Russia may use WNBA star Griner as high profile "hostage" UPD prisoner swap

[Mike Jones]

Why? She’s home and safe with her family. That’s what’s important.

They're two of the only reasons why many online are so insistent she stay in a labour camp and suffer for a petty crime.

 

[herzausstein]

Its a good thing russia isnt in the middle of an armed conflict with another nation and could use a gun runner to move arms to loyalist within said nation or even help rebuild russias weapons stockpiles..... this is a person with some expertise putin could really use right now. Its great to have her back but if this arms dealer gets involved in moving arms again especially given current affairs in ukraine alot of innocent people are going to pay a price. Hopefully we have a way to keep an eye on him and put a halt to anything

 

[Voight]

From where? They already have open agreements with China, India, and Iran, so not like he'd do anything there. And there are already loads of sanctions on Russia by the EU/NATO, making Bout persona non-grata and Russia a no sales zone for Western arms industries, and those guys are in Western jurisdictions and don't want to lose extremely lucrative arms deals with NATO.

Bout's a propagandistic has-been for Putin.

Bout spent most of his career dodging arms embargos and sanctions. He's pretty good at working around the rules.

I stand by my post. I think race and sexual orientation are a huge part of this story and needs to be confronted and discussed.

Has more to do with the US losing the trade and her getting preferential treatment due to her fame. If you were in the exact same situation, you'd still be in a Russian prison. Whelan has to stay in prison because he isn't as famous and only had his family advocating for his release.

 

[No Fun Shogun]

Bout spent most of his career dodging arms embargos and sanctions. He's pretty good at working around the rules.

Any sanctions he dealt with previously were a meandering creek compared to the ocean of EU/NATO sanctions on Russia and Russian individuals involved in the Kremlin and their arms industries.

Bout's not going to be able to ride around like a cowboy around those.

 

[Fatass]

They're two of the only reasons why many online are so insistent she stay in a labour camp and suffer for a petty crime.

I haven’t read that in these posts. I’ve read some are against her being exchanged for a really bad guy. She’s home. And that’s the good thing. Her family must be very relieved.

 

[Voight]

Any sanctions he dealt with previously were a meandering creek compared to the ocean of EU/NATO sanctions on Russia and Russian individuals involved in the Kremlin and their arms industries.

Bout's not going to be able to ride around like a cowboy around those.

I wouldn't go that far. He certainly has the means and expertise too.

 

[joelef]

Why? She’s home and safe with her family. That’s what’s important.

And what the soldiers that die buy weapons victor bout sold to our enemies?

 

[TimeZone]

They're two of the only reasons why many online are so insistent she stay in a labour camp and suffer for a petty crime.

Do you have any evidence to back up this claim?

 

[DuklaNation]

Clearly she was used as a pawn in political chess game. Who won in this trade? I'd suggest the US lost in that they couldn't get more like Whelan included. Terrible negotiations, but who's really surprised by that? On the arms dealer?

This clip isn't far from the truth.

 

[Mike C]

Its a good thing russia isnt in the middle of an armed conflict with another nation and could use a gun runner to move arms to loyalist within said nation or even help rebuild russias weapons stockpiles..... this is a person with some expertise putin could really use right now. Its great to have her back but if this arms dealer gets involved in moving arms again especially given current affairs in ukraine alot of innocent people are going to pay a price. Hopefully we have a way to keep an eye on him and put a halt to anything

It's not great to have her back. She didn't have the decency to stand for the National Anthem before games. She's a petulant spoiled entitled snob

No standy for anthem = plenty of whining to bring her home to the land she disrespects.

 

[Bear of Bad News]

Let's keep this to Business aspects and stay away from political commentary (if you can).

 

[Bear of Bad News]

I'm saying the above as a site admin, by the way (specifically noting this for the person who has responded twice since I made that post).

 

[Bear of Bad News]

Since my general warning, three different posters have decided that it wasn't meant to be taken seriously.

We can revisit this discussion if/when relevant business aspects manifest. Until then, if you want to talk politics, we recommend Twitter.