Evan Gershkovich released in prisoner swap

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was imprisoned in Russia on trumped up espionage charges, has been released as part of a multi-party prisoner exchange.

Since Donald Trump “promised” during the June debate that Gershkovich would be released as soon as he became president, this development calls for a bit of kremlinology, as it suggests that Trump’s Russian handlers are not feeling particularly enthusiastic about the chances of re-installing their creature in the White House in January.

I read recently an account of the Francis Gary Powers U-2 incident, which included a story about how when Khrushchev met JFK, he told him he had gotten him elected president by waiting to exchange Powers for Rudolph Abel until after the 1960 election. Kennedy was unsure at the time whether this was meant seriously, or I suppose literally, as we would say today.