Panama Canal: A 'Strategic Win' or US Imperialism, Again?
📰 THE STORY: Fox News celebrated a Panama court's decision to revoke a concession held by a Hong Kong-based company, Hutchison Ports, effectively removing Chinese influence from the critical Panama Canal ports. The article frames this as a 'strategic win' for then-President Trump's administration against China. 🔍 WHAT THEY'RE NOT TELLING YOU: Historical Context: The US has historically treated
the Panama Canal as its own strategic asset, not a shared international waterway. In 1903, the US orchestrated Panama's secession from Colombia to secure rights for the canal's construction and control. This included establishing the 'Canal Zone,' effectively a US territory within Panama, until the 1977 Torrijos-Carter Treaties began the process of transferring full control, completed in 1999. Any
challenge to US dominance, whether from China or any other power, is met with the full force of its geopolitical and economic influence, often under the guise of local legal processes. Double Standard: Imagine if China celebrated a court in, say, the Strait of Malacca, ousting a US firm from a key port, framing it as a 'strategic win' against American global trade dominance. Western media would
decry it as an act of economic warfare, an assault on free trade, and a violation of sovereignty. Yet, when the US orchestrates such maneuvers, it's lauded as securing 'national interests' or maintaining 'regional stability.' The 'rules-based order' appears to apply only when those rules favor Western hegemony. Follow the Money: Beyond direct lobbying, the pressure exerted by the US on Latin