POLL: Should the US trade Viktor Bout for Brittney Griner?

I agree with you, but I reach that conclusion reluctantly, as I'm sure you do.

 

Bout putting on a charm offensive being interviewed by a US Second Amendment hero, expressing himself on the true threats.

 

Righties: Brittney Griner and George Floyd got what they deserved. Paul Whelan is a hero.

Lefties: Brittney, George, and Paul deserve fair and proportional punishment for their transgressions.

 

Please link or copy in all the righties that said that…
Everyone I have seen has said that BG went to Russia with a banned/illegal substance and was arrested. Everyone has also said it was a political move by Russia and BG was a pawn.
Did she put herself in that spot? Yes. If she hadn’t had the illegal substances this may never have happened.

Some posters.. on both sides… exaggerate for the sole purpose of putting the other side down. You just want to WIN. Whoopy.

It was a bad TRADE. That doesn’t mean anyone wanted BG to stay in Russia or that we think it was fair to stager with. But to let the merchant of death go free in trade for an entertainer… not a good trade.

 

Disproportionate prisoner trades when a really bad person is traded for an innocent person or one who is guilty of a relatively minor offense happen. it's because Democratic governments value the lives of their citizens and willing to release truly despicable criminals in exchange of one wrongfully held. I suspect that those persons and politicians who are screaming the loudest (metaphorically) regarding the trade would feel differently if the American in Russian custody was a white straight male rather a Black lesbian. Speaking of bad trades in terms of the prisoners released, the trade of Viktor Bout who had been in custody since 2008 when he was apprehended in Thailand does not come remotely close to the exchange of Gilad Shalit, a Israeli POW who was held by Hamas and was released in exchange for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners including a number of terrorists convicted of multiple murders of innocent civilians:
Among the 1,027 prisoners released are about 280 prisoners serving life sentences for planning and perpetrating terror attacks[5] including:

• Husam Badran, now Hamas spokesman in Qatar.
• Walid Abd al-Aziz Abd al-Hadi Anajas (36 life sentences) – took part in the execution of the Café Moment bombing (2002), the Hebrew University bombing (2002) and the Rishon LeZion bombing (2002).[45]
• Nasir Sami Abd al-Razzaq Ali al-Nasser Yataima (29 life sentences) – convicted of planning the Passover massacre (2002) in which 30 civilians were killed and 140 were wounded.[45]
• Maedh Waal Taleb Abu Sharakh (19 life sentences), Majdi Muhammad Ahmed Amr (19 life sentences) and Fadi Muhammad Ibrahim al-Jaaba[45] (18 life sentences) – responsible for the attack on bus No. 37 in Haifa in 2002.

And many more at:

PolitiFact - Lie of the Year 2022: Putin’s lies to wage war and conceal horror in Ukraine

 

Remember the rules here: Quote no more than four paragraphs and provide the link to the rest.
thanks

 

For purpose of the four paragraph rule is each sentence in a list considered a separate paragraph? Also, all of the examples in the list had footnotes with links to the sources. Here's a link to the article in its entirety.
Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange - Wikipedia

 

Interesting video on Face the Nation yesterday with Fiona Hill and Chris Krebs.

 

It started on page 1 and continued through the epic meltdown of cflgator83. You seriously dont think there is strong narrative that Brittney deserved what happened to her? Or George Floyd? If you dont then I'd like to sell you some ocean front real estate in Arizona. Its a very popular sentiment on a right wing site I visit.

 

Also, more on Bout than I realized originally


First, Bout was a garden variety arms trader who was imprisoned only because he was caught in a DEA sting. Second, even the judge who sentenced him thought his sentence was excessive:

“He got a hard deal,” said [Shira] Scheindlin, the retired judge, noting the U.S. sting operatives “put words in his mouth” so he’d say he was aware Americans could die from weapons he sold in order to require a terrorism enhancement that would force a long prison sentence, if not a life term. Scheindlin gave Bout the mandatory minimum 25-year sentence but said she did so only because it was required.

