Opinion: On Brittney Griner
This article is an op-ed published as part of The Voice’s “Controversial Issue” 2023. Please see the Editor’s Note on this year’s edition.
The Biden administration committed yet another foreign policy blunder, coming off the backs of such hits as withdrawing from Afghanistan, a disaster at the Mexican border, allowing for China to threaten our ally in Taiwan, and failure to address China in terms of the Uyghurs Muslim internment camps. It’s safe to say that Biden has been less than fantastic in terms of foreign policy, but at least there aren’t any major wars that began under his watch and threaten both the U.S. and our allies. Instead of saving an actual American hero who fought for his country and was arrested unjustly, he decided to save Brittany Griner, who had publicly advocated against playing the national anthem before sporting events and was arrested in Russia for a crime committed. The problem with the Brittney Griner situation relies less on Griner herself and more on the fact that Joe Biden gave in to exactly what Putin and Russia wanted him to do, while also leaving Americans in the same situation behind. At the end of the day, we have to cut Biden some slack; it isn’t the first time he’s left Americans behind in a hostile country.
It’s important to also address the elephant in the room, that being, the Merchant of Death. Or as his actual name is, Viktor Bout. If we are giving up a basketball player who was in prison for bringing in a small amount of drugs, it is reasonable to believe that we should give up someone comparable. The Merchant of Death is exactly what his name sounds like; a person responsible for the death and destruction of thousands of lives and the destruction of entire governments. A James Bond level villain with access to more weapons than most entire countries. He was aiding both sides of the Angola Civil War and as reported by BBC, “Media reports in the Middle East claimed he was a gun-runner for al-Qaeda and the Taliban.” Not only this, he has built connections around the world, according to the Center for Public Integrity, “(His connections) range from former U.S. military personnel and Russian officials to African heads of state and organized crime figures.” Using an old Soviet fleet of planes, he was able to distribute these weapons around the world. In 2008, he was arrested and set up by U.S. and Thailand operations where, according to NBC Northern California, “Prosecutors said he was ready to sell up to $20 million in weapons, including surface-to-air missiles to shoot down U.S. helicopters.” In 2011 he was sentenced on conspiracy to kill American citizens, delivery of anti-aircraft missiles, and aiding a terrorist organization, and was sentenced for 25 years. It took the U.S. four and a half years to even capture Bout and bring him to justice for the reference he had made of selling weapons that were used to kill American helicopter pilots in Columbia. It took Joe Biden a matter of weeks to undo this all. Fun fact, Nicholas Cage starred in a movie loosely based on Viktor Bout called Lord of War, so it’s pretty safe to say the world got a lot less safe the day he was released.
Brittney Griner was used as a political pawn by Russia and Putin and Russia absolutely played the U.S. for all that we were worth, and Joe Biden let them get away with it. I understand the logic of Joe Biden; his first year and a half in office has been mediocre at best and at worst, an economy at the brink of recession, a stock market putting up some of the worst numbers in a decade, the crisis at the southern border being the worst it has ever been, instability in the Middle East, and Russia causing panic in Europe. Biden felt the need to do something right and bring an American citizen home and in doing so has not only threatened American citizens outside the country and citizens around the world, he has empowered America’s enemies to be even bolder. What does Russia take away from this whole affair? They now know that not only will they not be punished for detaining an American citizen on questionable charges, they will be rewarded for doing so.
Paul Whelan, an American citizen who has been detained in Russia since 2018, has been left with the shortest end of the stick. Whelan, a former Marine, went to Russia for a wedding while the countries were still on relatively stable terms and was arrested on charges that he was an American spy. Whelan still remains in Russia as well as another American citizen, Marc Fogel, who was arrested for bringing in legally prescribed medical cannabis into Russia. To show how much of an effort the U.S. government has made to bring Fogel home, they haven’t even designated his arrest as a wrongful detainment and the 61 year old was sentenced to 14 years in a labor camp.
It doesn’t take a genius to decide that this trade was by no means fair. While no one ever argued that Biden was a genius, looking back at this event in the decades to come, people will wonder why the U.S. unleashed a killing machine on the world at a time where Russia is at its most dangerous and Bout is the most deadly. As it was best put by Derek Maltz, head of the DEA Special Operations Division who oversaw the undercover investigation of Bout told Politico, “The Merchant of Death is back in action, with more hatred against America and with greater motivation to fuel conflicts and support Russia in its outrageous and disastrous war with Ukraine.” Let’s just hope now that Joe Biden doesn’t leave the other American citizens in Russia the same way he left those classified documents in the back of his garage.
