Reporting in detail about the latest developments in WNBA star Brittney Griner’s expected release from a Russian penal colony, the New York Times said nothing about the fact that 79-year-oldk President Joe Biden is in a life-and-death proxy war against the Russian Federation. Never before has any U.S. president decided to go to war against the Kremlin, justifying his actions to help Ukraine regain its sovereignty and territorial integrity. But going to war against 70-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin, Biden has made Griner’s attempted prisoner swap next to impossible. Griner said as much recently to her attorney in prison. “She has not been in as good condition as I could sometimes find her,” said Alexander D. Boykov said in a recent interview. Griner has grown pessimistic about the prospects of the U.S. government negotiating to get he out of prison.
Why hasn’t the New York Times mentioned anything about Biden’s proxy war against the Kremlin of creating a permanent roadblock into to negotiating Brittney’s release? New York Times is busy doing everything it can to support Democrats in winning the 2020 Midterm elections, not concerned whether Griner ever gets out of jail. “She is not yet absolutely convinced that America will be to take her home,” Boykov said. “She is very worried about what the prices of that will be, and she is afraid that she will have to serve the whole sentence here in Russia,” Boykov said, admitting that he met with her Oct. 11. Why the New York Times mentions nothing about Biden’s bloody proxy war against the Russian Federation is anyone’s guess. White House officials, including 59-year-old Secretary of State Antony Blinken, don’t want to admit that the proxy war keeps Griner in jail.
Anyone following Brittney’s detention from Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport Feb. 17 knows that Russian authorities found cannabis-laced vape-cartridges in her luggage. Griner told her Moscow judge that she took the vape-cartridges accidentally, admitting that she has a medical prescription for weed to manage pain from her basketball career. Brittney was convicted July 7 in a Moscow court for illegal drug possession. Then sentenced Aug. 4 to nine years, with an appeal set to be heard Oct. 25. Griner and her attorney have no real hope she’ll win her appeal, with prospects of staying in a Moscow penal colony growing daily. “She suffers a lot without her family because she hasn’t seen them for so long and it’s difficult to talk to them in any way,” Boykov said. Griner’s wife Cherelle met with 79-year-old President Joe Biden Sept. 16, but there was no new news.
Cherelle admitted she cried for days after talking with Brittney the last time. “It was the most disturbing phone call I’d ever experienced,” she told CBS News Gail King. With all the talk about what the U.S. does to get Griner out, the fact remains that Biden is in a brutal proxy war against the Russian Federation. Any change of plans, to move the war from the battlefield to the peace table would have a profound effect on Griner’s prospects of getting out the prison. Yet the New York Times mentions nothing about what could be done to help Brittney get out. Biden acts like his hands are tied when it comes to the Ukraine War. All he has to do is work with the U.N. on ceasefire and peace talks, stop sending Ukraine’s 44-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky unlimited cash-and-weapons. Zelensky knows that the U.S. Treasury cannot fund his government and the war indefinitely.
Every time the U.S. government says that Brittney Griner was “wrongfully detained,” Putin and other Kremlin officials get irked. “No. 1 on my list of priorities around the world is doing everything we can to bring home any American, anywhere, who’s being wrongfully or unjustly detained,” said Blinken, making sure that Girner stays in prison indefinitely. Biden, Blinken and 45-uyear-old National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan have penchant for antagonizing world leaders. Saying Griner was “wrongfully detained” infuriates Russian officials, making you wonder whether they want to keep her in prison indefinitely? Former U.S. U.N. Amb. and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said he’s talked with Moscow officials who said they’re ready to talk about Griner. Richardson thinks Griner will be out by year’s end but he has no specifics only personal experience and speculation.
Griner’s prospects of a prisoner swap getting her out of jail are slim-and-none unless Biden moves the Ukraine War from the battlefield to the peace table. Putin has no incentive to cut any deal with Biden unless he gives up his bid to destroy the Russian military or get rid of his government. New York Times mentions nothing about how Biden’s proxy war against the Russian Federation makes getting Griner out next to impossible. White House officials say every available channel has been used to get Griner out of jail. But what White House officials refuse to admit is that the proxy war prevents any kind of deal for Griner’s release. When Richardson says he sees Griner out by year’s end, it’s pure speculation, knowing the Biden continues his proxy war against he Kremlin. Griners’s appeal has zero chance of succeeding, leaving it up to Biden to pivot on the Ukraine War to get her out.
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.
