Indeed. This deal took a great deal of work with multiple countries.
This deal was in the works during the weeks when the press was hounding the president and suggesting he was not fit to do the work of the office. In fact, a senior administration official briefing reporters this morning pointed out that on July 20, an hour before he announced to the nation that he would not accept the Democratic nomination for president, Biden “was on the phone with his Slovenian counterpart, urging them to make the final arrangements and to get this deal over the finish line.”
absolutely a wonderful day, but I would say Biden had the least bit part in it...
"The effort to bring home The Wall Street Journal reporter and others unfolded on three continents, involving spy agencies, billionaires, political power players and his fiercest advocate—his mother"
Someone had to manage the process. According to Bloomberg:
“The historic prisoner swap that brought about the release of US journalist Evan Gershkovich and 15 others was made possible by a personal promise German Chancellor Olaf Scholz made to US President Joe Biden during a White House visit.“
It would seem Biden led the efforts, among other things. Every good team needs a leader/facilitator.
Under your topic of..."As long as I have the chance to bring this up, I also like to remind the world.." you might also mention Keith Siegal, Omer Neutra, Hersh Goldberg -Polin and all the other Americans who were abducted and are still being held hostage in Gaza
Absolutely! Just as for why I always mention Austin Tice when I can, it's partly because of the sheer length of time he's been held, and also because he was a freelancer when he went over, so he just doesn't have the same kinds of big institutions pushing for his return the way media employees etc might.
like Evan, my grandparents were also exiles of Russia. I have had a high degree of interest in Russian history, culture, etc, & have wanted to travel there, even to seek out relatives...but imo have had a healthy degree of understanding of the danger. Evan, as a reporter, arrghhh, what a position to be in! So glad he's home, as well as the other fabricated prisoners. And of course as a mom, can't imagine the anguish!
If you have a chance to read the WSJ story, Evan was required to fill out a form before he could leave requesting a presidential pardon from Putin, and in the comments section he asked Putin if he'd be willing to do an interview. I loved that detail.
ohhhh, the story of table tennis champ! My youngest went off to college, not really ever playing table tennis much at all, & by the end of 1st semester, he called w/ the grand news he was now the college campus champion of table tennis! Uh oh - RED FLAG!!! Yep, he flunked out. But end of story, he returned to college after a few years of 'growing up' & got his degree.
Bill, I just finished reading every last word of the WSJ’s story about the prisoner exchange and how it was pulled off. It reads like a Clancy novel with all manner of people going to the nth degree to pull it all together. This President, his negotiators and our allies are all to be commended. I did notice the former president’s name mentioned in the article but he wasn’t able or wasn’t interested in working one of his famous deals with mr putin. Funny that.
Funny thing, I ran into a paywall with the Biles article and Fodors didn’t like my VPN. Was really interested in reading the Fodors because my son Sean and his partner went on an all inclusive weekend for a birthday celebration last weekend. They are quite common down here(Panamá). The only objection he had apparently was their seating for dinner was at 8:30 and the buffet was broken down by 9:15. Guess the staff was ready to stop for the day sooner than some time in the early hours. He did say that breakfast and lunch the next day was much better.
Indeed. This deal took a great deal of work with multiple countries.
This deal was in the works during the weeks when the press was hounding the president and suggesting he was not fit to do the work of the office. In fact, a senior administration official briefing reporters this morning pointed out that on July 20, an hour before he announced to the nation that he would not accept the Democratic nomination for president, Biden “was on the phone with his Slovenian counterpart, urging them to make the final arrangements and to get this deal over the finish line.”
“Our alliances make our people safer.”
absolutely a wonderful day, but I would say Biden had the least bit part in it...
"The effort to bring home The Wall Street Journal reporter and others unfolded on three continents, involving spy agencies, billionaires, political power players and his fiercest advocate—his mother"
Someone had to manage the process. According to Bloomberg:
“The historic prisoner swap that brought about the release of US journalist Evan Gershkovich and 15 others was made possible by a personal promise German Chancellor Olaf Scholz made to US President Joe Biden during a White House visit.“
It would seem Biden led the efforts, among other things. Every good team needs a leader/facilitator.
Under your topic of..."As long as I have the chance to bring this up, I also like to remind the world.." you might also mention Keith Siegal, Omer Neutra, Hersh Goldberg -Polin and all the other Americans who were abducted and are still being held hostage in Gaza
Absolutely! Just as for why I always mention Austin Tice when I can, it's partly because of the sheer length of time he's been held, and also because he was a freelancer when he went over, so he just doesn't have the same kinds of big institutions pushing for his return the way media employees etc might.
like Evan, my grandparents were also exiles of Russia. I have had a high degree of interest in Russian history, culture, etc, & have wanted to travel there, even to seek out relatives...but imo have had a healthy degree of understanding of the danger. Evan, as a reporter, arrghhh, what a position to be in! So glad he's home, as well as the other fabricated prisoners. And of course as a mom, can't imagine the anguish!
If you have a chance to read the WSJ story, Evan was required to fill out a form before he could leave requesting a presidential pardon from Putin, and in the comments section he asked Putin if he'd be willing to do an interview. I loved that detail.
it was a long article & I thought I read it all, but not the comments. Thanks for pointing that out.
I noticed that too. Brazen(ballsy)kid especially after all he had been through.
ohhhh, the story of table tennis champ! My youngest went off to college, not really ever playing table tennis much at all, & by the end of 1st semester, he called w/ the grand news he was now the college campus champion of table tennis! Uh oh - RED FLAG!!! Yep, he flunked out. But end of story, he returned to college after a few years of 'growing up' & got his degree.
Bill, I just finished reading every last word of the WSJ’s story about the prisoner exchange and how it was pulled off. It reads like a Clancy novel with all manner of people going to the nth degree to pull it all together. This President, his negotiators and our allies are all to be commended. I did notice the former president’s name mentioned in the article but he wasn’t able or wasn’t interested in working one of his famous deals with mr putin. Funny that.
Funny thing, I ran into a paywall with the Biles article and Fodors didn’t like my VPN. Was really interested in reading the Fodors because my son Sean and his partner went on an all inclusive weekend for a birthday celebration last weekend. They are quite common down here(Panamá). The only objection he had apparently was their seating for dinner was at 8:30 and the buffet was broken down by 9:15. Guess the staff was ready to stop for the day sooner than some time in the early hours. He did say that breakfast and lunch the next day was much better.