U.S. embassy officials in Moscow visited 31-year-old WNBA star Brittney Griner in a Moscow holding tank today before she’s sent to a Russian prison colony to serve out her nine-year sentence for drug possession Feb. 17. Griner was convicted July 17 and sentenced Aug. 4 to nine years in a Russian penal colony. President Joe Biden, 79, claimed that getting Griner out of Russian jail was his top priority but he’s made little progress in bringing that about. Biden continues to prosecute a brutal proxy war using Ukrainian troops against 70-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin. Biden made the war personal March 26 telling a Warsaw, Poland audience that Putin must be removed as Russian president. Once Biden made that commitment publicly, the war changed for the Kremlin, knowing the U.S. president waged proxy war against the Russian Federation with the intent of removing Putin from power.
No matter how much the White House walked back Biden’s gaffes, 69-year-old Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin proved Biden was serious, telling an audience in Ramstein Germany April 26 that the aim of the U.S. war in Ukraine was to degrade the Russian military to the point it could no longer wage war. If that’s no a declaration of war against the Russian Federation, then what is? So when it comes to getting Brittney Griner out of Russian custody, it’s certainly not Biden’s top priority. If it were high on the priority list, Biden would be working feverishly to end the Ukraine War. Giving Kiev unlimited cash and lethal weapons proves that Biden continues to drive Putin from power. Why Bdien thinks Putin would negotiate with him to get Griner out of prison is anyone’s guess? Putin has made it clear that there will be no deal with Griner until Biden ends the proxy War in Ukraine.
U.S. press has made more excuses for Biden on the economy and certainly on his reckless foreign policy. Biden can’t possibly think while he’s at war against the Russian Federation, Putin would cut a deal for Brttney Griner’s release. White House officials led by 59-yearold Secretary of State Anton Blinken, 45-year-old National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Pentagon spokesmen Ned Price and John Kirby constantly say that Brittney Griner is “wrongfully detained,” when she admitted in open court that she possessed cannabis-laced vape-cartidges while entering Russia’s Sheremetyevo airport. Why White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierres continues to say Brittney was “wrongfully detained is anyone’s guess? Antagonizing Russian authorities certainly doesn’t help Brittney’s prospects for a prisoner swap. By far the biggest obstacle to getting Brittney out is the Ukraine War.
No one in the Democrat-friendly press has mentioned anything about the Ukraine War preventing Brittney from getting out prison. White House officials pretend that they can engage Russia in a prisoner swap while they’re simultaneously trying to topple the Russian government. White House officials know that Brittney’s appeal was rejected Oct. 25, leaving no way to get her out other than an mutually beneficial prisoner swap. But with Biden going full-bore ahead trying to topple the Russian Federation, Brittney has no chance of getting out. Even 75-year-old former U.N. Amb. and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson won’t admit that the Ukraine War makes a prisoner swap impossible. Richardson said recently that the White House refused to cooperate with his efforts to help get Brittney out of prison. Biden must make ending the Ukraine War his top priority if he want to get Brittney back home.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said after Brittney was visited by Moscow embassy officials that they “saw firsthand her tenacity and perseverance despite her present circumstances.” Brittney has no choice but to suck it up because the Biden White House has other priorities to getting her out. If they wanted to make progress on a prisoner swap, they need to end the Ukraine War, moving it from the battlefield to the peace table. Ukraine’s 44-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky is too busy retaliating against Putin to understand the risks to the European Continent to continuing the war. Only Biden can direct the Ukraine War to the peace table, even over Zelensky’s objections. Zelensky has lost 25% of Ukraine’s sovereign territory to the Kremlin and wants to keep waging war until he gets his territory back. No one knows how long that would take.
White House officials have to rethink the Ukraine War strategy if they have any real plan of getting Brittney out of prison. Putin will not engage in prisoner swap until Biden stops giving Ukraine unlimited cash-and-lethal-weapons. Biden’s failed attempts to get Griner out have hurt the Democrat Party heading into the Nov. 8 Midterm elections. Democrats hoped they could focus voters on Roe v. Wade or right wing extremist groups, driving more voters to the Democrat Party. But all indications point to a Republican takeover of the House and the Senate on Nov. 8. Voters know that Biden’s foreign policy drove the worst inflation in 40 years, causing economic hardship to millions on hard-working Americans. When voters go to the gas pumps, they’re punished daily, something voters will do to Democrats on Election Day. Griner’s in limbo until Biden ends the Ukraine War.
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.
