What country should Trump try and acquire next?
Trump the Second’s ‘empire first-ism’ now runs to Gaza, including emptying the Palestinian territory of its people. Before Gaza, Trump had his eye on the Panama Canal, which has a long and complex history with the United States. Excerpts from This Week, Those Books. Sign up at https://thisweekthosebooks.substack.com/ and get the post and readalong the day it drops
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The Big Story:
Donald Trump’s promise to take “back” the Panama Canal makes him the first US president in more than a century to seek territorial expansion and signals his intention to begin a new American imperial age.
It’s significant Trump has picked the Panama Canal to indicate, in his words, that America will “once again consider itself a growing nation”. For, Panama, the country, is the creation of the United States during a less-examined colonialist period in its history.
…Experts say the Canal, an 80-km link between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, has long reflected Washington’s often racist view of Central America …
This Week, Those Books:
A native Panamian tells the real story about America and the Panama Canal.
A le Carre novel set in Panama finds the situation much the same.
The Back Story:
Some 5% of all global maritime traffic passes through the Panama Canal, which is considered one of the great engineering feats of all time.
The US imported thousands of Caribbean workers to build the Canal, which opened in 1914… Washington has long treated Panama as the country that just happened to surround the Canal.
Since 1999, the Panama Canal has been fully owned and administered by Panama, under a 1970s treaty negotiated by…
This Week’s Books:
How Wall Street Created a Nation: J.P. Morgan, Teddy Roosevelt, and the Panama Canal
By: Ovidio Diaz Espino
Publisher: Basic Books
Year: 2001
Ovidio Diaz Espino’s gripping account tells a story of greed and colonial ambition. US investors secretly incited and funded ‘revolutionaries’ seeking independence from Colombia, actions which were supported by President Roosevelt and backed by US warships. This led to the 1903 creation of the country of Panama.
Diaz Espino, a native Panamanian, documents payments to the ‘revolutionaries’ by the investor syndicate, which included J P Morgan…
The Tailor of Panama
By: John le Carre
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Year: 1996
From the epigraph at the start — “Quel Panama!” — the novel trips along lightly in the Panamanian sunlight, while the United States casts a long shadow over the country’s landscape and life.
The opening epigraph is explained as follows: “Expression current in France in the early years of this century: describes an insoluble mess”. That’s what Panama might be with all the corruption and laundered money, except that it is very charming.
Charming too is the main protagonist, Englishman Harry Pendel. Husband of born-and-bred [Canal] Zonian Louisa, Harry presides over Pendel & Braithwaite Co. Limitada, Tailors to Royalty, formerly of Savile Row…This merry read from John le Carre was written just under 30 years ago…
Choice quote:
“Why can’t Panama invest in Panama?” she complained…“Why do we have to have Asians do it? We’re rich enough. We’ve got one hundred and seven banks in this town alone, don’t we? Why can’t we use our own drug money to build our own factories and schools and hospitals?”…
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Originally published at This Week, Those Books
