Preston Xanthopoulos: I'm conflicted over prisoner swap with Russia

The Biden Administration has offered to release a murderous, international arms dealer, Victor Bout, in exchange for WNBA star Brittney Griner and U.S. Marine veteran Paul Whelan, currently being held in Russian prisons.

While I like the concept made famous in the epic movie “Air Force One” in 1997, that the United States doesn’t negotiate with terrorists (even though they did in the film), I'm not opposed to this proposed prisoner swap. I’m kind of conflicted. I know if I were a family member of either Russian-held prisoner, I would advocate for this. However, it raises some concerns.

Does this kind of exchange incentivize bad countries to target Americans abroad? Is the release of a man internationally known as “The Merchant of Death” worth the release of a woman who has admitted to a drug crime and a man with a court-martial conviction on multiple counts of larceny and a “bad conduct discharge” from the Marines, with a puzzling (at best) story of his activities in Russia?

Yes, I know we aren’t supposed to mentioned such unmentionables. Things such as, Griner brought cannabis oil into a country where it is illegal and carries a 10-year sentence; that while I am pretty much anti-everything-Russia-does, they are allowed to have their own laws and visitors must follow those laws while there; that while Whelan, convicted in Russia of spying, was decidedly not a spy as even CIA officers have said the CIA would never recruit someone with his military/criminal background, he was doing some unexplained stuff in Russia (look it up, we aren’t seeing that reality in the current news coverage). That all being said, I’m a fan of bringing Americans home from adversarial countries, like Russia. I just wish the true narratives were actually being discussed. What concerns me most, however, is, if Paul Whelan is worthy of being traded for a guy convicted of “attempting to assassinate Americans, conspiring to supply anti-aircraft weapons, and assisting a terrorist group,” why wasn’t he worthy of it until a famous athlete was arrested in Russia, again, for admittedly committing a crime?

That not only sends a dangerous message to other countries, it sends a bad message to Americans being wrongfully held in unfriendly countries around the globe. While the U.S. government doesn’t share information on how many Americans are detained overseas, the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation states on its website, “CURRENT NUMBER OF PUBLICLY DISCLOSED HOSTAGE AND WRONGFUL DETENTION CASES: 67." The foundation is named for New Hampshire’s own James Foley, a journalist abducted and subsequently murdered by his captors in Syria in 2014. According to the Foundation, those 67 U.S. citizens are being wrongfully detained in 18 countries. So, why are we only doing a very public prisoner swap when a famous athlete is on the other end of the trade?

The WNBA has done an excellent job with a PR campaign to pressure the Biden Administration to make this happen. Whelan is a secondary beneficiary of their efforts to get Griner released. I mean, the U.S. can’t exactly say, “Hey Russia, here’s a guy responsible for the deaths of literally thousands of people, now give us our basketball player back.” That’s why the “Marine veteran” portrait has to be added to the mix.

The WNBA has also done a good job sharing the narrative of why this proves their players need to make more money. Griner was in Russia because in the off-season of the WNBA, she plays basketball in Russia to make extra money. We’ve heard how unfair it is that Griner and her fellow female basketball players don’t make enough; how male basketball players make millions and don’t have to work in the off-season; how this wouldn’t have happened if Griner were paid enough in the first place so she didn’t have to work in Russia. To be clear, her salary of $227,000 isn’t exactly chump change.

Now, there are calls to ensure the players in the WNBA are paid more commensurate with the pay of NBA players. That’s just silly. It’s even sillier than the woman’s U.S. Soccer Team asking for equal pay to the men’s team. (I’ll save my spiel on that, I’ve written about it before.) Let’s just look at viewership. The average viewership of a WNBA game is 403,000 viewers. The NBA? 15.4 million people tune in, on average, per game.  That’s not even in the ballpark…er, basketball court. Viewership translates to ad dollars, merchandise sales, sponsorships and a whole lot of other ways that make money for the team and the players. If the WNBA wants its players to make the kind of money, get those kinds of viewing numbers and you can have those equal revenues. I’m not watching. I don’t watch basketball, men or women, it gives me whiplash.

So, if this prisoner swap is agreed to by Russia, sure, go for it. Bring the two Americans home. But, now it’s time to tell the story of the other 65 being held around the globe and realize, the United States of America just told the hostage holders, we’ll trade up—make sure you’ve got someone famous if you want us to release one of your bad guys back to you.

Alicia Preston Xanthopoulos is a former political consultant and member of the media. She’s a native of Hampton Beach where she lives with her family and three poodles. Write to her at PrestonPerspective@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Preston Xanthopoulos: I'm conflicted over prisoner swap with Russia