WNBA star Brittney Griner, 31, lost her appeal today and now heads for a nine-year-sentence in a women’s penal colony, where she’s like to work at hard labor for her duration of her term. President Joe Biden, 79, met with Griner’s wife Cherelle, assuring her that her release is his top priority. But is that really true? Biden’s top priority is prosecuting his proxy war using Ukrainian troops to topple Putin’s government and destroy his military. No one in U.S. press, broadcast or print, wants to talk about the impediments to Griner’s prisoner swap, which, so far, Russian authorities have shown little interest. Biden, 59-year-old Secretary of State Antony Blinken and 45-year-old National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan refuse to acknowledge the elephant in the room, preventing any prisoner swap. Biden calls Griner his top priority but clear his top priority is his proxy war against the Russian Federation.
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan let his feelings known slamming the appeal’s court ruling as a “sham judicial proceeding,” saying the exact wrong thing as Brittney’s attorney work feverishly to get her sentence reduced. White House officials had consistently infuriated Russian authorities over Griner, saying she was “wrongfully detained.” When Brittney landed in the Moscow Shermemetyevo Airport Feb. 17, Russian authorities found cannabis-laced vape cartridges in her luggage. Griner never denied the presence of cannabis vape-cartridges in her luggage, only argued to a Moscow court that it was accidental, saying he never intended to break Russia’s drug laws. Brittney told the judge she had a prescription for weed from the State of Arizona, telling the judge that her vape-catridges were anything but accidental. Britney was sentenced Aug. 4 to nine years in prison.
Sullivan shooting off his mouth insulting the Russian judicial system as a “sham judicial proceeding” is no way to help Brittney get out of jail. Sullivan insists the White House “has continued to engage with Russia through every available channel and make every effort to bring home Brittney ass well as to support and advocate for other Americans detained in Russia, including fellow wrongful detainee Paul Whenlan.” Sullivan is either tone deaf or needs urgent diplomatic training, thinking that insulting Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin helps Brittney’s way of prison. Sullivan has been instrumental in destroying U.S.-Russian and U.S.-Chinese relations from the day he took office. Now he says that Griner is “wrongfully detained” and the Russian judicial system is a “sham judicial poceeding. Biden is not leveling with Cherelle or the press about Brittney’s chances of getting out.
Former U.N. Amb. and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson went o Moscow as a private citizen, part of his Richardson Center, for hostage negotiation, to help secure Brittney’s release. Richardson said he thinks Brittney has a good chance of getting out of Russian prison by year’s end. Judging by Sullivan’s statements, it’s doubtful anything serious will happen until Biden decides to end the Ukraine War. As long as Biden pays the bills for the Kiev government and funds for the war, it’s doubtful Putin will be in any mood to cut any deals, no matter how many prisoners are involved in any deal. Richardson said he thought a two-for-two deal was more likely to gain traction with Russian authorities. But Richardson has not acknowledged the extraordinary circumstances of Biden prosecuting a proxy war against the Russian Federation. Only by making peace, will Britney have a shot of getting out.
Brittney’s Moscow attorneys Blagovolina and Boykov say their client is “very nervous” about going to a penal colony to serve out her sentence. “This decision is not immediate and its usually take up [a] few months for [someone] convicted to be transferred to another location,” Blagovolin and Boykov said in a statement. Brittney’s attorneys are too close to the legal system to understand the bigger picture that Biden must end his proxy war against Putin before Brittney has any chance of a prisoner swap. Richardson mentioned nothing about the state of war between the U.S. and Russia, making a prisoner swap all the more difficult. Blinken says the U.S. made Russia “substantive” proposal, exchanging Brittney and Paul Whelan for arms trafficker Viktor Bout, serving out a 25-year-sentence in Illinois. But like all of Biden’s men, they’re not facing reality about the Ukraine War.
Biden needs to end the Ukraine War as his “top priority,” and do what’s necessary to get Brittney out of prison. Only by ending the Ukraine War, moving the conflict to the peace table, can Biden expect to open the door for an eventual prisoner swap. As long as Biden thinks he’s going to topple Putin and destroy the Russian army, Brittney will rot in Russian prison indefinitely. Calls for a peace process have been growing in Congress with Biden’s progressive wing asking him to end the war. If the House flips on the Midterm elections Nov. 8, expected House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said there will be no “blank check” for Ukraine. Lame duck Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wy.), co-chair of the Jan. 6 House Select Committee, slammed McCarthy for daring to restrict funding for Ukraine. Cheney will be long gone when the House and Senate battle over Biden’s proxy war with Russia, making Brittey’s release next to impossible.
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.
