Brittney Griner Is Released
 

Thank you, Mr. President.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...a-viktor-bout/

Now do Paul Whelan.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...s-paul-whelan/

With her release now a done deal.
I will state this as my take on the, yes weak negotiating on our part. There was a large out cry here, to which helped the Russians feel they had a very strong hand.

Glad she is out and free.

Whelan should of been included. Not knowing the negotiations and should not. Feel it was headlines and a victory that won out. The Russians played a good game. I leave it up to Biden's team to prove me wrong if Whelan is home soon.

Wondering what his other countries are doing about this?

"Whelan is a citizen of Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Ireland."

I wouldn't put it beyond Putin to chose who to release for political reasons. We know he prefers the Republicans over the Democrats.

There is so much to consider with just what information can be found easily on Mr Whelan's Checkered past to say the least. There may well be an less flavorful untold story we will find out in the future.

Still, giving up a notorious arms dealer just when Russia could use one.....

Glad she is home and this may well of been the only deal to be made.

This is from a statement by Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee:

The Russians and other regimes that take American citizens hostage cannot pretend that there is equivalence between the Brittney Griners of the world and people like Viktor Bout, the so-called ‘Merchant of Death.’ Nothing could be further from the truth, and we cannot ignore that releasing Bout back into the world is a deeply disturbing decision.

I'm glad Griner is back home, but he ain't wrong about Bout.

Reminder: Your Dear Leader had two years to secure the release of Paul Whelan and accomplished nothing. Indeed, Trump did not mention Mr Whelan’s name a single time during the two years he was held in Russia on his watch, nor did he bring up the former US Marine during a 2019 meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump cared far less about Whelan than he did with continuing to be Putin's useful idiot.

There is probably a reason, you need to do some more digging on Mr. Whelan as @Oertes brought up already. I was discussing this with some friends still in Mil Intel yesterday, their take was "we" are not going out of our way to get him back. Why are his other countries not trying to get him released?

Victor Bout is an exceptional person. He sold arms to MPLA and UNITA. WTF!

One has to give credit to Biden. Unlike Obama and Clinton, he has consistently rewarded his base.

Glad also the lady is home.

Some wring hands about "the merchant of death" being back on the streets, so to speak. I have no doubt that when he was locked up someone else stepped right into his shoes. Too much money to be made in doing that stuff for a void to go unfilled for long. Don't get me wrong, if he's as bad as they said he should have been terminated post haste.