Panama Canal

[a1mamacat]

What the actual f#&@$.

Did he get clearance from Elon for this stunt?

[Weyoun]

You forgot to mention Greenland!

[Beebs52]

Eh, he'll get Panama costs lowered and everyone will have a positive publicity stunt, rather than negotiating privately. Greenland, whatever.

[Beebs52]

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/23/us/p ... canal.html


The Danish prime minister’s office was more circumspect, writing in a statement that the government was “looking forward to working with the new administration” and offering no further comment on Mr. Trump’s remarks.

[tlynn78]

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/23/us/p ... canal.html


The Danish prime minister’s office was more circumspect, writing in a statement that the government was “looking forward to working with the new administration” and offering no further comment on Mr. Trump’s remarks.

He's probably hopng for a Governorship, too.

[Weyoun]

[youtube][/youtube]

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/23/us/p ... canal.html


The Danish prime minister’s office was more circumspect, writing in a statement that the government was “looking forward to working with the new administration” and offering no further comment on Mr. Trump’s remarks.

He's probably hopng for a Governorship, too.

Maybe Benes was hoping to be governor of Sudetenland.

Remember- Trump is not a fascist, which is why he keeps talking about not using American troops to help the Ukraine, or whatever, but oddly does think we should take sovereign property belonging to Panama or Denmark. Go figure!

[a1mamacat]

You forgot to mention Greenland!

Well Canada and Greenland (via Denmark) are NATO members, so vice-president elect Trump can foad.

[BackInTex]

Why the Panama Canal talk?

We should retake control.

The waterway, originally an American possession, was given to Panama by President Jimmy Carter in two 1977 treaties that barely passed the two-thirds Senate majorities necessary for ratification.

The first treaty obliged Panama to operate the canal neutrally, with nondiscriminatory pricing, and allowed the United States to defend it from any threat that might interfere with its neutrality.

By 2022, additional Chinese investment in Panama flooded more than $2.5 billion of Beijing’s capital into the Canal Zone, where more than 40 other Chinese companies now operate.

In 2017, Panama encouraged China’s presence by cutting ties to Taiwan and switching its diplomatic recognition to the People’s Republic.

The threat to US interests is obvious

Why the Greenland talk?

Results

Mr Trump said the US needed to buy Greenland “for the purposes of national security and freedom throughout the world”.

Copenhagen announced in December it would boost defence spending in Greenland, the world’s largest island, by €1.3 billion (£1.04 billion) - just hours after Mr Trump said that Washington establishing “ownership and control” of the territory was an “absolute necessity”.

[Weyoun]

FWIW I completely agree regarding your general analysis of the Panama Canal. At a minimum needs to be secured against anti-Chinese forces.

More broadly, it shows the combined failure of American foreign policy in recent years, as we have let China buy influence. Folks like Biden seem oblivious or feel dirty about this, and would rather talk down to the Third world. See West Africa as of late. Folks like JD Vance will not make that better. They will say that if we do any investment abroad, even if it does build up influence and important areas, it would be money that could be used to open up some factory or such.

The Danish information could be just as easily read as shoring up support in Greenland against an American incursion