Prisoner Exchange with Russia was Hardly a Diplomatic Triumph
Although it might turn out that the deal is a part of some larger, yet undisclosed, arrangement, in and of itself, the prisoner exchange didn’t shake up the geo-political dynamics.
The timing of the recent multi-nation prisoner exchange couldn’t be better for the electoral prospects of Vice President Kamala Harris. The fact that Americans, in particular Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former US Marine Paul Whelan, were languishing in Russian prisons on espionage charges reflected negatively on the current administration, of which Harris is ostensibly a key part.
The swap involved 24 detainees in total — Russian, American, and German citizens. In addition to the Westerners, the NATO allies secured the release of several Russian opposition leaders, including the human rights champion Vladimir Kara-Murza and the associates of the anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny, who perished in the gulag in February this year.
The Biden-Harris Administration and their backers spun the exchange as a triumph of multilateral diplomacy. In their narrative, the Republican nominee, Donald Trump, was incapable of securing their freedom even though, except Whelan, all prisoners were arrested after he had already left office.
When the president and the vice president came out to greet the newly released on the tarmac, they took a few questions from the press — a rare treat from the duo. The outgoing POTUS gave credit to the German chancellor Olaf Scholz for facilitating the deal, and Kamala explained, in her signature unburdened style, the diplomacy thing:
This is just an extraordinary testament to the importance of having a president who understands the power of diplomacy and understands the strength that rests in understanding the significance of diplomacy.
Although it might turn out that the deal is a part of some larger, yet undisclosed, arrangement, in and of itself, the prisoner exchange didn’t shake up the geo-political dynamics. Right now, these dynamics are not looking favorable to the United States. When the Biden Administration dispatched Harris to Europe in 2022 on the eve of the full-scale Russo-Ukrainian war, she failed to prevent it. And today, hot conflicts are raging in Europe and the Middle East, and another front may open in the Pacific; under Trump, we had four years of no new wars and the historic Abraham Accords.
A possibility of a larger understanding aside, under Biden-Harris, the United States seems to retreat everywhere. On August 5, for instance, an American base in Iraq was attacked, and we evacuated two bases in Niger, turning them over to local authorities. The Western African country expanded its military ties with Russia following last year’s coup d’etat.
What Russia got out of the transaction is easy to see. They effectively pushed into exile a handful of long-marginalized opposition figures. For the price of two individuals they claimed were collecting intelligence, Putin received experienced clandestine operatives like, for instance, Vadim Krasikov, who shot the former Chechen commando Zelimkhan Khangoshvili in Berlin’s Kleiner Tiergarten in broad daylight. Or the alleged FSB agent Vadim Konoshchenok, who was facing charges of money laundering and was suspected of passing classified information to Russia. A lopsided trade of this kind can motivate Russia to simply grab more dissidents — or Western journalists and tourists — when their own agents get caught red-handed.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the transaction was originally intended to include Navalny, but he died in the Arctic Wolf colony before any agreement could be reached, and that apparently brought negotiations to a halt. However, if the Biden Administration had anything to do with the freeing of the Americans, then the exchange timing to coincide with the launch of the Harris campaign should invite questions. Could the opposition leader be saved if not for the Biden-Harris Administration politicking?
Navalny’s fate—and that of the freed bunch—stands in sharp contrast to that of WNBA player Brittany Griner. Griner embraces the entire DEI agenda, but her trademark grudge is being paid less than NBA stars. She signed a contract in Russia, but when she arrived in February 2022, the athlete was detained for violating the country’s drug laws—she carried a small amount of cannabis for vaping.
Griner was sentenced in August 2022 and transferred to a penal colony in November. But she was released the following month in exchange for Viktor Bout, the convicted arms smuggler who armed terrorist groups and plotted to kill Americans. Griner didn’t kiss the ground when she landed in the U.S.
A valuable asset to Russian intelligence operations, Bout received a hero’s greeting back home. At the time, Russian media ridiculed America for agreeing to the deal that left behind the hero Marine Whelan. They had a point.
Stateside, too, we wondered why those in power valued Griner so. It’s hard not to notice that, as a woke black celebrity, she’s exactly the kind of person Barack and Michelle Obama adore. Lucky her — she didn’t have to wait to be bundled with white human rights defenders.
And as for the human rights defenders, while I’m very happy that we got them out, I can’t say I’m relieved. Russian operatives can still get them, like they got Khangoshvili or like they got the former Russian FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006 with Polonium-210. The list of murders, suspected and attempted murders, by Russian agents is long.
And since we are on the subject of American prisoners abroad, it’s worth remembering that eight Americans — five of them believed to be still alive — are held hostage by Gazans. Not only has the Biden-Harris Administration failed to activate its famed diplomacy magic to free them, but the Vice President skipped the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent address to Congress.
It stands to reason that the lives of some Americans are more valuable than others and that their value is determined by their ethnic and religious background. This shouldn’t surprise anyone at all—so many aspects of our lives, from kindergarten admissions to medication rationing, are already governed by the DEI calculus. Such is life in the 21st-century US of A.
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Comments
stop misgendering brittany grimes
I don’t know if our upcoming elections had anything to do with the timing of the prisoner exchange. But I’m quite certain that if Trump were in office the Democrats and media would all be shouting “Aha! Putin did this to help out his buddy Trump!”
When Dementia Joe tried to get on the Russian aircraft after the photo op that was our best chance to be rid of that old fool.
But, much as we disagree with the Russian government on a host of issues, I wouldn’t wish Joe Biden on my worst enemy.
I would not have worried. The Russians are serious people. They wouldn’t have made Joe dog catcher of a small town in Siberia. They would probably have put him into a retirement home on a collectivist farm where he’d be nearer to his kind – other vegetables.
Jeff Bezos would have acted more decisively. He would have issue an immediate refund and let both parties keep their prisoners.
Which has absolutely NOTHING to do with American or Western interests. Nothing.
thanks for mentioning this ,,which I read days back and knew the msm wouldnt really want to touch this:
A possibility of a larger understanding aside, under Biden-Harris, the United States seems to retreat everywhere. On August 5, for instance, an American base in Iraq was attacked, and we evacuated two bases in Niger, turning them over to local authorities. The Western African country expanded its military ties with Russia following last year’s coup d’etat.