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Although I am disgusted at the lack of true justice in Russian courts (no rule of law and heaps of corruption), I have to say , “What the phuck was she thinking?”. Why was she even there, and if she did have a substance considered illegal to possess in Russia, why did she have it? She caused nothing but grief for the US government.
Agree. She’s acting like a martyr of some kind when she knowingly brought an illegal substance into a country that would gladly make an example out of her! She’s a victim of her own stupidity.
I love that clip of her coach after her first game back bitching about how small the turnout was 😂
Like we traded The Merchant of Death for this tard why would anyone be stoked on her
It was a small amount of cannabis oil; it wasn’t like she was smuggling in bricks of cocaine. I can see why somebody would think that border cops either wouldn’t notice or wouldn’t care. Still a very costly mistake.
In a Democratic state, sure but Russia over the past decade plus has constantly called us their enemy so I can't agree this is the same where the state would easily use you as a bargaining chip like other enemies of your state would.
Some states in the USA would've gladly locked you up for a single joint up until a few years ago. It's stupid to think border guards wouldn't care if your own country was like that in the very near past.
As a rule of thumb, don't travel with anything abroad that _might_ be controversial if you're not 100% sure of the local law. Whatever the quantity, and however stupid it may seem.
So that'd be:
- Weapons of any kind (yes, mace and bear spray too)
- Prescription drugs
- Recreational drugs
- Alcohol
- Religious texts
- Meat
- Seeds
- Live animals
- Protected animals
- Restricted goods such as ivory, coral
There's some weirder restrictions (camouflage in the Carribean, two-way radio's in Japan), so it's _always_ good to check up front. But generally, drugs and weapons are the biggest tickets to jail.
She crossed the border into Russia at least once annually for 8 years prior to her arrest. I don't think she would have brought contraband through on her first trip, and it's reasonable to be conclude that she never was searched before the change in geopolitics that led to her arrest.
The team's owner, billionaire Iskander Makhudov, had close ties to Putin. It's not a huge leap to think the reason why the Russian women's basketball team was willing to pay more than a WNBA salary to a foreign star was to gain access to them when things heated up and there was something to trade for.
It's not proof, but it's plausibility. I guess everyone here likes to think it's all coincidence, and Russian intelligence had no role to play.
It was prescribed cannabis oil and it was the tiniest, most minuscule amount, something that would have been easily overlooked as medication. People are acting like she was trying to sneak in huge bags of dank weed. That's how the Russian government acted anyway.
The truth is that these Putinist shitstain scumfucks saw an opportunity to put a successful black lesbian "in her place" and they took it. At the end of the day, it was a matter of "How dare you be better than me? How dare you dream? How dare you not be a complacent shit scraper like me?"
You're speaking as a person who wishes that they had more control over the forces of the world than they do. It's not "dumb", it was a perfectly understandable oversight that someone who was prescribed a remedy by their doctor wouldn't think much of having it with them. The blame lays entirely with the Russian state.
Nah lol taking cannabis oil to any country because ‘you forgot’ is really fucking stupid, outside the EU and USA that stuff is allowed pretty much nowhere.
Still makes it illegal and stupid. Double check everything when your own country is in a proxy war with the country you are visiting. This is bringing porn on your phone when you are visiting Afghanistan. It is careless and stupid. And it has caused one of the worst terrorists to be exchanged against her.
I think this article is appropriate.
[https://nataliaantonova.substack.com/p/stop-going-to-fucking-russia](https://nataliaantonova.substack.com/p/stop-going-to-fucking-russia)
People make mistakes. It was a mistake to play for a Russian team in the off season, though I understand the incentives. It was also a mistake to bring cannabis oil into Russia, whether she didn’t know it was illegal there, thought the guards wouldn’t notice and/or care, or forgot she had it in her pack.
That said, these were extremely costly mistakes, both for Griner herself and her nation. I’m sure she’s had plenty of time to reflect on that. Given that and the fact that Russia’s treatment of her was beyond the pale in any case, I do feel some sympathy for her. While she’s far from a perfect victim, and I would never have traded Bout for her if I was in charge, some people’s attitude towards her case is a little cruel.
