Trump threatens to try to take back the Panama Canal. Panama’s president balks at the suggestion
https://apnews.com/article/trump-panama-canal-turning-point-unity-97cba0d41f043dd9f156dc8355ee3f44#Open linkView original on lemmy.world325
Comments73https://apnews.com/article/trump-panama-canal-turning-point-unity-97cba0d41f043dd9f156dc8355ee3f44#Open linkView original on lemmy.world
He's not even back in office yet and I'm already so. Fucking. Exhausted.
Strap in. This ride down the drain hasn't even started.
Can someone please set up an AI to track everything he does and says, parse out the important bits, and give us the rundown? Then he can yell into the void all he wants and we can keep our sanity while staying informed.
Already done, though it's a real person, not an AI
https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/
Sign up to his email list, and get a summary in your inbox a couple of times a week
Support Matt! Been donating for 8 years.
Cheers!
Get off of social media?
If anything, these elections should teach us that we shouldn't be putting our faith in the political process. This generation is learning from experience why previous generations didn't care to discuss politics; it's all crapshoot and we are better off focusing on things we can have substantial impact on.
This should be teaching us to work at the local and state levels to change the political process.
You're right, to an extent.
The problem is that small-town politics are usually red-dominated; it'll be a big uphill battle to change their minds.
That's why more progressive people need to get involved at that level - to offset the MAGAts who are trying to insert their bullshit into school boards and municipal politics.
It takes very few people to change things at the local level.
This is true. It is all about social validation for them. Parroting Russian propaganda to TEAM PSYCHOCULT, flexing and intimidating to feel bad ass, screeching about quasi-racist epithet LIBERALS. Any attempt for "discussion" turns out exhausting and fruitless, as fascists dont give a shit about sincerity or even making sense.
Take a break from the internet fam
He's the fucking president elect, not some troll. You can't ignore him and make him go away.
You definitely can ignore [Trump quote of the day] and the 24h news cycle.
Reading about what's current once a week and otherwise just picking up stuff from conversations with your peers is enough.
There are two parts to my statement. You can ignore him... BUT he doesn't simply go away. He will be deciding us policy for the next two years.
You definitely can, but you'll have to uninstall Lemmy and all other social media for a while.
There are two parts to my statement. You can ignore him... BUT he doesn't simply go away. He will be deciding us policy for the next two years.
This is the one thing that's better about that other site. It's so big that you can ignore politics while still enjoying your communities.
I'm really missing keyword filtering from Lemmy. I had it in Infinity. I filtered so many keywords, from American politicians, bitcoin, and others. It was blissful.
Many of the Lemmy apps have keyword filtering. The one I know of is Thunder but I know there are others.
Nice, have to explore them. Jerboa is great but lacks that.
You can take a break from being offended too
It's not about "being offended". This moron is going to be the most powerful person in the county. What he says and thinks effects markets and trade.
He's throwing everything he can into the wind so that it distracts the American people from all the heinous shit his compatriots are doing. He has always been good at exactly one thing: distracting bluster. And he's a master at it.
He's just an entitled, stupid, obnoxious rich white man like there are hundreds of thousands in America. He's treating the presidency like a tv show and the country like something he owns. He sees his power as a way to get richer, so he'll bully other countries if they have something he wants. Strategy and geopolitics don't mean anything to him.
He’s not going to do anything. But we’re now talking about this instead of something else. Mission accomplished.
This is it folks, this is his "making us respected on the world's stage again." He's going to piss off absolutely everyone and balkanize the US.
I'd say it's been a good run, but it hasn't been.
This time you don't get the 'we didn't see it coming' excuse
Yo what the fuck. So he said it on truth aocial, then said all of the above during a speech today, and then went back to his social network for a follow up.
This entire thing is so fucked up.
A succinct and accurate summary of a trump presidency.
Four. More. Years of this bs. Ugh.
Hopefully just four.
It'll be either four or a total failure of US democracy. He'll be at his term limit.
So he has foolish ideas about ending existing wars and plans to start a few new ones.
He really can't wait to go full Hitler.
Wouldn't be the first time the U.S. ignored a treaty with a land full of indigenous people...
This is our actual national pastime. Baseball is just a fad
I’m struggling to squeeze the ground rule double into your analogy
Something about a bullshit rule that can be exploited by those in power.
Interesting how Latin American leaders are pushing back firmly against Trump's trash talk, whereas Canada and Europe have been almost totally spineless.
