Dennis Rodman says will travel to Russia to help Brittney Griner
Category: News & Politics
Via: hallux • 2 years ago • 71 commentsBy: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES
Dennis Rodman, a former professional basketball player and self-styled “basketball ambassador”, has said he will travel to Russia in an attempt to help imprisoned professional women’s player Brittney Griner .
Rodman, whose post-National Basketball Association (NBA) career has been defined by his bizarre relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, told NBC News in an interview he hoped to fly to Russia this week to aid Griner, who was sentenced by a Russian court in early August to nine years in prison on drug charges.
The United States has said Griner, who was arrested at a Russian airport after authorities found cartridges with cannabis oil in her luggage, was wrongfully jailed. The arrest came at a time of heightened tensions between Washington and Moscow, just days before Russia invaded Ukraine.
“I got permission to go to Russia to help that girl,” Rodman, 61, told the US news network, speaking from a sport apparel convention in Washington, DC. “I’m trying to go this week.”
The statement comes as the US has been trying to negotiate a prisoner swap, seeking the release of Griner and US citizen Paul Whelan in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout .
However, speaking to NBC, a senior official from the administration warned that “anything other than negotiating further through the established channel is likely to complicate and hinder release efforts”.
The US State Department urges Americans against travelling to Russia.
Rodman has previously waded into diplomatically fraught prisoner situations, saying his personal appeal to North Korea’s Kim helped lead to the release of missioner Kenneth Bay in 2014. Rodman also travelled to Singapore when Kim met then-US President Donald Trump there in 2018.
He previously met Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2014, saying after the meeting that Putin was “actually cool”.
He told NBC he was confident in his understanding of the Russian leader.
“I know Putin too well,” he said.
The case of Griner, a two-time Olympic basketball gold medallist and Women’s NBA champion, has been highlighted by athletes, advocates and legislators, who have continually heaped pressure on the Biden administration to do more to secure her release.
The Kremlin has denied the arrest was politically motivated.
Godspeed the human shower curtain holder.
I met that asshat in vegas at a blackjack table in the hardrock about 20 years ago. he starts hitting on my friend's girlfriend right in front of us. too bad for him that she was apparently an old fashioned southern belle with no filter. she took him down a few pegs and he got up and left. later the same weekend I watched him get tossed from the strip club across the street for getting a little too familiar with some dancers while I was in their steakhouse. looks like it's getting harder for him to catch the spotlight. watch the russians find an excuse to put him jail. too bad.
Wow, I am shocked you didn't just scare him away with your big gun.
like I did your wife, or was that your daughter? /s
Big guns and small guns don't scare my wife. She just wouldn't have anything to do with you.
We have no daughters.
They wouldn't know what a big gun was! Some folks' wives that is./s
Not everyone is a size queen.
nobody here cares about your personal sexual preferences,. save it for the men's bible study group at your church.
And you think you bringing up what yours are what anyone cares about?
LOL!
Nice to see you haven't lost your touch at making asinine assumptions.
Don't attend church, don't go to bible study, and also don't get fearful when someone else does.
True, far too many people here all wrapped up into the sex lives of Trump and Family to even notice the rest of the world!
... says the person who complains about people interjecting trump into every article
Are those thumpers knocking at your door?
Best load up, buddy!
And your sex life complications are not my fascinations
Try to remember that next time you decide to regale us with yours, in excruciating detail.
I've regaled you with my sex life complications in excruciating detail? Please remind me when or have you confused me with someone else, pat?
No, it was you. You were explaining your sex life complications since your illness. It was way TMI. About a month or so ago.
Thanks, sorry, seems out of character for me. Maybe I made a failed joke. I'll run through my July comments and try to find it and avoid that mistake again.
Good song anyway.
LOL
"nobody here cares about your personal sexual preferences,. save it for the men's bible study group at your church."
Really, TMI.
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You go worm ..... go!
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Can they just do a swap? Rodman for Griner...
C’mon man.
I would think the worm is right in your wheelhouse .....
I don't know why you would ever think I like narcissists.
Oh, I thought your first comment wasn’t serious so I responded in kind ...
Okay... ((shrug))
Yes please.
In the most Rodman of ways, he may agree to such a swap (with a tv crew in tow of course)…
In any case, whatever it takes, we need to get her out of there.
“If Rodman is able to get her released, what does that say about our diplomatic efforts? “
Simply that diplomacy is (duh) purely political. How many eyes, how many lies, how many sighs does it take before we accept the fait accompli?
I know you're so concerned about law breakers like that big fat steaming pile of shit that waddled out of the White House on 1/20/21 after his failed coup.
Possibly, it sez, Putin might release her to Rodman to embarrass our government.
To which I say, the joke would be on Putin.
Denier to the end
Just looking at the big fat ugly turd proves my second point.
What a humanitarian. You're my hero!
You're concerned about someone who had medicinal marijuana as opposed to a steaming pile of shit criminal enterprise?
It was not her first rodeo being in Russia. She f'd up. The only thing I disagree with is the length of her sentence. Usually, it is five years and most are released early. Hers was excessive imo. Fact is though, she did the crime so she needs to do some time.
Would the let him take his wedding dresses and makeup with him?
Morning..I was thinking more along the lines..
Welcome said the spider to the fly..😬
Rodman had better learn every last law in Russia before he goes.
He is more of a loose cannon than Griner; and even more self centered.
Britney Griner is in good hands if the Worm can party with and supply Putin some yak like he did with Lil' Kim.
Can we trade Deshaun Watson for Griner?
Good question.
Hey, even Putin has standards!
Obviously not with trumpturd as his puppet.
I am sure you have verifiable proof of this?
Considering Trump is the one that ended the Obama policy of non lethal aid to Ukraine only; and allowed weapons to be sent. Committed the US even further in Syria against ISIS/ISIL by sending in ground troops. Sure Putin loved US forces on the ground in Syria; which put his newly gained Syrian ports and air bases in jeopardy. Trump blocked the Nord Stream II pipeline; that Brandon famously released sanctions on allowing it to be completed- getting nothing in return from Russia. Trump also forced NATO countries to increase their contributions. Don't worry Brandon put an end to that. US troops are now stationed along the Russian/Ukraine border; so NATO countries don't have to worry about improving their militaries.
If Putin couldn't get a better "puppet" than Trump; it is surprising he has managed to last this long in power. However Brandon is doing an excellent job. Unfortunately it is hard to tell if Russia or China is controlling him- as both are pulling his strings as hard as they can.
That's why she is upset with him. He has standards but there is no way she can come up to meet them no matter how low they are. Even Trump is better.
Hopefully Dennis leaves his pot at home.
I hope he doesn't. If he does I will be more than happyy to plant some on him on the way there
I doubt you could tell the difference between weed and alfalfa...
Probably says about someone who indulges - that 'they're on the pot'
LOL
You are probably right about that. I don't have the need to alter my reality by using "weed"I am quite content with my reality as it is, not perfect but it will do and I am not a horse so I have any affinity to eat alfalfa. I sure you would like to "eat" Alfalfa but you want the one like the one that was in the "Our Gang" comedies of the past.
gee, you really told me off...
What is so special about Griner. There are several other Americans held in Russian jails. Some of them, unlike her(?) are being held unjustly.
Oh wai! I figured out the answer. The only reason the left cares about her(?) Is that she (?) Is black, she(?) Is a celebrity and she(?) Is being held for a drug crime and most importantly to the she(?) Is a lesbian.
She hides in the locker room to avoid the National Anthem
They play our anthem before games in Russia?
That explains why there is very little said about Mark Fogel. He doesn't fit any of that. He's just a teacher.