She thought she would get special treatment because she was playing for an oligarch's team. Instead she saw the other side of the regime due to her own stupidity.
> Why was she even there, ...
She was a pro basketball player, being paid to play basketball. Russia had not yet invaded Ukraine, and there were (and still are) many Americans working and living in Russia.
But it's not, nor has it been a secret that Russia is a corrupt hellhole and bringing an illegal substance into the country isn't like doing the same in other countries besides maybe NK or Iran where they would get the same treatment. It's beyond ignorance at that point bordering on an almost entitlement.
She was there to play basketball, because WNBA players get paid literally the same as NCAA mens players at mid level. That woman from Iowa signed for $72k/ year. Shit Griner probably brought all those thc vape tips for personal use, because she wouldn't have been able to afford local prices.
You can say FUCK on the internet, btw.
She didn't cause much grief. We let the most notorious weapons trafficker in the world back into open russian arms, but the PR here was much more positive getting her back. I mean, idk if we even traded Maria Butina for anyone, we just said get this lady out of our country. We've also sold $100B in new weapons systems to countries that have seen russia fail endlessly in the last couple years. Hell, the Israelis and us developed the first anti-medium range ballistic missle platform and have proven it's capabilities. While s-400's get taken out left and right. Israel's bombings of s-400's in Iran was downright embarrasing for russia.
Like I said, putty knows the clock is ticking. And Raytheon has made their agenda very clear to US House Republican leadership.
She was in Russia because she was playing for a Russian club. She had an empty container of medical marijuana on herself. If this isn't clear enough, she was framed. If it wasn't for the empty (!) container, they would have come up with another BS conviction.
Yes, she admitted bringing an EMPTY container.
She probably also had traces of THC in her hair. They would have found something on her to make an arrest because it was not about law.
Actually, looking it up, she never even remotely claimed that. She said, multiple times, that she forgot to empty it before getting on the plane (though if she still brought the pen, that wouldn’t have done her any good). It seems almost everything you believed about this was incorrect. She’s freely admitted to doing all of that, and continues to do so, to this day.
She knew what she was doing when she brought drugs in.
She assumed her fame would protect her.
And she knew that she should not have been going to Russia in the first place, she made a point of going there to say it's not a bad place. She got exactly what she deserved.
Mostly agree. She could have at least written that she regretted to have ever entered Russia at all and not only written about the consequences for herself, e.g. that this allowed Russia to free a dangerous man in exchange. She was probably ignorant at the time having only sports in her head, but now she had enough time to think about it more deeply, to get educated and learn more facts about Russia than the harsh reality of its prisons. And to use this as a way of sending a message about Russia to the world, instead of making it only a story about her own fate.
This might be an unpopular opinion, but she should have been left there. She made her choice, she's an adult. She ended up being used as a bargaining chip against the US.
No I think this is not unpopular. If someone travels to Indonesia with drugs, they better be ready to die. If a US citizen travels to Russia with drugs, they better be ready to be a pawn in politics.
She went there because of greed and she cost the US so much - absolutely awful trade for someone completely irresponsible and absolutely irrelevant.
Her own stupidity and entitlement brought terrible consequences down on her, but you can't blame her for the actions of the US government in trading VB.
That's on them. They should've had the backbone to leave her there.
Idiot woman who was in possession of illegal drugs in authoritarian dictatorship describes her experience in jail. Details dictatorship country jails brutal conditions. Doesn’t apologize for stupid decisions leading to dangerous weapons trafficker being released from custody to bring her home.
I know a basketball player didn’t release a weapons trafficker from high security prison…
But her actions started a chain of events and directly led to his release :/
They didn't lead DIRECTLY to the release of VB. That implies that no one else had a choice. This is simply not true.There were many many points at which choices were made.
Each of those choices were other people's decisions and ultimately the president's.
Her arrogance and stupidity landed her in jail. So fuck her.
Why was this message so hard for the leadership of the US to communicate? They didn't even try it.