The US has fucked up Central America for a century now. They know what it means to let us do what we like to enrich our corporations at their expense.
Canada and Europe are still in denial at just how evil the US can be when we're led by a corporate stooge and populist "fuck the world" attitudes.
Canadian here .... most of Canada is pretty decent and this is coming from an indigenous Canadian.
We have the same problem as the US where a small group of wealthy people and corporations basically own and control the country against the wishes of the people. We're in the same situation as the Americans, ours just looks nicer but with less money.
Isn't Panama a tax haven? Does he really want to mess with a place where he probably has a ton of assets himself?
MP4s don't work embedded, did you mean to post a gif?
They work for me, guess it's browser dependent.
A Reddit image link here on the Fediverse? Ew.
Sure, reddit's not getting any money from me using it.
I'm sure the 25th Infantry Division is thrilled to know they'll be required to fight a jungle insurgency for an obsolete canal.
/s
Is 'obsolete' part of the /s or is it actually not as useful now?
It will be not even remotely useful then. It is a easy task for defending force/Guerilla force to disable the canal in a way that it can not be used for years,maybe even decades. Besides,none, absolutely none would insure ships going through it (ask the Egyptians during their various Suez crisis episodes).
So it will be absolutely useless then.
It is actually not as useful. Panamax ships were getting made 1985. But then they figured out they could actually ship more with larger designs even going around the "long way". So the route is longer but ships are faster and larger enough that the "bandwidth" is higher than going through the canal.
The canal is also running out of water. It's supplied by a lake at the highest point and every time they run the locks they lose water. They put some pumps in to bring water back up but it's not enough to offset the loss.
Honestly, I'd prolly die day 1, but as a Honduran, I'd probably consider volunteering to go to Panama and fight you guys if you do end up sending armed forces to take the Canal. Fuck you guys....I mean, not you specifically, or anyone here for that matter, but..... you know what I mean...
Yeah the US rep in South America isn't great...
Ignore him. He is only trying to distract from his latest failures. Expect more distractions as the failures mount up.
What even brought this up? Who in Trump's orbit is so concerned about the Panama Canal?
Has anyone told him that you first have to have a big dick before you start trying to swing it around?
Yeah.
Arnold Palmer.
Wildcard, Bitches!
He wants isolationism in Ukraine and extreme interventionism in Panama... The thing they have in common? Imperialism. Imperialists help other imperialists, then go on to do a little imperialising of their own.
Come-on now, imperialists were all about helping Ukraine too. Proxy wars with client states to deplete your enemies is pretty much imperial 101.
Who is invading whom, again? Russia are the imperialists here. They could leave at any time. Everything that is happening to Russia, they are doing to themselves. Nobody in Europe or the US gives a shit about taking control of Russia or its land. They just want Russia to stay the fuck on its side of the border.
I'm telling you your fundamental premise is flawed. Imperialism isn't an ideology that finds allies in other empires just because they're both imperial. Go on Reddit and look for comments about how funding Ukraine is the best military investment they could make if you don't believe me. You've got imperialists on your side too ya know.
Not only Panama, the orange shit stain wants Greenland too!
He's trying to buy Greenland at least, while annexing the Panama canal.
From a Risk/HoI4 point of view it makes sense, take all territory down to Panama so you can place all your army stacks there so the front is real small.
But this would go as well as when Russia tried to invade it's neighbor: not good at all.
The point is to water down the idea of imperialism, which serves Russia and China.
The same way they tried with impeachment over everything, the same way they're watering down the concept of the pardon, the same way they watered down the term "coup".
Didn't the US take Panama already?
I mean they took Panama, but it's still Panama, hint, hint nudge nudge.
From Columbia, yes, the United States took the Central American portion of Columbia and made Panama. Then built the Canal and leased it from Panama for 100 years.
Edit: there is a lot more to it but that's the gist of it.
What?
I mean wft are you talking about ?
Well, yes, there's definitely a hell of a lot more of a fuck about it.
Good grief. Is this what the US education has become ?
Grand Columbia, the Panama Canal project, a Bull Moose, $40 million, Manuel Amador, The Torrijos Carter Treaties, and a little bit of hyperbole.
Your mom is what US education has come to.
Don't anyone panic! There are still 3 death row inmates to do something about and a whole constitution to scramble.
As they should. Chump is fucking insane.