After reflection upon the prisoner swap for several hours, not only have I come to the conclusion that we did the right thing, no matter WHO or WHAT we gave back to Russia.
This time other NATO countries were involved, and we used our political, economic, and military power and intimidation to get them to agree to the deal...
This may come back to haunt us down the road, but we will deal with that if and when it ever happens.
In the meantime, we see and believe that Russia had arrested and illegally detained (based upon USA judicial rules of evidence) two American citizens - one of which may or may not have actually been a spy - but the charges were bogus, nonetheless.
What pops into my mind, are the bogus charges we levelled against Donald Trump in the hopes of showing the American people that he should not be a candidate for President. Then, the juries who were seated for the trials used their bias to convict him of several crimes, that will be overturned upon appeal - obviously not caring about the rule of law or the integrity of our judicial system.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE USA AND RUSSIA IN THIS REGARD???
I would venture to say NOTHING...
Unfortunately, the case against Donald Trump was divided along political party lines which means HALF OF THE USA wants the USA to A CT LIKE RUSSIA when it comes to JUDICIAL LAW and perverting the law to attempt to eliminate political opponents.
For me, this is scary.
While many of the people involved in hating Trump are uneducated and ill-informed, the mainstream media and their political leaders (who are educated and well informed) have strongly influenced the way these people feel.
Again, it is hard to believe that something like this could happen in the USA.
It it not hard to believe that something like this could happen in Russia.
Is the USA, for a variety of reasons, moving into the direction of becoming more and more like their global enemies?
If they are... while technology is moving us forwards, politics and the media are moving us backwards when it comes to power and control over the people.
Soon the world will all be like RUSSIA... and while it may take several decades, it is bound to happen based upon our current course of actions.