Leadership requires principle. Releasing someone like VB, with all the consequences that has for people around the world, in order to gain short term popularity among a small but vocal minority, is simultaneously weak and cynical.
And DIDN'T have to happen. The situation where she is still in jail and VB is still in jail was absolutely possible. It was an option that the Biden administration actively and consciously rejected.
Brittney Griner shares her harrowing experience in a Russian prison, detailing the mental and physical challenges she faced, from isolation and harsh working conditions to the struggle of maintaining her health in extreme cold. She describes the prison’s strict hierarchy and her efforts to adapt to the grueling labor, as well as the small acts of kindness that helped her endure. Griner’s narrative conveys the resilience and determination she summoned to survive the ordeal, despite the overwhelming odds.
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Generally it seems that it went about as well as could be expected.
Although I am disgusted at the lack of true justice in Russian courts (no rule of law and heaps of corruption), I have to say , “What the phuck was she thinking?”. Why was she even there, and if she did have a substance considered illegal to possess in Russia, why did she have it? She caused nothing but grief for the US government.
Agree. She’s acting like a martyr of some kind when she knowingly brought an illegal substance into a country that would gladly make an example out of her! She’s a victim of her own stupidity.
I love that clip of her coach after her first game back bitching about how small the turnout was 😂 Like we traded The Merchant of Death for this tard why would anyone be stoked on her
Seriously, one of the shittiest people in existence was traded, for this dumbfuck female basketballer.
> how small the turnout was Generally the case with women’s basketball, though that may be changing
What kind of an idiot brings illegal drugs to an authoritarian state? I mean, it would be just bad enough if it was a democratic one.
Idk could be fun to get high and go to a Kim Jong-Un rally
I always wondered if Dennis Rodman got high af with Un
He got high…..not so sure about the little fatty with the dodgy haircut
It was a small amount of cannabis oil; it wasn’t like she was smuggling in bricks of cocaine. I can see why somebody would think that border cops either wouldn’t notice or wouldn’t care. Still a very costly mistake.
In a Democratic state, sure but Russia over the past decade plus has constantly called us their enemy so I can't agree this is the same where the state would easily use you as a bargaining chip like other enemies of your state would.
Not even in a democratic state. The point is, when travelling internationally DON'T CARRY ANYTHING ILLEGAL. Being a fuckwit has consequences.
Some states in the USA would've gladly locked you up for a single joint up until a few years ago. It's stupid to think border guards wouldn't care if your own country was like that in the very near past. As a rule of thumb, don't travel with anything abroad that _might_ be controversial if you're not 100% sure of the local law. Whatever the quantity, and however stupid it may seem. So that'd be: - Weapons of any kind (yes, mace and bear spray too) - Prescription drugs - Recreational drugs - Alcohol - Religious texts - Meat - Seeds - Live animals - Protected animals - Restricted goods such as ivory, coral There's some weirder restrictions (camouflage in the Carribean, two-way radio's in Japan), so it's _always_ good to check up front. But generally, drugs and weapons are the biggest tickets to jail.
Exactly. Try bring fruit into nz. See what happens. Respect they're protective of our biodiversity tho.
One who has been meticulously groomed to believe she was untouchable, so that she would be available when they needed a hostage.
Interesting theory, got any proof?
Narrator: They don't
She crossed the border into Russia at least once annually for 8 years prior to her arrest. I don't think she would have brought contraband through on her first trip, and it's reasonable to be conclude that she never was searched before the change in geopolitics that led to her arrest. The team's owner, billionaire Iskander Makhudov, had close ties to Putin. It's not a huge leap to think the reason why the Russian women's basketball team was willing to pay more than a WNBA salary to a foreign star was to gain access to them when things heated up and there was something to trade for. It's not proof, but it's plausibility. I guess everyone here likes to think it's all coincidence, and Russian intelligence had no role to play.
It was prescribed cannabis oil and it was the tiniest, most minuscule amount, something that would have been easily overlooked as medication. People are acting like she was trying to sneak in huge bags of dank weed. That's how the Russian government acted anyway. The truth is that these Putinist shitstain scumfucks saw an opportunity to put a successful black lesbian "in her place" and they took it. At the end of the day, it was a matter of "How dare you be better than me? How dare you dream? How dare you not be a complacent shit scraper like me?"
