Saturday, December 10, 2022

The Biden Admin's WNBA-Level Negotiation Performance

The only WNBA trade to raise anyone's interest, is that of Anti-American druggy Brittney Griner for Russian Arms Dealer Extraordinaire Viktor Bout.

American Paul Whelan (falsely accused and convicted of Espionage) was not part of the deal and is still left behind in Russia. Interestingly according to NBC apparent Russia offered one or the other and then NBC edited that this offer had occurred.

Apparently the Biden Administration asked nicely for Whelan to be released, Russia said "No", and Biden apparently said "Ok then".

Biden said: “Sadly, for totally illegitimate reasons, Russia is treating Paul’s case differently than Brittney’s. And while we have not yet succeeded in securing Paul’s release, we are not giving up. We will never give up ”
"We will never give up" he says, while giving up by trading away the best leverage the US had in the deal by not insisting Whelan be included for Bout as Bout clearly has a higher value than Griner, and indeed more than Griner and Whelan combined.

As a result, there was a  trade of a high-value infamous international arms dealer with blood on his hands and a tool of Russian foreign policy for an avowed anti-American, intersectional, progressive, drug-using, and mediocre ball player to win domestic popularity points.

Biden's negotiators clearly missed out on their negotiation 101 skills and were playing checkers as the Russians played chess or just wanted a quick success for domestic consumption while losing their main chance at freeing Whelan.

So, any one know if there are other Russian criminal masterminds with ties to the Russian regime in American jails at the moment?

2 comments:

Old NFO said...

No, but there is one in a German prison that Putin wants back...

Aaron said...

Yep and there's another American in jail in Russia on marijuana charges that the Biden Admin apparently doesn't give the slightest care about as he doesn't fit the intersectional lottery being a white male: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/12/10/marc-fogel-russia-brittney-griner-00073363