BREAKING: US has traded Russian arms dealer, Viktor Bout (Merchant of Death) for Brittney Griner

[ugabug]

Holy crap this is pathetic lol

For all the people we could've got we choose this irrelevant third rate semi-celebrity

Who, specifically, should we have gotten instead?

What about Marc Fogel? He's been there for a longer period of time than Griner and got arrested for essentially the same thing as Griner but hasn't received anywhere near the same amount of media coverage has Griner has.

[ugabug]

Do Russians actually watch women's basketball or is it money laundering of some sort?

This being Russia money laundering seems to be the most likely answer.

[ugabug]

I truly cannot wrap my head around all the “For a basketball player???” posts in this thread. We traded Bout for a basketball player because that’s who Russia was holding hostage. We didn’t get to choose which Americans Russia decided to imprison.

But there are other Americans who've been imprisoned in Russia since before she was arrested but the media never seemed to pick up any of their stories like they did with hers.

I can't help but fear that the only reason the Biden administration made bringing her back such a priority that they were willing to trade Bout for her is because the media has been following her story closely since her arrest back in February and the only reason the media has been following her story so closely is because she happens to be d-list celebrity.