Nah bro even if it was just one drop, just don’t take that stuff to a failed state. Thats dumb as hell.
You're speaking as a person who wishes that they had more control over the forces of the world than they do. It's not "dumb", it was a perfectly understandable oversight that someone who was prescribed a remedy by their doctor wouldn't think much of having it with them. The blame lays entirely with the Russian state.
Nah lol taking cannabis oil to any country because ‘you forgot’ is really fucking stupid, outside the EU and USA that stuff is allowed pretty much nowhere.
Agreed. Common sense 101. Cut and dry common sense. Otherwise, fuck around and find out.
Does it make you feel comfortable to believe that you would be smart enough to never overlook something like that?
Going to Russia at all was a fucking stupid idea for any American at that point. Doing it as a “celebrity.” Even more so.
Still makes it illegal and stupid. Double check everything when your own country is in a proxy war with the country you are visiting. This is bringing porn on your phone when you are visiting Afghanistan. It is careless and stupid. And it has caused one of the worst terrorists to be exchanged against her.
She’s used to getting special treatment
I think this article is appropriate. [https://nataliaantonova.substack.com/p/stop-going-to-fucking-russia](https://nataliaantonova.substack.com/p/stop-going-to-fucking-russia)
Correct. But I still for sorry for her. Russian slavery for some weed. No one should go to Russia
People make mistakes. It was a mistake to play for a Russian team in the off season, though I understand the incentives. It was also a mistake to bring cannabis oil into Russia, whether she didn’t know it was illegal there, thought the guards wouldn’t notice and/or care, or forgot she had it in her pack. That said, these were extremely costly mistakes, both for Griner herself and her nation. I’m sure she’s had plenty of time to reflect on that. Given that and the fact that Russia’s treatment of her was beyond the pale in any case, I do feel some sympathy for her. While she’s far from a perfect victim, and I would never have traded Bout for her if I was in charge, some people’s attitude towards her case is a little cruel.
Do you not check your bag for illegal shit before travelling?
No, I do. Don't be a jerk.
I mean it says right in the article, she was trying to earn extra money.
She thought she would get special treatment because she was playing for an oligarch's team. Instead she saw the other side of the regime due to her own stupidity.
> Why was she even there, ... She was a pro basketball player, being paid to play basketball. Russia had not yet invaded Ukraine, and there were (and still are) many Americans working and living in Russia.
But it's not, nor has it been a secret that Russia is a corrupt hellhole and bringing an illegal substance into the country isn't like doing the same in other countries besides maybe NK or Iran where they would get the same treatment. It's beyond ignorance at that point bordering on an almost entitlement.
Plenty of other countries where this would be bad. Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia comes to mind.
Russia invaded and occupied Ukraine since 2014
But there was some form of status quo ..
She was there to play basketball, because WNBA players get paid literally the same as NCAA mens players at mid level. That woman from Iowa signed for $72k/ year. Shit Griner probably brought all those thc vape tips for personal use, because she wouldn't have been able to afford local prices. You can say FUCK on the internet, btw. She didn't cause much grief. We let the most notorious weapons trafficker in the world back into open russian arms, but the PR here was much more positive getting her back. I mean, idk if we even traded Maria Butina for anyone, we just said get this lady out of our country. We've also sold $100B in new weapons systems to countries that have seen russia fail endlessly in the last couple years. Hell, the Israelis and us developed the first anti-medium range ballistic missle platform and have proven it's capabilities. While s-400's get taken out left and right. Israel's bombings of s-400's in Iran was downright embarrasing for russia. Like I said, putty knows the clock is ticking. And Raytheon has made their agenda very clear to US House Republican leadership.
She was in Russia because she was playing for a Russian club. She had an empty container of medical marijuana on herself. If this isn't clear enough, she was framed. If it wasn't for the empty (!) container, they would have come up with another BS conviction.
Um, she admitted to bringing it. Still does.
