By: Natasha Archary
The controversial international release of US Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) star Brittney Griner for Russia’s most notorious arms dealer, Viktor Bout inspired the discussion on Kaya Drive on Thursday, 08 December.
Describing the trade off as Russia winning a very important game of “marbles”, Sizwe Dhlomo wanted to know who South Africans would swap out of the country for anyone else in the world.
Explaining what made Griner’s release in exchange for Viktor Bout so eye-raising, Sizwe pointed out that Russia were really strategic, while the US President just played into Putin’s hands.
Brittney Griner’s offence was that she had taken a vape kit containing cannabis oil into Russia in February. While the use of cannabis is allowed and considered legal in the US, it is banned in Russia and Griner was arrested as a result.
She was found guilty of smuggling in drugs into the country and sentenced to 9-years in a Russian prison.
In contrast, Viktor Bout was serving 25-years in the US for arms dealing, after he was found guilty of selling weapons to rogue states, rebel groups and terrorists in Africa, Asia and South America.
A hardened criminal in exchanged for a female athlete whose only crime was that she vaped cannabis? Looks like Russia won this round.
Posing the above question to listeners on Kaya Drive, Sizwe didn’t hesitate when he shared he’d swap Vusi Thembekwayo for Barack Obama.
Listen to the conversation on Kaya Drive:
Also read: Year-end fatigue: let’s rethink resilience, aim for antifragility



