
One can’t even fathom what degree of harmful prisoner we’ll must commerce to safe Whelan now. If we’re buying and selling a terrorist arms supplier for Griner, what may Biden quit for Whelan?
Putin must be in stitches at this level, and one can solely think about the look on his face when his folks informed them that the U.S. president truly agreed to commerce an individual like Bout.
Conservative commentator Kyle Becker raised one other fascinating query relating to the uneven prisoner swap, questioning how this may have an effect on the conflict in Ukraine since Bout is somebody who Putin might use to probably safe much-needed weaponry to proceed its assault in neighboring Ukraine.
“What number of Ukrainians will die as a result of Biden traded away the ‘service provider of loss of life’ and left a U.S. Marine behind?” Becker tweeted.
What number of Ukrainians will die as a result of Biden traded away the “service provider of loss of life” and left a U.S. Marine behind?
— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) December 8, 2022
It pains me even to write down it, however the state of affairs is definitely not wanting good for Whelan at this level. The Biden White Home confirmed its hand to Russia and the world. Any leverage the US had lower than 24 hours in the past is nearly depleted.
Whelan, U.S. Marine who proudly served this nice nation, ought to have been offered prime precedence in such negotiations, no query. Nonetheless, that is the Biden administration we’re speaking about — the identical administration that allow 13 U.S. servicemembers die in Afghanistan needlessly.
This text appeared initially on The Western Journal.
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