(09-29-2023, 01:36 PM)mikesez Wrote:

(09-29-2023, 12:52 PM)homebiscuit Wrote: Funder of death and destruction? I remember espionage charges but not that. However, the person we gave them in exchange is a proven funder and provider of death and destruction. Perhaps you're getting those two confused? 

Regardless, everyone knew what Putin wanted, and that was the release of Viktor Bout. Putin also knew Biden's handlers were more concerned with the release of Griner than Whelan because springing a white guy instead of a black lesbian would have detrimental effects on his approval number (not that it helped, as we know now). 

So, in review, not only do you feign ignorance of Putin's wishes, but abet his goals by your very act of dissemblance. Why do you want to support Putin? And even more importantly, why do you support the release of proven purveyor of death and destruction so he can implement more carnage?

There is so much more that Putin wants besides Viktor Bout.  Half of Russia's reserves of foreign currencies are frozen.  Your confidence in your own understanding counts for nothing when your understanding is wrong.

Correct. There is so much more Putin wants, but in the case of this exchange, he wanted Bout on the cheap and knew he could leverage Biden’s ideological allegiances to get it - and he did. 

He didn’t have to give up a valuable political hostage who had been imprisoned for much longer than Griner, he only had to surrender a cheap social icon. 

Biden and America - 0

Putin and Mikesez - 1

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