OK, Ivan. Welcome to our community.
Okay, obviously this sounds far fetched, and I hate the whole “conspiracy theory” bullshit, but is it possible there’s more going on behind the scenes, and we’ve made some kind of deal with Bout, or something? Or is that just some crazy-ass crap I thought up while I was half asleep watching the news?
Well, I know of one example just off the top of my head.
I mean, yeah, I’m sure he’s said that. But he’s said lots of things.
The idea that Putin would fabricate charges against an American in order to imprison a political pawn is quite plausible to me. So as long as Putin says Whelan is a spy, and the US says he’s not, I’m going with he’s not.
Well as long as it’s not his fault and he still has respect for the laws the breaks it’s okay then.
Putin has said a lot of things. He said he wouldn’t invade Ukraine. He said he wasn’t going to call for mobilization. He said he wasn’t going to declare martial law. Seeing a pattern here?
Of course even if he was a spy, the US would say he wasn’t. That’s not a dig at the US, it’s just common sense when dealing with espionage. Still there doesn’t seem to be a lot of evidence that he was a spy and his background doesn’t seem like the sort of person who would be hired by a US intelligence service, so I’m leaning toward no.
I don’t think you need a conspiracy theory to figure this out.
From Biden’s point of view Bout had already served nearly half of his sentence which the judge who sentenced him felt was overly harsh (but was forced to give due to minimum sentencing guidelines) and that doesn’t include three years spent in a Thai prison before he was extradited. So with good behavior he might have been released in a couple of years anyway. Meanwhile Biden gets a PR boost.
Meanwhile from the Russian PR point of view, Putin shows his mercy by allowing this deviant druggie to return home with her tail between her legs . She was punished enough and has learned her lesson, and American’s will think twice before the violate their laws. Meanwhile he gets the release of one of their citizens who was unjustly imprisoned by the Americans for cutting into their arms business.
So, he respects the fact that political assassination is wrong, but it is something that he is just forced into doing.
Poor, poor Putin.
Anybody else thinking about the fact that TFG lobbied for Sweden to release (African-American rapper) A$AP Rocky, who was being held in Sweden on assault charges?
Obviously, the key difference is that Trump acted on the advice of trusted Diplomatic and National Security Advisers, Kim Kardashian and [urp] Kanye “Ye” West.
I don’t remember his supporters losing their shit over this one, but my memory isn’t what it used to be.
IOWARDI.
Thank you for welcoming me.
I would understand why it may seem plausible Putin would simply arrest a random American.
In Kremlinology it is unusual for something to be done at random and for no purpose. The United States and Russia had many business ties at the time Paul Whelan was arrested, many businessmen coming and going every day, many tourists from America coming and going everyday. If Putin wanted a “random” hostage, he could have taken one, it is odd the person arrested has a strange job history, was behaving strangely on his visit to Russia, and had a generally strange background. It would seem unlikely to me if Putin chose a random American of the thousands in Russia at any time, he happened to choose one who held a high security position with a multinational firm and who had connections with members of the FSB. Also strange even that a person with a disreputable criminal record as a low level U.S. Marine only a few years later would be a high ranking security official at a large manufacturing firm.
A random American wasn’t arrested. Brittney Griner, a minor celebrity, was arrested.
But how much longer do you consider “waited a little longer”?
Really? You don’t feel she suffered enough length of detention time, as it is? Waiting “any longer”? Nah, she easily served long enough (too long, obviously) a period of incarceration relative to her offense.
Was a convicted felon released in exchange, that time?
Did the Right wait to attack the Biden administration until the “Merchant of Death” was released in exchange for her?
Uh, no.
They were happy to see Ms. Griner rot in the Gulag from day one.
Not nearly as strange as invading a large sovereign country for no reason other than conquest (and this is only according to Putin’s words – he’s explicitly stated he thinks Ukraine is not a real country, Ukrainian not a real ethnicity or language, and that it all really should belong to Russia), and yet Putin did that. Putin is, quite clearly, not a fully rational actor these days.
I already said I don’t expect Putin to be around much longer. I expect the war against Ukraine to end in 2023 along with Putin.
I would ask the same question about other people who have been in a Russian prison longer. I’m not sure how she got bumped to the head of the list.
Don’t you think those people have suffered enough?
We’ve already explained that: By virtue of being the only person on the list.
Quite. The Russian government were perfectly willing to let their guy stay in the relative safety of US prison with no political consequence for themselves, while having the American side catch public opinion hell for there being any Americans in Russian prisons, whoever they were. They made it “this one, or nobody” and made it clear they would use abusive sentencing in order to create more of an “offer you can’t refuse” situation.
That doesn’t explain it at all. In fact, it makes it sound like the US got played.
Look, a President’s duties are so broadly defined that the best principle guiding any decision is oftentimes “what lawful and good thing is most desired by the people I represent?”
If this decision-making process brings political gains, then good. It means our President chose to serve his people by listening to what they want. This is how democracy is supposed to work.
Do you likewise feel that the US got played when Trump released convicted Russian agent Maria Butina entirely for free, with no swap whatsoever? And that she now sits in Russian parliament?