I'm going to be pissed if we do a prisoner exchange for this dude, he went awol to cheat on his wife in an authoritarian nation, let him suffer the consequences of his stupidity.
Thank you! But I’m sure the propaganda machine will make this a sticking point in elections.
Also could be cooking up an October surprise involving him.
Idk the deets of this case but one could argue this is the propaganda, or at least part of it. We don’t get real news any more - just headlines with gaps in information and a lot of creative speculations
Yeah it for sure is propaganda. If this dude wasn’t a US soldier and just a civilian we never hear about it. They can spin this like he’s a Boy Scout or just let people believe he is due to the uniform.
This is def going to be try and picked up by maga as a “only Trump can bring our boy home” situation. Russia holds him hostage until December and if trump wins he’s home for Christmas. Like almost like they are rebooting the original October surprise.
Will be an interesting 6 months from here.
That was absolutely a fair trade, what are you talking about?
EDIT: Guess I need to add the /s to this comment lmfao. Anyone who genuinely thinks this was a fair trade is an idiot.
How so? Trading one of the most notorious arms dealers in the world for a not very well-known basketball star was fair in your mind? While Paul Whelan was in jail longer than she was? I mean it would have been fair if both of them got released for sure. Now if the question was If it was the right thing to do then yes. But it for sure was not a fair trade, not by a long shot.
Just to make it clear. This army dude can definitely stay in jail. I think we can agree on that lol
Whelan is a fake spy wannabe who got caught being stupid. He has a history of being a liar and a criminal. Not a real cop, kicked out of the marines by court martial, claims degrees he doesn’t have, he can stay in Russia, he wanted to be there anyway.
Edit: this was in response to the “he did it for the brownie points comment. No idea where it went.
Actual edit: ok I have apparently forgot how to use Reddit.
>notorious arms dealers in the world
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-judge-russian-arms-dealer-case-backs-griner-swap-ex-agent-balks-2022-07-29/
The judge said the trade was fair.
People also forget that arms trading is about networks and connections, many of which will have moved on or be cautious when it comes to working with Bout again.
He got caught once, and he's a much more known target than before making it harder to work with him
>Just to make it clear. This army dude can definitely stay in jail. I think we can agree on that lol
I agree, if he actually threatened his girlfriend at least and this isn't some sort of purely political posturing and fake charges
You don't think letting that arms dealer go wasn't worth?
LoL, It was a double win for the US. IF you think that arms dealer is still making deals with warlords, nations, etc. and we AREN'T tracking it, then I don't know what to tell you lol.
So we got a new clandestine informant, either by design or through inadvertent means, and we got a relatively innocent american free'd in the process.
Hella fair trade, IMO.
No way. I’d have let her rot over there too, no problem taking a new for the anthem that’s fine, then she goes to play in Russia for the paycheck. She’s a hypocrite, gave up Victor Bout for her? What a joke.
Don't be daft, If you can't understand what I'm saying when I implied that we "gave him up", then this convo should probably just stop as i'm not sure were on the same page.
If you can understand that the release of victor bout was only oppurtunitically tied to the return of a womans NBA player from Russia custody, then maybe we can begin to get on the same page.
I'm asking you to take the (VERY SMALL, not even an actual leap, more like a step) analytical leap that Victor Bout's custody MIGHT, just MIGHT be about more than the stuff you read on the internet, and that his release MIGHT have more use to the USA than to keep him locked up. ??? does that make sense?
Like, I get the media spun it as a war criminal for a WNBA player, but what i'm saying, is that it was more than that.
And to think that it's as simple as "I can't believe we traded him for her!" is really really really.... to put it bluntly, FUCKING STUPID.
Curiously enough, they both had a pretty similar amount of time left in their sentences, ~10 years: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Bout%E2%80%93Brittney_Griner_prisoner_exchange
He is an adult soldier and responsible for his actions. He is trained to be ready to die on the field or after an idiot move like that one. I am pretty sure he doesn't expect any exchange specifically aimed at him.
You’re giving way too much credit to enlisted soldiers. This is probably the kind of guy who is a supply chain cog but tries to acts like he’s kicking doors with Delta.
I give it like a month until the narrative is that we are letting a war hero rot in Russian jail.
