Brittney Griner may be released, but at a price that has some people worried
President Biden has finally offered a trade to Russia for the return of out WNBA star Brittney Griner and ex-marine Paul Whelan, but the offer is a tough one for some to swallow.Griner has been detained in Russia for five months just for having cannabis oil vape cartridges in her luggage — an innocent enough mistake, yet one that found her trapped in a notoriously anti-queer foreign country for months on end.Related: Megan Rapinoe gives powerful speech calling for Brittney Griner’s return homePresident Biden’s offer stipulates that if Griner and Whelan are returned safely, the U.S.
will hand over a prisoner of its own: a man named Viktor Bout.Bout was a prolific Russia arms dealer sentenced in 2011 to 25 years in prison for a myriad of horrible crimes that earned him the moniker the “Merchant of Death”.
Naturally, many people are hesitant to see someone like him offered back to a country many regard as an enemy to the United States.However, one person who isn’t disturbed in the least by this trade is Douglas Farah — one of the two authors of the 2007 book Merchant of Death, the most popular text examining the life and crimes of Bout.In an op-ed for Politico, Farah explained his reasoning for supporting the trade:“Bout is a spent force who will be out of jail in a few years anyway,” Farah writes. “His business depended on personal relationships and trust among the parties.
After being out of the business for more than a decade, Bout has neither of those left in the shadowy world in which he once operated.“Second, Bout needed access to a global network stretching from Afghanistan to Europe, Africa and South America.
