I'm skeptical that Gershkovich and Whelan were spying for the US government--especially Gershkovich. The Western media may support the US empire in many ways, but espionage is almost never among them. I think that Gershkovich and the WSJ were unbelievably arrogant and thought they could do "investigative journalism" on Russia's defense industry during an existential war for Russia. He probably imagined himself an international Woodward/Bernstein. ("Russia wouldn't dare interfere with the Wall Street Journal!") So Gershkovich wandered into an obvious minefield and provided the Russian state with a high-level prisoner whose behavior could semi-plausibly be labeled espionage. Given that Julian Assange, a far better journalist than Gershkovich will ever be, has been mercilessly pursued by the US for years, there is very little room for US moralizing about Gershkovich's detention.
I don't find either of the two videos to be compelling evidence. All we know from the Gershkovich video is that he received information from someone. It's not clear what he thought he was getting.
The case with Whelan is a little less clear in that his bad-conduct discharge from the Marine Corps makes it a little strange that he ended up as the chief of security for an auto parts company and traveled regularly to Russia. There might be something there or there might not. But on the other hand, why is there no audio accompanying the video of him receiving a flash drive? That makes it seem as though those doing the filming didn't want to include the audio because it didn't support the narrative of Whelan as a spy.
I think it's likely that both Gershkovich and Whelan were set up.
But that doesn't let the US off the hook. Because it was the US that started this whole lawfare game when it entrapped Viktor Bout 2008 and Konstantin Yaroshenko in 2010. All the other detentions and counter-detentions have followed from those two pointless US sting operations and the even more pointless arrest, detention and expulsion of Maria Butina in 2018.
As usual, the US started something without any clear idea of how it would end, and now tit-for-tat just goes on and on. Once the Russians got used to trumping up charges against Americans in Russia to trade for Bout and Yaroshenko, they just kept doing it for the assassin, Krasikov and for all the Russians arrested in US sting operations while trying to acquire tech goods for the Russian war effort. And because the US government doesn't want to admit publicly that it has unleashed this monster, it has never clearly articulated to the American public just how dangerous it is to go to Russia in the midst of an escalating lawfare spiral it started 15 years ago.
Contrast this with the recent experience of Bald & Bankrupt, the YouTuber who roamed Russia at will until he and his girlfriend trespassed in a restricted military area. Granted there was nothing secret about the location or its contents, but he still broke the law. So what happened? He paid a small fine, and was told to leave the country and not return for 3 years. I wouldn't call that heavy handed for a nation that's at war and is understandably sensitive about military sites, even if they are abandoned. I like the guy, but seriously, what was he thinking?
Spies are handed back to get one's own back, or at least what they present as their innocent and unjustly detained citizens. It's part of the "game" and has been going on for a decades.
Anyone with a functioning brain would have realized a long time ago that the CIA doesn’t negotiate exchanges for random unfortunate tourists.
I think Russia got the better deal when they traded Brittney Griner, or perhaps got rid of her would be a better way to put it.
I'm skeptical that Gershkovich and Whelan were spying for the US government--especially Gershkovich. The Western media may support the US empire in many ways, but espionage is almost never among them. I think that Gershkovich and the WSJ were unbelievably arrogant and thought they could do "investigative journalism" on Russia's defense industry during an existential war for Russia. He probably imagined himself an international Woodward/Bernstein. ("Russia wouldn't dare interfere with the Wall Street Journal!") So Gershkovich wandered into an obvious minefield and provided the Russian state with a high-level prisoner whose behavior could semi-plausibly be labeled espionage. Given that Julian Assange, a far better journalist than Gershkovich will ever be, has been mercilessly pursued by the US for years, there is very little room for US moralizing about Gershkovich's detention.
I don't find either of the two videos to be compelling evidence. All we know from the Gershkovich video is that he received information from someone. It's not clear what he thought he was getting.
The case with Whelan is a little less clear in that his bad-conduct discharge from the Marine Corps makes it a little strange that he ended up as the chief of security for an auto parts company and traveled regularly to Russia. There might be something there or there might not. But on the other hand, why is there no audio accompanying the video of him receiving a flash drive? That makes it seem as though those doing the filming didn't want to include the audio because it didn't support the narrative of Whelan as a spy.
I think it's likely that both Gershkovich and Whelan were set up.
But that doesn't let the US off the hook. Because it was the US that started this whole lawfare game when it entrapped Viktor Bout 2008 and Konstantin Yaroshenko in 2010. All the other detentions and counter-detentions have followed from those two pointless US sting operations and the even more pointless arrest, detention and expulsion of Maria Butina in 2018.
As usual, the US started something without any clear idea of how it would end, and now tit-for-tat just goes on and on. Once the Russians got used to trumping up charges against Americans in Russia to trade for Bout and Yaroshenko, they just kept doing it for the assassin, Krasikov and for all the Russians arrested in US sting operations while trying to acquire tech goods for the Russian war effort. And because the US government doesn't want to admit publicly that it has unleashed this monster, it has never clearly articulated to the American public just how dangerous it is to go to Russia in the midst of an escalating lawfare spiral it started 15 years ago.
Contrast this with the recent experience of Bald & Bankrupt, the YouTuber who roamed Russia at will until he and his girlfriend trespassed in a restricted military area. Granted there was nothing secret about the location or its contents, but he still broke the law. So what happened? He paid a small fine, and was told to leave the country and not return for 3 years. I wouldn't call that heavy handed for a nation that's at war and is understandably sensitive about military sites, even if they are abandoned. I like the guy, but seriously, what was he thinking?
Why were they handed over to the US then? This "proof" just makes Putin look even more weak. Don't you execute spies instead of handing them back?
Spies are handed back to get one's own back, or at least what they present as their innocent and unjustly detained citizens. It's part of the "game" and has been going on for a decades.
You trade for what you want more than a couple of exposed spies of no further use, presumably.
Which is bringing your own back home, so that your Other spies know you have their back.
Usually no, exchange of spies is pretty much a regular event