Good deal or bad deal?
Too much noise and not enough data.
Good deal because we got an American back.
Bad deal because it could incentivize Pooter to take more hostages. Hopefully it incentivizes FBI and other NATO security agencies to come down hard and Russian agents and other Russian arms dealers.
I'll admit, I personally would not have accepted the deal as done. I would have demanded Paul Whelan, Sarah Krivanek and Marc Fogel in addition to Griner, but would have accepted just two. But I would not have settled on a one for one trade. Especially when I have an arms dealer. That's like trading a Nolan Ryan card for a Dontrelle Willis card. The only single person I would have accepted in trade was Snowden, now Russian Citizen and Real American Hero Snowden. So I could throw him a parade and a party.
I know some people are getting bent out of shape because of the idea that Griner was put at the front of the list for trade because she was black and lesbian. I don't know if that's true. It's disturbing if it is, but I don't think that Paul Whelan is a poster boy for being put at the front of the line just because he's white and was an ex-marine and court martialed and dishonorably discharged for attempted theft. I know that excites Trumpists, since they love criminals.
I think the only reason this was done at all was for Pooter to show another diplomatic victory that he can wave around to his buddies. "See, I out-witted the Yankees again".
Personally I don't care how good Pooter thinks he can make himself look as long as Uncle Joe drops 24 x F-16s in Ukraine's stocking, with another 100 M1 tanks under their tree. Can lose out on all the prisoner exchanges in the world as long as we win the GD war, and win it quickly, and devastatingly.