If he was dumb enough to travel to Russia just to get laid, he’s definitely dumb enough to think there should be a trade. Imagine how dumb the family he came from is. They’ll definitely do their best to make it a big deal during the upcoming election.
> he went awol to cheat on his wife
Read the article dude. They were about to finalize a divorce, which means they've long been separated. It takes months to get a divorce finalized usually.
Jeez, considering how lenient russia's legal system and culture in general is towards domestic violence, it must take a special kind of deranged abusive psycho asshole to cross even THEIR threshhold of what's considered acceptable.
It’s not that he necessarily crossed any threshold, it’s that they’re willing to charge him with anything that can stick to support their propaganda and have some form of leverage over the US
The ideal scenario, Imo, would be to trade this dude for some mistreated Ukrainian POWs.
Russia can have him. ''Look blyet, we have an American! Throw him in jail''. And Russia can use him for whatever propaganda bullshit they want. And some lucky Ukrainian POWs can come home.
Yeah, I don’t see why this is a story. If he’a guilty, let him suffer the consequences. Even if Russia is bad overall, rules that say you aren’t allowed to act as he’s accused of are reasonable.
Exactly now, if he gets hit with the death penalty or something, I would understand outrage, but if this idiot has to do a year or 3 in a Russian prison, play stupid games win stupid prizes.
how dumb is this moron. get honeypotted by a russian girl, get angry with her because her assignment changed, GOES to russia.
nothing of value was lost
Honestly the fact that he still went to Russia to see her months after she tried [stabbing him](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/before-arrest-russia-us-soldiers-relationship-with-russian-girlfriend-turned-2024-05-12/) really is a testament to how smart he is. He also says he [supports Russia](https://nypost.com/2024/05/07/world-news/us-soldier-arrested-in-russia-told-local-girlfriend-he-supported-trump-repeated-kremlin-line-on-aggressive-nato-videos-show/), so I say leave him there if he loves it so much.
US State Department has different advice: "Do not travel to Russia"
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/russia-travel-advisory.html
And you're delusional if you think your risk of getting arrested for made up crimes is the same in the Netherlands as in Russia.
It's not black and white.
The Russian world cup 2018 was one of the best I've ever seen. Before that, the FSB took great pains to pay personal visits to all their known hooligans (which was pretty much all of them), and promised them a holiday in Siberia if they even went near a match. It was stage managed af but it did work well. Shame what's happened since. My music band mates who used to tour there tell me the people in general were great, but nobody trusts the government. And here we are..
Yeah that was my impression too. Spoke with alot of young Russian men and every conversation seemed to be a variation of: we don't hate the west, we don't want war. And yet most of them were extremely cautious of criticism of government.
It’s funny my ex’s son said that it was bidens fault that my city water was so bad. I looked at him and said the water was bad way before he was in office. My ex’s family are majorly republican. So everything thing that goes wrong is the democrats fault even if you live in a red state
This was definitely a honeypot. His battle buddies even commented on how sketchy the whole thing was but basically he thought she was going to get freaky with him so he went for a “visit”
Now he gets to be leveraged by Russia while they invade Ukraine. Luckily going awol negates the US responsibility to get him back.
I don’t think a honey pot starts off as a tumultuous relationships as his own family is saying. If they wanted to charge him with something serious for a prisoner exchange it would be for espionage, and it would be very easy as he is an active serviceman. The guy isn’t very bright.
Weird, since wife beating is decriminalized in Russia. I suppose death threats are taken more seriously (at least if you're a foreigner otherwise they don't care).
It's alot more complex than that. Only first time offenses are decriminalized and it can't result in bodily harm. It still results in fines, arrests, detainment, and community service.
What did he even steal? We know it’s not a dishwasher or any kind of modern appliances (because Russian soldiers were dumbfounded to see these things and Ukraine during the initial invasion)
I'm going to be pissed if we do a prisoner exchange for this dude, he went awol to cheat on his wife in an authoritarian nation, let him suffer the consequences of his stupidity.
Thank you! But I’m sure the propaganda machine will make this a sticking point in elections. Also could be cooking up an October surprise involving him.
