{"id":1584976,"date":"2022-08-02T13:17:44","date_gmt":"2022-08-02T17:17:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1584976"},"modified":"2022-08-02T13:18:55","modified_gmt":"2022-08-02T17:18:55","slug":"the-merchant-of-death-for-griner-and-whelan-why-the-russian-prisoner-swap-is-a-risky-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-merchant-of-death-for-griner-and-whelan-why-the-russian-prisoner-swap-is-a-risky-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The Merchant Of Death\u2019 For Griner And Whelan: Why The Russian Prisoner Swap Is A Risky Deal"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">34<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fthe-merchant-of-death-for-griner-and-whelan-why-the-russian-prisoner-swap-is-a-risky-deal%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1584976&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>In seeking the release of two Americans convicted of crimes in Russia, U.S. officials confirmed this week they\u2019ve proposed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/breaking-biden-offers-to-release-notorious-russian-terrorist-in-exchange-for-brittney-griner-report-says\">a prisoner exchange for Viktor Bout<\/a>, a notorious arms dealer nicknamed \u2018The Merchant of Death.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Why This Is A Bad Deal<\/p>\n<p>If current negotiations succeed, the U.S. will free a convicted arms smuggler who operated on an international scale for close to two decades in exchange for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.outsports.com\/2020\/7\/29\/21346824\/brittney-griner-national-anthem-breonna-taylor-police-brutality-protest-wnba\">Brittney Griner<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/news\/18416590\/paul-whelan-why-is-he-in-russia\/\">Paul Whelan<\/a>, both of whom have arguably exemplified poor behavior on the world stage.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2022\/07\/27\/1113970880\/brittney-griner-testifies-drug-trial\">Griner<\/a>, 31, is the pro basketball star who pleaded guilty to having hashish oil in her suitcase at a Moscow airport in February.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2020\/06\/15\/876966569\/american-paul-whelan-held-in-russia-on-spy-charges-is-sentenced-to-16-years\">Whelan<\/a>, 52, a former Marine who traveled to Russia for years, was arrested in 2018 and convicted on espionage charges in a secret trial.<\/p>\n<p>Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated the two Americans have been \u201cwrongfully detained and must be allowed to come home.\u201d\u00a0Blinken said he\u2019s presented a plan to Russia for the return of two Americans, though he did not mention Bout by name.<\/p>\n<p>Blinken plans to speak with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, though it\u2019s not clear when that might be. The two have not spoken since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, so this prisoner swap may be more about the two countries proving they \u2018can still do business\u2019 on some level amid the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, where the Americans are the leading arms supplier to the Ukrainians.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Either way, the uneven nature of this exchange sets a bad precedent for America.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Enter Viktor Bout<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=XvPGIcVRKco\">Viktor Bout<\/a> is a 55-year-old former Russian military officer who was the world\u2019s most notorious arms dealer.<\/p>\n<p>Bout was in his mid-20s when the Soviet Union fractured in 1991, leaving vast quantities of Soviet military weapons throughout 15-budding post-Soviet nations with little to no oversight.\u00a0As these countries largely could not afford to fund their militaries or pay their security apparatus, it made it easy for Bout to bribe officials to pilfer the myriad of Soviet-era weapons in their arsenals. <\/p>\n<p>Trained by the Soviet military as a linguist, Bout acquired Soviet military transport planes and loaded them up with weapons to sell over the world; in places like Afghanistan, Angola, Congo, Lebanon, Somalia, Yemen and more.\u00a0Bout sold weapons to governments and rebels, sometimes to both sides in the same conflict. <\/p>\n<p>He earned the nickname \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-us\/news\/world\/viktor-bout-who-is-russian-merchant-of-death-the-us-might-release-in-prisoner-swap\/ar-AA104KrQ\">The Merchant of Death<\/a>,\u201d which became the title of his biography.\u00a0Despite facing international sanctions and threats of arrest, Bout managed to stay a step ahead of law enforcement until 2008, when he was captured in a sting operation in Thailand, organized by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Thais extradited Bout to the U.S. two years later, where he was charged with conspiring to kill Americans on behalf of the FARC guerrillas in Colombia, and received a 25 year sentence in 2011.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Prisoner Swaps<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This latest proposal brings no indictment to the practice of \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/americas\/russian-prisoner-swap-brittney-griner-viktor-bout-whelan-b2133158.html\">prisoner swaps<\/a>\u201d.\u00a0During the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rferl.org\/a\/for-your-spies-only-a-brief-history-of-cold-war-prisoner-swaps\/29691372.html\">Cold War<\/a>, and in places like present-day <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/Diplomacy-and-Politics\/A-history-of-Israels-prisoner-swaps\">Israel<\/a>, prisoner swaps have been a vital tool in bringing home soldiers, intelligence assets, and political prisoners for nearly a century.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>However, they are normally subject to careful risk assessment and negotiation with legislators, the intelligence community, and law enforcement to assure that these trades are equivalent in value \u2013 and not imposing a risk on society at large.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Trading For Griner<\/p>\n<p>While many on the left argue that opposition to Griner\u2019s release is based in racism and her previous protests against the national anthem, a look into Griner\u2019s work in Russia speaks more to her character and why her trade for Bout may be a bitter pill to swallow.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Social media circulates memes that keep Griner\u2019s 2020 comments at the forefront of the argument to bring her back from Russia, when <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/sports\/2022\/07\/07\/wnba-star-anthem-protester-brittney-griner-makes-patriotic-appeal-biden-release\/\">Griner<\/a> told the sports media, \u201cI honestly feel we should not play the national anthem during our season.\u201d In that interview, Griner continued \u201cI\u2019m going to protest regardless. I\u2019m not going to be out there for the national anthem,\u201d she said. \u201cIf the league continues to want to play it, that\u2019s fine. It will be all season long, I\u2019ll not be out there. I feel like more are going to probably do the same thing. I can only speak for myself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thus, many conservative Americans feel that, if <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independentsentinel.com\/maybe-brittney-griner-understands-the-meaning-of-the-anthem-now\/\">Griner<\/a> is unhappy with her nation of birth, this nullifies her argument that our government should go out of their way to bring her home after she plead guilty to violating Russian law.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>While many readers may see this as a valid argument \u2013 what\u2019s noteworthy is the hypocrisy surrounding the fact that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stripes.com\/theaters\/europe\/2022-05-10\/wnba-stars-brittney-griner-russia-ekaterinburg-5956745.html\">Griner<\/a> worked in Russia in the first place.\u00a0 The two-time Olympic gold medalist was\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/low-wnba-salaries-brittney-griner-arrest-russia-detainment-2022-3\">headed to Russia for her second job<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey love it there,\u201d Phoenix Mercury President Vince Kozar said in an interview with Stars and Stripes magazine \u201cIt\u2019s easy in hindsight to say, \u2018That\u2019s a scary place for an American.\u2019 But that\u2019s never<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In seeking the release of two Americans convicted of crimes in Russia, U.S. officials confirmed this week they\u2019ve proposed a prisoner exchange for Viktor Bout, a notorious arms dealer nicknamed \u2018The Merchant of Death.\u2019 Why This Is A Bad Deal If current negotiations succeed, the U.S. will free a convicted arms smuggler who operated on &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1585105,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1584976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1584976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1584976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1584976\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1585105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1584976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1584976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1584976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}