The War in Ukraine

[Jockey]

Well said. All three paragraphs, Sultan.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

Well there is quite a difference between "Russia bullied the US into making this deal" and "Russia and the US made an unequal trade." The US wasn't forced to make a trade. There wasn't some sort of overwhelming political or public support for doing this.

What I will admit to is not knowing all of the facts, so I don't really have much of an opinion either way. Unlike some people here, I don't create narratives to fit my political feelings.  What I do know is that the guy she was traded for, while undoubtedly an evil man, was in custody since 2008 and only going to be imprisoned for another decade or so. The judge in the case was so skeptical of his initial conviction that she gave him the absolute minimum sentence allowed in the case.

Is that worth it? I don't know...maybe?  Is there something else going on behind the scenes? Could be. I do think the whole hand-wringing over him being an international arms dealer and calling him the "Merchant of Death" is insanely ironic however.  I guess we only worry about guns that might kill Americans when they are trafficked by Russians and not the trade shows down the street.

Perfectly stated.  'Nuff said.

Back to Ukraine beating Russia down.

[#UnleashSean]

Strange, I thought this was about the war Russia was losing badly. Not about a prisoner exchange?

[tower912]

Start out from the perspective that Putin is the bad guy in all of this.     

Putin knows he is going to invade Ukraine.    He has also been cracking down on the rainbow community.    A couple of weeks before his invasion, as the USA has been advising their citizens to leave Russia, a 6'8 African American lesbian professional athlete and therefore somewhat famous American is leaving.    With vaping oils in her bag.     From Putin's perspective, grab her and use her as a chip to try to keep the USA on the sidelines while Russia invades Ukraine.   
 
IMO, this is all this was.   A flex by Putin to have an American celebrity in prison and generating enough hand-wringing to keep the USA out of his invasion. 

It didn't happen.    The USA supported Ukraine anyway.     Putin put her through a sham trial.    The USA kept supporting Ukraine. 
Put her in a Russian prison.     The arms kept flowing.      Putin is getting his ass kicked.

I do not think it is a coincidence that the Russia media commentators have started fretting over the last couple of weeks about what happens to all of the Putin supporters if Russia completely loses and the prisoner exchange for Griner finally happening.   

So, IMHO, this was all a flex by Putin and when the USA didn't cave, he cut a deal.   

Just another madman/bully.   Just another part of this war where he miscalculated and failed. 

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

Well, when you are so convinced that the actual bad guy is the elected leader of your own country and not the Russian dictator...

[Lennys Tap]

That’s you waking from your afternoon nap and just kinda saying whatever enters your mind.

Naps are refreshing, especially for the overworked. Sixteen hours a day on Scoop (or more when your “needy meter” is through the roof) posting the same drivel over and over again - “I’m smart, you’re (fill in the blank - old, stupid, etc.)”- can dull one’s brilliance - even a self anointed sultan’s. I’ll wager people have been telling you to “give it a rest” your entire life. Try it. Everyone (even you) will be happier for it.

[tower912]

My drivel is sanctimonious, dammit.   Don't lump me in with the riffraff drivel.



Check your inbox, Lenny.

[Pakuni]

Well, when you are so convinced that the actual bad guy is the elected leader of your own country and not the Russian dictator...

The silliness here is trying to grade this as if it were some kind of NBA deadline deal, as if that were how international prisoner swaps among hostile nations work. Maybe if the Russians had thrown in a future draft pick ...

Trevor Reed is a guy who got drunk and, maybe, had a minor scuffle with a couple of Russian cops. For him, we traded an international drug smuggler who delivered literally tons of cocaine around the world on behalf of a Columbian terrorist organization, among others. He worked for the same people Viktor Bout was charged with selling weapons to.
I don't recall much complaining about an unequal trade there. Or, for that matter, much concern about Reed's skin color, sexual identiity or profession.

[MUBurrow]

I've read that Bout is also very well connected in the oligarch community, which is by far the greatest threat to Putin's power and safety.  So it seems to me that this would help Putin build up a little goodwill with those folks.  Main point being that we are strictly viewing this as an international grade the trade, when in reality the motivations on both sides were likely mostly domestic.

[Herman Cain]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11518549/amp/Russians-mock-America-swapping-arms-dealer-Victor-Bout-Brittney-Griner.html

[tower912]

I think worrying about what the Russians think is vital.   


If the Russians are mocking it, it must be a pretty good idea.

[withoutbias]

Naps are refreshing, especially for the overworked. Sixteen hours a day on Scoop (or more when your “needy meter” is through the roof) posting the same drivel over and over again - “I’m smart, you’re (fill in the blank - old, stupid, etc.)”- can dull one’s brilliance - even a self anointed sultan’s. I’ll wager people have been telling you to “give it a rest” your entire life. Try it. Everyone (even you) will be happier for it.

