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

Just can't wrap my head around how a person forgets they have an illegal substance in their bag when entering a country who you know is going to string you up for any infraction at all. Just totally mind boggling. I wouldn't step foot in Russia without weed. I'd be afraid to be picked up and sentenced to life for jaywalking.

 

Hell no…..

 

I’d be wary of mouthwash….

 

Same mistake Britney made

 

How do you know that she and many other foreign players haven't done this many times without a problem? How do we know there wasn't a plant of this stuff by the Russian authorities?

 

After today's draconian 9 year sentence, I changed my vote to "yes". That's simply not fair to her.

 

Didn’t she say she rushed to pack and forgot about it?

 

Took her word for it?

 

The problem with that is if it was a plant and she denied it, she might have gotten 20 years. The Russians are notorious for planting drugs on people and then arresting them.

 

she was found guilty for leverage, if found innocent no swap, plain and simple.

 

Wasn't it a vape cartridge? I could see how someone sticks one of those in their toiletry bag and then forgets about it. I don't think it was a bag of weed out in the open.

That's a separate issue from whether they should have (knowing the circumstances) double and triple checked before boarding the plane. Probably something she's done hundreds of times and didn't think twice about it.

 

Griner was found to have had vape cartridges with hashish oil which is a cannabis derivative. Cannabis is illegal in Russia and anyone who travels or works overseas and primarily in Eastern European countries know to strictly obey their laws especially when it comes to drug possession. Griner has been playing overseas for several years but got reckless and simply should have known better.

And this is nothing new. Going back 20-25 years, I can still remember seeing public service ads on network TV warning that if US citizens got busted for drugs in foreign countries, you “could be in for the hassle of your life.”

 

remember " midnight express "?

 

No trade.

Do the time.

 

This is not 20 or 25 years ago. Since then, cannabis has been legalized extensively in the U.S. and throughout the world. BG had less than a gram of cannabis oil. Are you sure it was "hashish" oil (a derivative of cannabis, but considered a more concentrated form)? Either way, less than a gram is next to nothing. Americans far and wide legally possess many grams of cannabis oil at a time. While there are a handful of states that legalize it for recreational use, there are many more that have legalized it for medical purposes.

She should not have attempted to transport it. That was beyond dumb, but I believe it was an honest mistake. Given the global unfettering of marijuana laws, nine years is absurd. The entire episode, including the sentence, is a matter of puppetry and will be resolved through mutual puppetry.

 

The real reason she was likely grabbed. Putin will demand that both this money launderer and the gun smuggler be freed. Can't believe I didn't connect the dots when I read about the US winning the extradition case.

Russian accused of money laundering and running $4B bitcoin exchange extradited to US - CNNPolitics

A Russian national accused of running a multibillion-dollar cryptocurrency exchange that allegedly profited from various hacking and extortion schemes has been extradited from Greece and is on his way to the US, according to the suspect's lawyer.

Alexander Vinnik, who is in his early 40s, is accused of operating a cryptocurrency exchange known as BTC-e that allegedly did business with ransomware gangs, drug dealers and identity thieves, according to the Justice Department. He faces charges in the US Northern District Court of California of money laundering and operating an unlicensed money service business in the US, among other charges.

Vinnik's extradition is a significant win for US law enforcement officials, who had been in a high-stakes extradition fight with Russia to gain custody of Vinnik.

Frédéric Bélot, Vinnik's lawyer in France, told CNN Thursday afternoon that his client was on a plane from Athens, Greece, to the US, where he is expected to make an initial court appearance in the US Northern District of California.

 

See, I’m not for making the trade on offer, but I am willing to do this: after warning every remaining U.S. citizen to leave Russia and Belarus and giving them fair time to do so, the FBI arrests every Russian citizen in the U.S. on charges of espionage, and the President suspends habeas corpus (with Congressional approval, of course) for espionage suspects for the duration of any Russian occupation of Ukraine. Then I’ll discuss a “trade.”

 

Bet you dollars to donuts Biden trades her for the merchant of death.

Wait for it, it's coming.

Despicable and unacceptable asymmetrical trade. Shame.

 

Does not seem a fair trade.

 

After they all plead guilty and are sentenced for espionage