Editorial: This trade is not finished, Mr. President
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A Rube Goldberg machine is the intersection of inspired engineering, cartoonish imagination and childlike faith.
Familiar from Goldberg’s own illustrations in the 1930s and Saturday morning programming like “Tom and Jerry” and “Scooby-Doo,” they are contraptions that string together improbable parts to accomplish a seemingly simple task. A marble rolls down a ramp and hits a row of dominoes, falling onto a scale, lighting a candle, etc., until a door opens.
The multinational prisoner trade that happened Thursday is the political equivalent.
The task was simple: Bring home Americans imprisoned in Russia.
It was also impossible: Get Russia to agree.
It was the work of months to bring Russia to the table along with Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway and Turkey. Germany was crucial to get Vladimir Putin hit man Vadim Krasikov out of prison. In all, 24 people were moved around.
The two highest-profile Americans — Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and Marine veteran Paul Whelan — were joined by Radio Free Europe journalist Alsu Kurmasheva and Washington Post columnist Vladimir Kara-Murza.
It was supposed to include Putin critic Alexei Navalny. There was fear it would all fall apart when he died in a Russian prison in February. Multiple news outlets report President Joe Biden rallied support to keep the plan on track.
“Alliances make people safer,” Biden said in a White House speech Thursday.
But of all the wheels and widgets and moving parts, one was left in the box. Marc Fogel, 62, taught history at the Anglo-American School of Moscow. He was arrested in a Russian airport in 2021 for having 17 grams of legally dispensed medical marijuana used to treat decades-long pain. He remains in prison.
Russia has stern laws on drugs. It has, however, made concessions for international travel in the past. Medical marijuana was allowed in 2018 during the World Cup. Russia delivers gruff penalties, but Fogel’s 14-year sentence was close to the 16 years Gershkovich and Whelan received for espionage convictions. WNBA star Brittney Griner got nine years for the same crime. She was brought home in a trade in 2022.
The Fogel family and supporters are justifiably confused and crushed that Marc did not come home.
Biden and his State Department have addressed Fogel’s status more this week than they have in the three years since his arrest as the media question those left behind.
“Do you want me to tell you ahead of time so he doesn’t get out?” Biden snapped back at reporters Friday.
It suggests action. It builds hope. But this is a cruel contraption to construct if Fogel is not going to be on a plane soon.
Fogel’s mother is 95 years old. She has pleaded for Biden to bring her son home. She fears for his life — with reason, as he has been hospitalized four times in three years.
Biden assembled the marbles and ramps and dominoes that made the 24-person trade work. But, until Fogel is back in Oakmont with his sons, his wife, his sisters and the mother who refuses to give up hope that he will come home, this Rube Goldberg machine is not complete.
Bring Marc Fogel home, Mr. President. Do it for the political win. Do it for the humanitarian reasons your State Department has used to appeal to Russia. Do it for his kids and his wife and his mom. There are more than enough reasons to bring home a middle-class teacher who spent his career educating American diplomats’ children.
There is no reason to leave him behind.