Most of the (few) readers of this blog are certainly aware that in 1978 the United States agreed to transfer full control the Panama Canal back to Panama in 1999. (I'll discuss the reasons benind that agreement that in another post, if anyone's interested.) The resulting treaties were controversial. Most Americans forgot about it right quick, but the Texas Republican party continued to rant about it until 2003. From their old platform:
“The Party urges Congress to support HJR 77, the Panama and America Security Act, which declare the Carter-Torrijos Treaty null and void. We support re-establishing United States control over the Canal in order to retain our military bases in Panama, to preserve our right to transit through the Canal, and to prevent the establishment of Chinese missile bases in Panama.”
That's a whole lotta crazy. But it represented a defensive nationalism that seemed pretty much to be over. After all, the United States is not a country that harkens back to a grand imperial past. We are not a country bothered by our military defeats. We are not a country afraid to recognize past wrongs, we move past ours, we ask others to move past theirs. Nor does relative decline bother Americans; if we become more prosperous and more secure, there is no worry that others have overtaken us.
Oh, wait! That's some other country I'm talking about. Maybe Finland. We get things like this:
My oh my. But thank God for Geraldo. America owes a lot to half-Jewish half-Latin guys from the New York metropolitan area, that's what I always say.
Well, since you brought up Finland, the local canal treaty has sometimes
created a few issues , but at the moment, it seems that things are back in order again. And no Russian politician is going crazy because part of the Sacred Rodina has once again been leased to those NATO-flirting former Nazi allies who spout out anti-Russian diatribe on regular basis.
(Chinese missile bases in Panama? Why not North Korean, while at it?)
Cheers,
J. J.
Posted by: Jussi Jalonen | May 01, 2009 at 01:32 AM
Obama's conciliatory tone angers the right, and makes a lot of people glad that we're no longer being nasty mean bullies, but the great thing about it is that he's still quietly and coldly advancing America's national interests but without the GW bluster. And that is change we can believe in.
I also love theater like this, because it gives Barry more scope to extend the hand of friendship while also still dropping missiles into the bad guys' living rooms in Waziristan. AQ of course hates it.
Have I mentioned that I kind of love the way BHO is working the far right and our enemies overseas?
Posted by: Andrew R. | May 01, 2009 at 07:55 AM