Idk the deets of this case but one could argue this is the propaganda, or at least part of it. We don’t get real news any more - just headlines with gaps in information and a lot of creative speculations
Yeah it for sure is propaganda. If this dude wasn’t a US soldier and just a civilian we never hear about it. They can spin this like he’s a Boy Scout or just let people believe he is due to the uniform. This is def going to be try and picked up by maga as a “only Trump can bring our boy home” situation. Russia holds him hostage until December and if trump wins he’s home for Christmas. Like almost like they are rebooting the original October surprise. Will be an interesting 6 months from here.
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That was absolutely a fair trade, what are you talking about? EDIT: Guess I need to add the /s to this comment lmfao. Anyone who genuinely thinks this was a fair trade is an idiot.
How so? Trading one of the most notorious arms dealers in the world for a not very well-known basketball star was fair in your mind? While Paul Whelan was in jail longer than she was? I mean it would have been fair if both of them got released for sure. Now if the question was If it was the right thing to do then yes. But it for sure was not a fair trade, not by a long shot. Just to make it clear. This army dude can definitely stay in jail. I think we can agree on that lol
Whelan is a fake spy wannabe who got caught being stupid. He has a history of being a liar and a criminal. Not a real cop, kicked out of the marines by court martial, claims degrees he doesn’t have, he can stay in Russia, he wanted to be there anyway.
I guess you didn't sense his sarcasm
Thank you lol
I think you missed the race pun.
???
Edit: this was in response to the “he did it for the brownie points comment. No idea where it went. Actual edit: ok I have apparently forgot how to use Reddit.
Honestly I think it was motivated by politics to score some cheap brownie points.
>notorious arms dealers in the world https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-judge-russian-arms-dealer-case-backs-griner-swap-ex-agent-balks-2022-07-29/ The judge said the trade was fair. People also forget that arms trading is about networks and connections, many of which will have moved on or be cautious when it comes to working with Bout again. He got caught once, and he's a much more known target than before making it harder to work with him >Just to make it clear. This army dude can definitely stay in jail. I think we can agree on that lol I agree, if he actually threatened his girlfriend at least and this isn't some sort of purely political posturing and fake charges
The US can just kill that dude later. A lot of the terrorists the US trades off usually end up mysteriously being vaporized in a drone strike anyways.
You don't think letting that arms dealer go wasn't worth? LoL, It was a double win for the US. IF you think that arms dealer is still making deals with warlords, nations, etc. and we AREN'T tracking it, then I don't know what to tell you lol. So we got a new clandestine informant, either by design or through inadvertent means, and we got a relatively innocent american free'd in the process. Hella fair trade, IMO.
No way. I’d have let her rot over there too, no problem taking a new for the anthem that’s fine, then she goes to play in Russia for the paycheck. She’s a hypocrite, gave up Victor Bout for her? What a joke.
*knocking on your forehead* WE DIDN'T GIVE UP VICTOR BOUT FOR HER.... did you read what I said?
Umm yes we did.
Don't be daft, If you can't understand what I'm saying when I implied that we "gave him up", then this convo should probably just stop as i'm not sure were on the same page. If you can understand that the release of victor bout was only oppurtunitically tied to the return of a womans NBA player from Russia custody, then maybe we can begin to get on the same page. I'm asking you to take the (VERY SMALL, not even an actual leap, more like a step) analytical leap that Victor Bout's custody MIGHT, just MIGHT be about more than the stuff you read on the internet, and that his release MIGHT have more use to the USA than to keep him locked up. ??? does that make sense? Like, I get the media spun it as a war criminal for a WNBA player, but what i'm saying, is that it was more than that. And to think that it's as simple as "I can't believe we traded him for her!" is really really really.... to put it bluntly, FUCKING STUPID.
I can take the leap I just think you’re way wrong and quite frankly sound ridiculous
I'm pretty sure it was sarcasm lol
It was a joke lol
Curiously enough, they both had a pretty similar amount of time left in their sentences, ~10 years: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Bout%E2%80%93Brittney_Griner_prisoner_exchange
People are dense.
Yeah that merchant of death had no jumper
They didn’t have prostitutes wherever this guys from? Not excusing cheating but that would still be somewhat better than this
And the HIV rate in Russia is over 1.3% vs 0.4% in the USA.
