After pleading guilty to cannabis possession in a Russia court July 7, supporters of 31-year-old WNBA star Britney Griner met in Chicago to rally support for the government to get her out of jail. Grinner’s been incarcerated since Feb. 17, after custom’s agents at Moscow’s Sheremeteyevo Airport foud hash vape-cartridges in her bags . Griner told the judge that she “inadvertently” threw them in her luggage. Unlike the U.S. where cannabis has become legalized for recreational or medical use in most states, possession in certain countries comes with strict penalties. WNBA Players Assn. Presidetn Nneka Ogwumike said Griner was true “American hero.” With 67-year-old civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton at her side, Ogwumike spoke highly of Griner. Calling Griner “an American hero,” Ogwumike continued. “She is ours and she is yours, and we must get her home.”
Griner’s wife Cherelle also spoke at the Chicago rally, saying she had spoken with 79-year-old President Joe Biden. “So I want to make it very clear that our next move as supporters for BG is to make sure that the administration understands that they have our full support in doing any and everything necessary to be able to bring BG home as well as every other wrongfully detained American,” said Cherelle. Cherelle doesn’t begin to understand all the obstacles Biden has created in bringing someone home from the Russian Federation. As Sharpton and Cherelle spoke, 59-year-old Secretary of State Antony Blinken was holding a tete-a-tete with 72-year-old Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at a G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia. Instead of opening up an honest dialogue, Blinken lambasted 69-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin for starting the Ukraine War.
Blinken knew that a top White House priority was working on a prisoner swap to get Griner out of a Russian jail. But instead of finding common ground, Blinken antagonized Lavrov to the point he bolted out of the meeting. So, if Blinken had a strategy for help get Britney out of jail, he certainly didn’t do or say the right things to make it happen. When it comes to Biden, he unilaterally decided to start a proxy war against the Russian Federation using Ukrainian troops. Biden’s been supplying Kiev with unlimited lethal weapons and cash to battle the Russian Federation. Biden said March 26 in Warsaw, Poland that he didn’t think Putin should remain in power. When his 69-year-old Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said April 26 in Ramstein, Germany, that the aim of the U.S. mission in Ukraine was to degrade the Russian military, the Ukraine War got a lot more intense for the Kremlin.
Getting Britney Griner out of jail on a routine prisoner swap is no longer possible because of Biden’s Ukraine War plans. When you admit to working to take down the Russian military, the Kremlin won’t be to interested in making concessions. “I’m grateful and I’m thankful that the administration that was the first one that GG ever voted for, took the time to see her as a person, to see her in the midst of what she’s going through and to speak to me directly and let her know that they are exhausting all efforts to bring her home. When Blinken faces Lavrov, the communication should be amicable enough to entertain bilateral issues such as getting Griner out of jail. But when Blinken used the G20 to denounce the Russian Federation for the Ukraine War, it didn’t bode well for getting Griner out of jail. So, Cherelle praises the White House without knowing how the Secretary of State made things worse.
When Sharpton spoke at Friday’s rally, he mentioned nothing about Biden’s abysmal relations with the Russian Federation. It doesn’t get much worse that admitting you’re in a proxy war to take down the Kremlin. All the pep talks about seeing Britney come home won’t mean a thing unless the White House can park the vitriol at the door and deal with practical issues. Russia has no use for Griner other that what kind of concessions the U.S. would make to get her out. If Biden and Blinken want to really help Britney come home, they needs to sing a different tune in Ukraine. Putin’s isn’t inclined to make any concessions or enter any deal with the U.S. when Biden has committed the U.S. military to getting rid of Putin. It doesn’t help Britney that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) met with Zelensky today to discuss their bill to brand Russia a terrorist state.
Heaping praise at rallies to get Britney home means nothing if Biden and Blinken show so much hostility to Putin and the Russian Federation. It doesn’t compromise Biden’s principles to show some restraint in order to deal with a special international problem. Britney deserves more from than the White House than to slam Putin for his war in Ukraine. It doesn’t get Britney out of jail when Graham and Blumenthal want to satisfy Zelensky and humiliate Putin one more time. Graham and Blumenthal’s trip to Ukraine couldn’t antagonize Putin more, branding the Russian Federation a state sponsor of terrorism like Iran or North Korea. Blinken’s State Department only insults U.S. adversaries, makes no attempt to understand the other side. If the White House really wants to get Britney Griner and other detainees out of Russian jails they need to bite their tongues and show some diplomacy.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
