Important Takeaways:
- Panama’s president vowed Sunday to end a key development deal with China after meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and after complaints from President Donald Trump that the Latin American country had ceded control over its critical shipping canal to Beijing.
- “I think this visit opens the door to build new relations … and try to increase as much as possible U.S. investments in Panama,” Mulino told reporters after meeting with Rubio on his first international trip since being confirmed.
- Trump has complained that China exerts control over the canal and charges U.S. ships six-figure premiums to cross Panama’s isthmus. The canal was built over several decades by the U.S. and completed in 1914 but handed over to Panama during the Carter administration.
- The bill, named the Panama Canal Repurchase Act, was introduced by Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., a member of the Select Committee on China and the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
- If it becomes law, the bill would give the president authority to act in coordination with the secretary of state to “initiate and conduct negotiations with appropriate counterparts of the Government of the Republic of Panama to reacquire the Panama Canal.”
- The U.S. Department of State estimates around 72% of all vessels that travel through the Panama Canal are coming from or going to a U.S. port.
- Noting the canal’s strategic importance to the United States, Johnson’s office also noted how the waterway is a key transit point for U.S. Coast Guard and Department of Defense vessels.
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Important Takeaways:
- “Unfortunately, the Chinese Communist Party is just filthy all over there. They control the ports at both ends of the Panama Canal — both the Atlantic and Pacific ends,” Johnson said, describing the current scope of Chinese influence.
- “Lots of reports about China cozying up to Panama, having more and more influence over how the canal is operated, and 40 percent of all American container loads that leave our country go through the Panama Canal. It is an asset that is uniquely important to us,” he said, explaining that “73 percent of all the traffic in the Panama Canal is American traffic, either imports or exports, overwhelmingly American energy, liquefied natural gas and American agricultural products.”
- “And as you noted, we used to control the thing until 1999,” he said, asserting that he believes President-elect Donald Trump “should have the ability to go evaluate whether or not we can get a willing buyer, willing seller situation.”
- Host and Breitbart News Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle noted that he witnessed the Chinese influence firsthand when visiting the canal in 2017.
- “I think most of, if not all of the ships were all carrying Chinese flags. I was just blown away by it,” he remarked.
- “Well, and you’re right to bring up how many ships are flagged with the Chinese flag,” Johnson responded, although he explained that the scope of the issue is much bigger.
- “And this is not just a problem for the Panama Canal. It’s a problem for supply chains. Generally, during COVID, you had Chinese carriers who were discriminating against American goods at our own ports,” the congressman said, revealing that 60 percent of U.S. container loads that were going back to Asia “were going back empty at a time when American ag[ricultural] products were rotting on the dock, literally rotting on the dock. They were doing that purposely.”
- “My bill, the Ocean Shipping Reform Act, passed last Congress, was signed into law and really forced the Chinese to start to treat us more fairly
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Important Takeaways:
- First, President-elect Donald Trump tweaked Canada’s far-left Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about becoming governor of the 51st state of the United States of America. Then he said that the Panama Canal should once again come under American control. Make that the 52nd state. And now, are you ready for a 53rd state? Last month, Trump renewed a call he made during his first term: that the United States should buy Greenland from Denmark. Could the man possibly be serious?
- [Trump’s] question to Trudeau was pointed, and remains unanswered: “So your country can’t survive unless it’s ripping off the U.S. to the tune of $100 billion?”
- Trump explained that the Panama Canal “was given to Panama and to the people of Panama, but it has provisions, you gotta treat us fairly and they haven’t treated us fairly.”
- “If the principles, both moral and legal, of this magnanimous gesture of giving are not followed, then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to the United States of America in full, quickly, and without question.”
- Regarding Greenland, it’s once again the same story. Harvard International Review noted in an August 2024 article:
- “While Greenland remains closely linked to Scandinavia as an autonomous region of Denmark, global powers such as the United States, China, and Russia are racing to extend military and economic influence in the region as it becomes more habitable.”
- There’s the bottom line: if the United States doesn’t control the Panama Canal and Greenland, China or Russia likely will, and the consequences could be severe both for the American economy and for national security.
- Trump is playing the great power game at a time when the left wants nothing more than for America to stand down and let China be the world’s great power. It’s yet another reason why leftists hate him so passionately.
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Important Takeaways:
- Huge backlog of 200 ships are stuck trying to enter the Panama Canal as they wait WEEKS amid slowed traffic due to drought: Delays set to wipe $200M off profits and cause spike in US grocery and parcel prices
- More than 200 ships are stuck on both sides of the Panama Canal after authorities capped the number of crossings because of a serious drought.
- The large vessels, thought to be carrying millions of dollars’ worth of goods, are locked in a traffic jam with some waiting for weeks to cross.
- Vessel-tracking data highlights the extent of the issue with hundreds of ships, mainly bulk cargo or gas carriers, seen waiting near entrances to the canal on the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.
- The number of daily transits through the canal has been capped at 32 by water authorities in a bid to conserve water.
- Panama is set to lose $200million in revenue from the delays and it could cause a spike in US grocery and parcel prices as extra fees are hiked on to shipping costs.
- Without enough rain, the ship transits are cut and the lucky ones that cross pay hefty premiums.
- This increases transport costs for cargo owners like American oil as well as Asian importers and gas exporters.
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Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.
Important Takeaways:
- Iran, China and the Panama Canal: Is the US Being Encircled?
- Iran and China are on the move again. Last Friday, to the apparent surprise of the Biden Administration, China asserted its influence in the Middle East by entering the vacuum created by US President Joe Biden, and brokering a deal between Iran and its threatened neighbor, Saudi Arabia, which Biden had vowed to make a “pariah,” and “end the sale of material” to it. The Saudis heard.
- Iran, meanwhile, has not been shy about its mission to “export the revolution” to the Western hemisphere. Most recently, in February, two Iranian warships docked in Brazil, under its recently elected socialist President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva. From there, the ships will reportedly proceed to the Panama Canal, already controlled at both ends by Iran’s newish ally — the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
- Da Silva has refused to join the US-led sanctions regime against Tehran, and has stated repeatedly that Iran has the right to develop peaceful nuclear programs
- According to Bloomberg:
- “China has bought up so much copper, pork, and soy—and constructed so many roads, trains, power grids, and bridges—that it’s surpassed the U.S. as South America’s largest trade partner and is now the single biggest trader with Brazil, Chile, and Peru.”
- Seven South American countries – Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina and Uruguay — are already part of the China’s Belt and Road Initiative
- Add to this that China is also apparently eager to increase its economic and military presence in the Caribbean.
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Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.
Important Takeaways:
- Iran To Station Warships in Panama Canal
- Iran entering Pacific Ocean for first time
- Iran’s navy is set to station warships for the first time in the Panama Canal, a critical trade route in America’s backyard that has never before seen an Iranian military presence.
- Iran in recent years has placed a greater focus on moving its military into Latin American territories as it strengthens relations with anti-American dictators in the region, most notably in Venezuela.
- Latin American dictatorships have also served as a hub for Iran to evade U.S. sanctions and make arms deals.
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The government of Panama has ordered the closing of all schools in an attempt to help the country in the midst of a major power crisis connected to a national drought.
Nearly 60% of Panama’s power is generated through hydroelectric plants . The drought is causing significant problems for the plants as demand is far outpacing their ability to produce. The government has declared a drought emergency for over 1/3 of the country. Continue reading →