Free Brittney

This is good news. Full stop.

Brittney Griner, the WNBA star who was held for months in Russian prisons on drug charges, was released Thursday in a one-for-one prisoner swap for international arms dealer Viktor Bout, bringing an end to an ordeal that sparked intensive high-level negotiations between the U.S. and the Kremlin to secure her freedom.

"She's safe. She's on a plane," President Biden said at the White House, announcing the exchange. "She's on her way home. After months of being unjustly detained in Russia, held under intolerable circumstances, Brittney will soon be back in the arms of her loved ones and she should have been there all along. This is a day we've worked toward for a long time. We never stopped pushing for her release."

Like with most things in America these days, this saga became hyper politicized. There were progs blaming the inequity of salary in professional sports, essentially saying the money gap forced Griner to play in a country like Russia. Had WNBA players been paid on a similar scale to NBA athletes, she wouldn't have been in Russia in the first place. You then had some political righties who were completely unsympathetic to Griner's plight because she occasionally spoke ill of the USA, even deciding not to stand for the National Anthem when it was played prior to WNBA games. 

Another high profile detainment of an American in Russia has not received nearly the publicity as Greiner's imprisonment. Thankfully that has changed once the 1-for-1 swap was announced. 

Notably, the Griner-for-Bout exchange leaves retired U.S. Marine Paul Whelan imprisoned in Russia. Whelan has been in Russian custody for nearly four years. He was convicted on espionage charges that the U.S. has called false.

"We've not forgotten about Paul Whelan," Mr. Biden said Thursday, adding "we will never give up" on securing his release. U.S. officials told reporters that it became clear in talks with the Russians that the prospect of securing the release of both Griner and Whelan in exchange for Bout was a nonstarter, with one saying the U.S. had was "a choice between bringing home one particular American — Brittney Griner — or bringing home none."

Whelan told CNN in a phone call Thursday that he was happy Griner was free, but said he was "greatly disappointed that more has not been done to secure my release, especially as the four-year anniversary of my arrest is coming up."

There's been chatter in previous years that Russia was willing to swap Whelan for Bout but the U.S. declined due to their assessment of Bout being a terrorist. So why did we acquiesce to this exchange? 

Andrew Brandt, who primarily writes about football, had a very insightful take. 

Negotiations are all about leverage.
Obviously this is simplistic, but Russia had the leverage of an American public clamoring for Griner's release. Any requests/demands to include more than her in exchange for Bout were met with resistance, knowing the importance of Griner.

— Andrew Brandt (@AndrewBrandt) December 8, 2022

I definitely believe there is something to this. If you've paid even a small bit of attention to the Biden administration in its nearly two years in the White House, they give off a vibe that they craft policy based in no small part on what progs are spewing on Twitter. 

While we can express outrage that this seems like an unfair "trade," we should not direct our ire toward Griner herself. I can't imagine the anguish and fear that she and her family have endured this year, so I'm over-the-moon ecstatic for their joyous reunion. That said, the bumbling Biden administration should be called out continually until Paul Whelan has been reunited with his loved ones.

----------------------------------------------