Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian Swartz
Is it remotely worth setting someone like this free prematurely? No. It's incredible to me that it's even a matter for discussion. I think it's obvious what the reaction would be if Trump did this. The reaction should be the same for Biden doing it.
It goes beyond just Bout of course. The precedent that you get a prisoner of that stature for incarcerating a well-known American is 100% intolerable IMO.
The US has lots of guilt in many areas. This isn't a nationalistic/patriotic approach in my mindset. It's a 'you just don't do this kind of thing. Ever. You don't think about it.' Any reaction other than laughing loudly and slamming the proverbial phone down as hard as you can is unacceptable.
I hope Bout doesn't resume something similar to his former activities, and is content to grow old gracefully or whatever. And even if he does, yes there are many other arms dealers out there and one more or less isn't going to make an appreciable difference. To my mind that's completely beside the point. There has to be some semblance of equality in these kinds of trades, and even then they are highly questionable.
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I missed this last night. This is a worthy discussion to have. Going beyond Britney Griner, Paul Whelan and even Trevor Reed, should the US be exchanging famous or even non famous citizens who have been "unjustly detained" in hostile nations for foreign citizens we have in our jails that said those hostile nations like Russia, North Korea, China etc. want back home. For all the talk of whether it should have been Whelan or whether it should be Griner, it is clear that Bout is the one who was going to be exchanged. Would it have been better "trade value to exchange Bout for the director of global security and investigations for an international automotive parts manufacturer based in Michigan?