A Big Day

Yesterday, a prisoner swap brought 16 people out of Russian custody and returned eight Kremlin agents to Putin. The 16 are admirable, some of them amazingly so; the eight are foul, murderous characters. There is a great difference between what Putin values and what the democracies do. Many people made this point yesterday, starting with President Biden.

What should democracies do in response to hostage-taking by tyrants? There is a great and interesting debate over this question. Lots of people feel absolutely sure they know the answer. But when you are the “decider,” to use a word associated with George W. Bush — things get complicated.

Ronald Reagan, for one, found this out, when we had hostages in Lebanon. Jimmy Carter, of course, had agonizing decisions to make (Iran). It’s easy to judge from the sidelines. But when you are “behind the desk,” as the first Bush used to say . . .

Biden said yesterday, “Deals like this one come with tough calls.” The deal involved seven different countries — it was not just a U.S.–Russia matter. Biden said that Germany and Slovenia, in particular, had to make tough, agonizing calls.

He also noted this — not unimportant: “Today is a powerful example of why it’s vital to have friends in this world.” Putin has lots of allies: China, North Korea, Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, and so on. The worst regimes on the planet. Democrats ought to band together as well.

Like everyone else, I have views about the debate: the debate concerning democracies and how we should respond to tyrants’ hostage-taking. For now, however, I think of what Mrs. Thatcher said, after a good day for Britain in the Falklands War: “Just rejoice at that news, and congratulate our soldiers and marines.”

• When news of the prisoner swap came, I thought of Yulia Navalnaya and their children, Dasha and Zakhar. When I say “their,” I am referring to Yulia and her martyred husband, Alexei Navalny. He was to be part of the swap, as it was being negotiated. But he breathed his last in February.

I met Mrs. Navalnaya at the Oslo Freedom Forum in June. A woman of unbelievable dignity and determination — and sorrow.

• For 30 years, I have covered international affairs, and I have studied them for a lot longer. But it was strange, very strange, to know someone who was a political prisoner. To be a personal friend of a political prisoner. I am speaking of Vladimir Kara-Murza.

Kyle Parker, too, is a friend of Vladimir’s (and a friend of mine). He speaks for me, in what he says here:

Vladimir says he was sure he was going to die in prison. So were many others.

• No one worked harder for Vladimir’s release than Evgenia herself (Mrs. Kara-Murza). She is a great lady, following in the footsteps of Avital Sharansky and other wives of political prisoners. Many, many others worked hard as well: Bill Browder, Thor Halvorssen, Garry Kasparov, Kyle Parker, Hillel Neuer — on and on. My appreciation of them is immeasurable.

• I thought of Sharansky yesterday. He was released at the Glienicke Bridge (on February 11, 1986, in a prisoner swap). KGB agents told him to walk straight to a waiting car, without making any turns. In one last act of defiance, Sharansky — one of the greatest men of our time — zig-zagged all the way.

• Kremlin agents arrested Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal correspondent, on March 29, 2023. My mind flew to Nicholas Daniloff — arrested by the same sort of agents on September 2, 1986. He was a correspondent for U.S. News & World Report. I wrote of that case the day after Gershkovich was arrested.

I recalled what Secretary of State George P. Shultz said in a speech at Harvard, on September 6. (I was in the audience.)

I know that I’ve come to the right place to voice a message of outrage at the detention of Nick Daniloff, Harvard class of 1956. The cynical arrest of an innocent American journalist reminds us of what we already know: Our traditions of free inquiry and openness are spurned by the Soviets, showing the dark side of a society prepared to resort to hostage-taking as an instrument of policy.

Shultz continued,

Let there be no talk of a trade for Daniloff. We and Nick have ruled that out. The Soviet leadership must find the wisdom to settle this case quickly in accordance with the dictates of simple human decency and of civilized national behavior.

Of course, there was a trade.

After quoting Shultz, I wrote,

For 20 years, people of a certain type have told me, “Today’s Russia is not the Soviet Union, you know!” I have typically responded, “I know. Does Putin?” There was sympathy for the Kremlin in the ’80s (all around me); there is sympathy for the Kremlin now.

• Above my post here is a photo by Kevin Mohatt. Such a moment deserves another shot, this one by Al Drago:

• Do you know who Alexandra Skochilenko is? Konstanin Sonin — the Moscow-born professor of economics at the University of Chicago — does:

• Donald Trump did not seem in an especially celebratory mood yesterday:

I made a note of something last May. It is possibly relevant to Trump’s mood yesterday:

Trump’s running mate, J. D. Vance, had a spin for the ages:

“We certainly want these Americans to come back home. It was ridiculous that they were in prison to begin with. But we have to ask ourselves: Why are they coming home? And I think it’s because bad guys all over the world recognize Donald Trump’s about to be back in office, so they’re cleaning house. That’s a good thing, and I think it’s a testament to Donald Trump’s strength.”

Does anyone have any doubt that, if Trump had presided over the deal that was consummated yesterday, his supporters would say it was one of the greatest feats of diplomacy ever recorded?

• Viewing the behavior of Trump, Vance, and others, I thought of Ronald Reagan, in January 1984. One of our airmen, Bobby Goodman, Lieutenant Robert O. Goodman, had been shot down over Lebanon and taken prisoner by Syria. After 30 days, Assad (Hafez) handed him over to Jesse Jackson. A lot of Republicans were unhappy about this. (My college-sophomore self may have been one of them.) Reagan, however, was utterly gracious.

A reporter asked him, “Did Reverend Jackson do a good job?” Reagan answered, “Of course! You don’t quarrel with success.” And he welcomed Jackson to the White House, for a ceremony with Lieutenant Goodman.

• Yesterday, after the consummation of the prisoner swap, Vice President Harris spoke with Yulia Navalnaya. It must have been a bittersweet day for Yulia: Other husbands were returning to their wives and children. Hers would not be. Recounting their conversation, Harris said that she had told Yulia this: “The United States stands with all of those who are fighting for freedom in Russia.”

In my view, this is the way Americans should talk, no matter what party they belong to. Some of us find it important. I am forever quoting a Lyle Lovett lyric: “It may be no big deal to you, but it’s a very big deal to me.”

No one can tell another person what ought to be important to him — what ought to be more important or less important. Everyone has his own sense of these things. I have learned this over the years, sometimes painfully.

Anyway, for now, I am back with Thatcher: “Rejoice.”