It looks like the consequences of yet another poor Biden-Harris foreign policy decision are coming home to roost.
In December 2022, the administration swapped WNBA star Britney Griner for the “Merchant of Death,” Viktor Bout, a notorious Russian arms dealer, who now reportedly is back to his old ways.
Bout, 57, was convicted in 2011 on charges of conspiring to kill Americans and was serving a 25-year sentence, according to The New York Times. He allegedly supplied arms to Al Qaeda and the Taliban, among others.
By contrast, in February 2022, Griner was detained at a Moscow airport after Russian customs officials said they found cannabis vape cartridges in her luggage, NPR reported. She pleaded guilty in July of that year and received a nine-year prison sentence the following month.
Russian state media video, verified by The New York Times, shows the prisoner exchange of Brittney Griner and Viktor Bout, the convicted Russian arms dealer known as “the Merchant of Death,” at an airport in the United Arab Emirates. https://t.co/sw6OPSRgrI pic.twitter.com/QTAYQUZDk8
— The New York Times (@nytimes) December 9, 2022
The Wall Street Journal reported Monday, “when Houthi emissaries went to Moscow in August to negotiate the purchase of $10 million worth of automatic weapons, they encountered a familiar face: the mustachioed Bout, according to a European security official and other people familiar with the matter.”
The Houthis are an Iranian-backed terror group, based on Yemen, that has carried out attacks on nearly 100 ships in the Red Sea, since the Hamas Oct. 7, 2023 assault into Israel. Among its targets have been U.S. warships and merchant vessels, Reuters reported.
BREAKING: HOUTHI DAMAGE TO AMERICAN SHIP
Photos published for the first time reveal the extensive damage to the American ship “TRUE CONFIDENCE” which was targeted by the Yemeni Armed Forces “Houthis” on March 5. pic.twitter.com/dzTYcbKYou
— Sulaiman Ahmed (@ShaykhSulaiman) June 8, 2024
So far, according to the Journal, the Russian arms purchases from the Houthis have not included antiship or antiair missiles that could pose a much graver threat to U.S. efforts to protect international shipping in the region.
The Journal highlighted that Bout appeared to neither confirm nor deny that he was selling arms to the Houthis, calling it an “unsubstantiated accusation.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday regarding the shipments, “We are inclined to categorize it as fake news or an information attack on our elected representatives,” according to TASS, the Journal said.
The swap of Griner for Bout was highly criticized at the time for being very lopsided in favor of the Russians.
The Guardian reported in August the U.S. offered to trade Bout for Griner and American Paul Whelan, a Marine Corps veteran who has been held in Russia since 2018 on espionage charges, but Russia did not accept the deal.
Griner at least appeared appreciative of her freedom at the Paris Olympics in August after the USA women’s team won the gold medal. She cried while the national anthem played during the medal ceremony.
In 2020, during the height of the Black Lives Matter protests, Griner, a center for the Phoenix Mercury, had called on the WNBA not to play the anthem before games.
“I honestly feel we should not play the national anthem during our season,” Griner told the Arizona Republic. “I think we should take that much of a stand.”
In August at the Olympics, Griner said, “Hearing the national anthem, it definitely hit different.”
It was obvious trading the Merchant of Death for Griner over a her boneheaded decision to bring cannabis into Russian airport was by no means a fair trade.
There may be a steep price to pay in innocent lives with Bout now reportedly back in business.
