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For those who watch sufficient Hollywood movies, you finally study that it doesn’t pay to accede to the calls for of blackmailers. A minimum of within the motion pictures, it all the time appears to result in additional calls for for cash.
Final 12 months, Russia grabbed a US basketball participant and (implicitly) held her for ransom. Finally, the US authorities relented and traded a Russian arms seller in alternate for her launch.
Some would possibly argue that whereas it’s unlucky that we needed to ship a foul man to the Russians, no less than Brittney Griner is now protected and again dwelling. Sadly, that’s not the tip of the story. The US authorities additionally confirmed the Russians that it will be keen to offer in to blackmail. Thus they’ve now grabbed another American citizen, and can undoubtedly demand new concessions in alternate for his launch. We gave up a convicted Russian arms seller and obtained nothing in the long term.
You would possibly argue that we couldn’t have anticipated that the Russians could be so devious. Not so. Right here’s what I wrote the day after the alternate was introduced:
It’s tempting to view this prisoner swap as a “humanitarian” gesture, however simply the alternative is true. The truth that Russia’s ways had been profitable insures that extra individuals will probably be used this fashion sooner or later. In the long term, there will probably be extra hostages taken on account of the US authorities choice to offer in to the Russian calls for.
We are actually paying the value for the US authorities’s shortsighted decision-making course of.
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