I don't want to get into the obvious political aspects of all of this because people get too heated up about it especially when you start talking about a particular politician who either supports or is opposed to anything that happens related to government. I do find it really strange that a government would get so involved in getting a sports' star released from an overseas jail and go as far as to trade a prisoner that many people say is one of the most dangerous people that has ever walked that planet and is indirectly responsible for the deaths of thousands of people.
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I will admit that I don't really know very much about either one of these people because I, like almost everyone else, do not watch the WNBA and all I know about "MOD" is what was presented on-screen in the excellent Nicolas Cage movie Lord of War. The funny thing is that in the film Viktor is kind of portrayed as being a nice guy rather than the ruthless person that he apparently really is. Or is he? I have no idea and nobody is ever going to tell us the truth about that.
The one thing that does make me upset about this entire thing is that when Griner gets back here she will be used as some sort of political talking head and probably get a book deal and be featured on a ton of TV shows where she will be paraded around as a hero.
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I don't think that it is at all ethical or fair for someone to get put in jail for 10 years for come weed vape pens but I also find it especially stupid that someone like her would even attempt to get these sorts of things past customs. She claims that she forgot they were in there but I don't believe that for a second and it is exactly what I would say if I was caught with something like that. What is more likely is that she thought that her status as a basketball "celebrity" would get her out of it and she was probably pretty stunned to find out that not only was her celebrity not going to help her, it was likely going to make things a lot worse for her.
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I'd bet that Viktor is really pleased about this deal since it is pretty likely he never would have seen freedom again if this sort of situation had arisen. I don't even know the pretenses that he was being held under but the US has a bit of reputation for just holding political enemies for very long periods of time.
Now let's get to the humor. There are a lot of funny things that are being said about this trade deal and one of them caught my eye the most. I believe it is from Twitter but I don't have any idea really. All I know is that I think it is legitimate and even if it isn't, it is both funny and true at the same time.
I have my own person reservations about why it is that Griner was traded and it has a lot to do with identity politics and so that people in power can claim to have done the right thing. The fact of the matter is that this story is famous, a lot more famous that Griner would have been without it. Prior to that I don't think very many people could have named a single WNBA player.... Now I don't think that very many people can name 2.
I guess I don't really care and I try to distance myself from politics as much as possible. This just seems like a bad deal though. I think Viktor is probably worth more than just one WNBA player on weed possession charges. There might be other things going on behind the scenes for diplomatic relations and I certainly hope that is the case.
I wonder how long it will take before Griner starts cashing in on this. My bet would be that she - and her agent - strikes while the iron is hot to make as much money as possible before everyone goes back to forgetting who the hell she actually is.