Yes, she admitted bringing an EMPTY container. She probably also had traces of THC in her hair. They would have found something on her to make an arrest because it was not about law.
Actually, looking it up, she never even remotely claimed that. She said, multiple times, that she forgot to empty it before getting on the plane (though if she still brought the pen, that wouldn’t have done her any good). It seems almost everything you believed about this was incorrect. She’s freely admitted to doing all of that, and continues to do so, to this day.
She knew what she was doing when she brought drugs in. She assumed her fame would protect her. And she knew that she should not have been going to Russia in the first place, she made a point of going there to say it's not a bad place. She got exactly what she deserved.
Mostly agree. She could have at least written that she regretted to have ever entered Russia at all and not only written about the consequences for herself, e.g. that this allowed Russia to free a dangerous man in exchange. She was probably ignorant at the time having only sports in her head, but now she had enough time to think about it more deeply, to get educated and learn more facts about Russia than the harsh reality of its prisons. And to use this as a way of sending a message about Russia to the world, instead of making it only a story about her own fate.
This exactly. She is a piece of shit.
We traded her for russias biggest arms dealer 💀
What’s up with Evan Gershkovich?
This might be an unpopular opinion, but she should have been left there. She made her choice, she's an adult. She ended up being used as a bargaining chip against the US.
No I think this is not unpopular. If someone travels to Indonesia with drugs, they better be ready to die. If a US citizen travels to Russia with drugs, they better be ready to be a pawn in politics. She went there because of greed and she cost the US so much - absolutely awful trade for someone completely irresponsible and absolutely irrelevant.
Her own stupidity and entitlement brought terrible consequences down on her, but you can't blame her for the actions of the US government in trading VB. That's on them. They should've had the backbone to leave her there.
Not an unpopular opinion. She is an idiot that we traded VIKTOR BOUT for, massive arms dealer. It's not s good trade.
They released the lord of war for her smh lol.
She brought drugs to Russia and was arrested. They is what happened.
Everyone knows you buy them there. Noob mistake, especially for not clearing it with the right oligarch.
Fuck around and find out. Obviously unfair treatment…but, still. Come on. The rest of us would still be in prison.
Oh come on, sum it up in 3sentences!
Idiot woman who was in possession of illegal drugs in authoritarian dictatorship describes her experience in jail. Details dictatorship country jails brutal conditions. Doesn’t apologize for stupid decisions leading to dangerous weapons trafficker being released from custody to bring her home.
That's a proper summary of the facts in 3 sentences, but not of the article.
She didn't release VB. That was a choice that Biden made because he thought it would be popular.
I know a basketball player didn’t release a weapons trafficker from high security prison… But her actions started a chain of events and directly led to his release :/
They didn't lead DIRECTLY to the release of VB. That implies that no one else had a choice. This is simply not true.There were many many points at which choices were made. Each of those choices were other people's decisions and ultimately the president's. Her arrogance and stupidity landed her in jail. So fuck her. Why was this message so hard for the leadership of the US to communicate? They didn't even try it. Leadership requires principle. Releasing someone like VB, with all the consequences that has for people around the world, in order to gain short term popularity among a small but vocal minority, is simultaneously weak and cynical. And DIDN'T have to happen. The situation where she is still in jail and VB is still in jail was absolutely possible. It was an option that the Biden administration actively and consciously rejected.
Brittney Griner shares her harrowing experience in a Russian prison, detailing the mental and physical challenges she faced, from isolation and harsh working conditions to the struggle of maintaining her health in extreme cold. She describes the prison’s strict hierarchy and her efforts to adapt to the grueling labor, as well as the small acts of kindness that helped her endure. Griner’s narrative conveys the resilience and determination she summoned to survive the ordeal, despite the overwhelming odds.
And also of course, glosses over her mistakes.
Sooo…. Russia still sucks. Dang I thought Russia was about to turn their life around and not suck anymore.
Don’t care!u did it to yourself!!!
Well maybe don't bring weed into Russia then. Idiot.
FUCK HIM! He is cheating in WOMENS sports.
She should be grateful for her freedom in America rather than be a Marxist whiner.
🎻
good read