Is trading Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan for some jailed arms dealer a good deal?

Not a good idea at all for a number of reasons. The REAL way to deal with it would be to ask to see what Russia has in the way of evidence on both cases. To work with Russia to come to some resolution other than trading criminals for criminals. There are a number of good reasons for working with Russia and for them to work with us.

But in the end, Americans that travel overseas need to understand the nations to which they are traveling, know their laws and abide by them as best they can…not try to push their own beliefs and feelings onto that nation or to put themselves in a situation where things could be used against them.

Not the best deal but not the worst either – And definitely not the first time the US and Russia have bargained to exchange prisioners. From 1962 to April 2022 at least 52 jailed Americans have been swapped for about 60 Russians held by the US :
https://www.rferl.org/a/for-your-spies-only-a-brief-history-of-cold-war-prisoner-swaps/29691372.html

It goes on all the time, because espionage and competition between world powers never stops. Besides the prisioner exchanges reported publicly there have likely been dozens of others carried out in secret.

With that in mind the timing of Griner’s arrest was interesting. She was detained on Feb.17, seven days before Putin invaded Ukraine but 23 days after US State Department issued a “do not travel” advisory to Americans visiting Russia. She was under contract to play off season for Russian team UMMC Ekaterinburg.

I’m not in favor of prisoner exchanges, generally, and never in public. It endangers all Americans abroad and undermines the soft power we haven’t squandered yet. Trading a prolific international criminal for a low level, possibly wannabe spy and a celebrity idiot does not feel worth it.

I feel bad for Griner on some level, but travelling, let alone trafficking in Russia when she did, was an irresponsibly fucking stupid privileged thing to do. Now her celebrity status is about to spring her, no matter the consequences for the rest us? Fuck that.