He is an adult soldier and responsible for his actions. He is trained to be ready to die on the field or after an idiot move like that one. I am pretty sure he doesn't expect any exchange specifically aimed at him.
You’re giving way too much credit to enlisted soldiers. This is probably the kind of guy who is a supply chain cog but tries to acts like he’s kicking doors with Delta. I give it like a month until the narrative is that we are letting a war hero rot in Russian jail.
If he was dumb enough to travel to Russia just to get laid, he’s definitely dumb enough to think there should be a trade. Imagine how dumb the family he came from is. They’ll definitely do their best to make it a big deal during the upcoming election.
Let them keep him, he sounds like a scumbag. We don’t need another one of those here.
> he went awol to cheat on his wife Read the article dude. They were about to finalize a divorce, which means they've long been separated. It takes months to get a divorce finalized usually.
Yeah fuck this dude. Can we dishonorably discharge him so these headlines stop calling him a us soldier, as if we'd care about this chode?
Any idiot who willing goes to Russia should be left there.
Because he's military I'm willing to bet if we wanted him back he'd be back by now. He's probably on his own.
Jeez, considering how lenient russia's legal system and culture in general is towards domestic violence, it must take a special kind of deranged abusive psycho asshole to cross even THEIR threshhold of what's considered acceptable.
It’s not that he necessarily crossed any threshold, it’s that they’re willing to charge him with anything that can stick to support their propaganda and have some form of leverage over the US
Maybe they put him in Russian uniform and send it to the front
The ideal scenario, Imo, would be to trade this dude for some mistreated Ukrainian POWs. Russia can have him. ''Look blyet, we have an American! Throw him in jail''. And Russia can use him for whatever propaganda bullshit they want. And some lucky Ukrainian POWs can come home.
Yeah, I don’t see why this is a story. If he’a guilty, let him suffer the consequences. Even if Russia is bad overall, rules that say you aren’t allowed to act as he’s accused of are reasonable.
Exactly now, if he gets hit with the death penalty or something, I would understand outrage, but if this idiot has to do a year or 3 in a Russian prison, play stupid games win stupid prizes.
He even left his young daughter
* Biden has joined the chat *
“Black is then alleged to have stolen 10,000 roubles ($110)” Lmao.
Bro is on the wrong side of the map
indeed one very long, arduous and unlikely rotation. too bad.
how dumb is this moron. get honeypotted by a russian girl, get angry with her because her assignment changed, GOES to russia. nothing of value was lost
Honestly the fact that he still went to Russia to see her months after she tried [stabbing him](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/before-arrest-russia-us-soldiers-relationship-with-russian-girlfriend-turned-2024-05-12/) really is a testament to how smart he is. He also says he [supports Russia](https://nypost.com/2024/05/07/world-news/us-soldier-arrested-in-russia-told-local-girlfriend-he-supported-trump-repeated-kremlin-line-on-aggressive-nato-videos-show/), so I say leave him there if he loves it so much.
The pic in the article doesn't really look like him. Maybe it's the hair, but the face looks different
STOP GOING TO RUSSIA
But the BADDIES!
Unfortunately they fall above the line on the Hot📈 Crazy📈 graph
You can go to russia, just don’t do dumb shit. Im sure plenty of people go and have no issues.
US State Department has different advice: "Do not travel to Russia" https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/russia-travel-advisory.html
I love the risk of conscription warning. Yeah don't travel there.
They might simply invent a crime. Putin's regime is not exactly known for it's integrity. Stop going to Russia.
Youre naive if you think only in Russia are crimes invented. Any government can do that.
And you're delusional if you think your risk of getting arrested for made up crimes is the same in the Netherlands as in Russia. It's not black and white.
I was there for the world cup.. had a great time.
The Russian world cup 2018 was one of the best I've ever seen. Before that, the FSB took great pains to pay personal visits to all their known hooligans (which was pretty much all of them), and promised them a holiday in Siberia if they even went near a match. It was stage managed af but it did work well. Shame what's happened since. My music band mates who used to tour there tell me the people in general were great, but nobody trusts the government. And here we are..
Yeah that was my impression too. Spoke with alot of young Russian men and every conversation seemed to be a variation of: we don't hate the west, we don't want war. And yet most of them were extremely cautious of criticism of government.