Third, Bout has already served ten years in prison, which is arguably a fair sentence for what he actually did. Fourth, Russians sincerely believe that the US treated Bout inexcusably and have been demanding his release for years.


Was it right to swap Brittney Griner (innocent basketball player) for Viktor Bout (guilty arms dealer)? - Kevin Drum

 

Ambassador Hill is correct that this is part of trying to divide us by the Russians. And it seems somewhat effective

 

Just link to someone that said BG and GF deserved what they got.

 

He's been downgraded to the Peddler of Death

 

The funny thing is as the party of peace, love and inclusiveness - you guys sure do have a funny way of showing that you are trying to be inclusive of people with differing opinions.

Do you think this is a way to get people who are on the fence who ... gasp ... aren't bigots or racists and .... gasp again .... may have just formed their opinion with little information or off of information others gave them? What about those, like myself, that wouldn't trade anyone for a terrorist? If I scream loud about not trading either of them are you ok with that or am I a bigot and a racist for Brittany because shes black? Or do you know better and you know my true intentions and regardless of what I say you judge me based on predetermined factors (Im a white male so clearly Im a disgusting, white privileged (even though I never knew my father), racist/bigot)?

See, by your rhetoric and seething desire to label anyone and everyone who might have a different opinion than you, you alienate or put off anyone that would think about listening to you and take your opinion seriously. Instead, you guys have to insult and label everyone. It's honestly one of the only reasons that republicans still have a chance as a party and the reason why Donald Trump of all people were elected as president. Liberals are just so hateful and so unpleasant that nobody even wants to be apart of the group. Hell, most of the voters are voting for their wallet anyway and not to be in the democrat party.

Think of it this way, you have a party that is trying their hardest to stay in the olden days and push against gay marriage, LBGTQ rights, legalizing marijuana, helping out those in need etc etc and they STILL have a chance because the alternative is to join a bunch of people who have an unreasonably high opinion about themselves and are just truly unpleasant to be around, much less talk to for any length of time. You are just dreadful people at your very core and nobody wants to be apart of that.

 

This truly is one of the worst posts that I have read in quite a while. You start out responding to a single poster and why you have problems with his posts. That’s fair. No problem with that type of post. However, by the time you are finished foaming at the mouth, all liberals are hateful and unpleasant and are dreadful people at their core. You might want to take a good, hard look in the mirror.

 

Yes, I think you have to consider each one a paragraph because that's how it's written. I've edited your post and included the link.
I believe the rule was begun to respect the copyright of other sites, otherwise people could and would quote an entire story and not even give a link or credit.
But then it was extended to non-copyrighted material simply to make the site manageable. Imagine if someone copied and pasted the entire Mueller report, for example.
Your list had about 30 names. What if it had 50, or 100? That'd really clog the thread up.

 

Or is it because democratic governments value the political expediency of freeing someone in the here and now, and are too shortsighted and politically disconnected from the hundreds or thousands that may die later. Biden knows he will probably be out of office before weapons provided by Bout after his release are used to kill Americans (or create a situation where American troops have to risk their lives to neutralize those weapons).

Bill Clinton had a chance to take out bin Laden in Afghanistan in 1997, but he chose not to. Nothing bad happened from bin Laden for the rest of Clinton's presidency, so it was probably a good political decision. Wasn't necessarily the best decision for America in the grand scheme of things, however.

 

No doubt that Bout was Russian undercover. But there are suspicions that his arms dealing reputation may have merely served as a cover.

 

Using your logic then we should be apoplectic about the amount of weapons left in Afghanistan and how they might be be used. I’m meh on the MOD. If he’s that bad then just kill him and be done with it. Don’t have to worry about prison swaps. No need to jail him. Meanwhile back in atlanta. Paces ferry, not far from governors mansion a 77 grandma gets stabbed to death by some scumbag trying to steal her car.