[aerio]

You forgot to mention how valuable they are as bargaining chips for mutual releases of prisoners.

Case in point, the American basketball player Brittney Griner was arrested in Russia on accusations of having a cannabis vape pen - and was exchanged for the world's most notorious arms dealer, Victor Bout.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/08/brittney-grine...

[genmud]

Thats kind of what I was getting at with the Canadians, but Griner is a good example too.