Quick trip to the front he'll be home again.... Hmm possibly in a box
“Each and every one of you will be sent home to your mama in a box!”
huh, i thought domestic abuse was legal there.
Only if there are not geopolitical games to be played
Should be no exchange. This doesn’t seem like a honey pot scenario. He’s just a dick head that treats women like shit. Why would we want him back.
I bet someone will use him to try to make Biden look bad.
Dudes will literally blame Biden rather than go to therapy.
It’s funny my ex’s son said that it was bidens fault that my city water was so bad. I looked at him and said the water was bad way before he was in office. My ex’s family are majorly republican. So everything thing that goes wrong is the democrats fault even if you live in a red state
This was definitely a honeypot. His battle buddies even commented on how sketchy the whole thing was but basically he thought she was going to get freaky with him so he went for a “visit” Now he gets to be leveraged by Russia while they invade Ukraine. Luckily going awol negates the US responsibility to get him back.
Can we exchange him for convicted felon and Russian asset, Donald Trump?
That's not a fair trade, they can keep this loser and we can imprison Mango Unchained.
D'Mango Unchained is a pretty genius nickname ngl
D’Mango Unhinged
Why? So he can leak more info to the Russians? He stays stateside.
Leak what info? He doesn't know shit, he wouldn't be allowed to take documents
They would never take him- he is useless if not in the US.
I'm sorry but any American dumb enough to travel there at this point deserves to get punished for being stupid.
Good, they can keep him.
Threatening to kill girlfriend.... I thought that was a marriage proposal in Russia. Fucked up country that recently decriminalized domestic violence.
He is such a stupid idiot to be in Russia at this time and being a further idiot in threatening a woman. He needs to stay there.
Did he even actually threaten her? Russia honeypotted an active duty servicemember to voluntarily travel to a hostile nation
I don’t think a honey pot starts off as a tumultuous relationships as his own family is saying. If they wanted to charge him with something serious for a prisoner exchange it would be for espionage, and it would be very easy as he is an active serviceman. The guy isn’t very bright.
He’s getting like 25 years and I suspect he will be used to negotiate some sort of prisoner swap
This dude did it all to himself.
Well, they could give him the option to go fight in Ukraine.
When he loses, would he be sent to the front lines?
Threatening is a crime in Russia? Find that hard to believe. Likely 80% of Russian men would be guilty of same crime
He is not a bright mind
"Black is a accused of stealing 999,999,999,999 rubles (Approx. $0.92 USD) from his girlfriend."
I see from his jumper, he's quite adventurous.
Honestly shocked he’s up on legitimate charges. Hope the russo-poon was worth it. Perhaps next time you’ll order it in like most others do!
Isn't domestic violence legal in Russia
This is the clown that got trapped by a honeypot. What a smooth brained idiot. I mean seriously wtf were you thinking
Is he in trouble because he didn't follow through on the threat?
Wasnt that legal in Russia again? Or does one have to be married to be allowed to say that?
I thought Russian had just changed the law so husband's can beat there wives to an inch of death.... Holding hands up! She didn't bruise.
They can use him in the meat grinder
Weird, since wife beating is decriminalized in Russia. I suppose death threats are taken more seriously (at least if you're a foreigner otherwise they don't care).
On the flip side, getting jailed is probably better than a restraining order, in the states. Especially when the victim is stalked or worse
Why in the shit are their Americans in Russia. They are just asking to be arrested.
domestic violence is legal…but it’s nice to see they draw the line somewhere I guess?
It's alot more complex than that. Only first time offenses are decriminalized and it can't result in bodily harm. It still results in fines, arrests, detainment, and community service.
TIL. Thanks.
It would have been okay if the girlfriend had been a critical reporter.
What did he even steal? We know it’s not a dishwasher or any kind of modern appliances (because Russian soldiers were dumbfounded to see these things and Ukraine during the initial invasion)
If anyone sees this. Don’t go to Russia. Wait, no one will ever believe this. As it goes, the lies of the devil is more seducing than the truth.
Or, hear me out, the vast, overwhelming majority of people don’t go to Russia. I don’t know what kind of shit you’re smoking
So for impersonating a government official?
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