Ah yes.  The guy with 11K+ posts making fun of someone else for how much time they spend on MUScoop.  Lol.

How much more time do you spend on Grindr than you do on Scoop?

[TSmith34, Inc.]

Tucker hearts Lenny.

https://www.mediaite.com/tv/tucker-carlson-claims-biden-sought-brittney-griners-release-over-paul-whelan-because-shes-a-black-lesbian/

You have your sequence reversed. Lenny's been on a roll with repeating Tuckems greatest hits lately.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

Ah yes.  The guy with 11K+ posts making fun of someone else for how much time they spend on MUScoop.  Lol.

How much more time do you spend on Grindr than you do on Scoop?

Diminishing sultan's 24/7 presence to "own" Lenny is an interesting take. 

[withoutbias]

Diminishing sultan's 24/7 presence to "own" Lenny is an interesting take.

Just always find it amusing when someone on a message board posts to make fun of someone for...well, being on a message board.  A little ironic, no?  Maybe not.

[rocket surgeon]

Ah yes.  The guy with 11K+ posts making fun of someone else for how much time they spend on MUScoop.  Lol.

How much more time do you spend on Grindr than you do on Scoop?

  he's retired sparky  big difference  his time or company time

[withoutbias]

  he's retired sparky  big difference  his time or company time

Oh.  Okay then!  So the guy with 11K posts making fun of the guy with 8K posts is okay, then!

Did Sultan's HR department get any emails from the Meat Eaters of Scoop?  Where is the Crash man anyway?  He's been MIA since he got outed as someone who runs to the HR department anytime someone says something he doesn't like!  Talk about cowards...

[real chili 83]

In before the lock

[rocket surgeon]

Oh.  Okay then!  So the guy with 11K posts making fun of the guy with 8K posts is okay, then!

Did Sultan's HR department get any emails from the Meat Eaters of Scoop?  Where is the Crash man anyway?  He's been MIA since he got outed as someone who runs to the HR department anytime someone says something he doesn't like!  Talk about cowards...

   answers to your stupid cover your a** comments/questions-

    just surrender, lenny owned him with logic not disinformation

    NO

   don't know

   if you say so

   why

   

[jesmu84]

  nice try, but i missed the part about desantis taking over texas from abbott...nyet though eyn'a?

You should try to find more details on the Desantis/Martha's vineyard stuff

[withoutbias]

   answers to your stupid cover your a** comments/questions-

    just surrender, lenny owned him with logic not disinformation

    NO

   don't know

   if you say so

   why

 

Hmm.  So the meateaters claim that they don't believe Crash would do such a thing as email HR departments trying to dox Scoop posters, yet the meateaters know which posters' HR departments were contacted?  Interesting...

[ZiggysFryBoy]

Hmm.  So the meateaters claim that they don't believe Crash would do such a thing as email HR departments trying to dox Scoop posters, yet the meateaters know which posters' HR departments were contacted?  Interesting...

Are you sultan's 1 friend in the world?  That's so cute.

[JWags85]

My only issue with the jokes about Bout vs American gun culture is the NRA infatuated gun lover isn't stockpiling and delivering anti aircraft missiles that get launched at Israeli airliners or other rocket launchers to murder minded separatist groups.  Ironically, the same weapons that can easily be used to attack any "the US citizen needs high caliber weapons to defend themselves against the government" argument for AR-15s and the like.

I was actually EXTREMELY disappointed by the prisoner exchange video, it cut off before we could see what brand/color tracksuit the Kremlin sent for Bout to change into.

[Galway Eagle]

Are you sultan's 1 friend in the world?  That's so cute.

To be fair he has a point. A large contingent decided to go "here no evil see no evil speak no evil" when that happened and that same contingent to this day will say things like "are you sultan's 1 friend in the world" rather than acknowledging just how much of an ass hole move that was.

[Galway Eagle]

My only issue with the jokes about Bout vs American gun culture is the NRA infatuated gun lover isn't stockpiling and delivering anti aircraft missiles that get launched at Israeli airliners or other rocket launchers to murder minded separatist groups.  Ironically, the same weapons that can easily be used to attack any "the US citizen needs high caliber weapons to defend themselves against the government" argument for AR-15s and the like.

I was actually EXTREMELY disappointed by the prisoner exchange video, it cut off before we could see what brand/color tracksuit the Kremlin sent for Bout to change into.

So we can compare him to ATF running guns to Mexican cartels that include anti aircraft and heavy artillery?