PANAMA CANAL: WHO'S IS IT, REALLY??

So, you might be aware of some of the controversy surrounding the Canal, and how President Trump is saying that "China controls it" ... 

The mass media are taking him very serious .... again.  I tend to listen to him like I'm listening to they typical pre-teen ... a tad awkward with the words - almost to the point of lieing, but not really.

I believe what he is saying is that China is getting a break on fees that the US and other countries are not ... after all, some of the largest ships out there can pay up around $1 Million to go through the Canal .... that's a pretty hefty Toll Road!!!

So I'm watching Friday's (Jan 30th) episode of Special Report ... I know, I am so far behind again ... and they had some pretty interesting historical facts to share.

Such as .... it took 10 years for the USA to finish carving out the canal ... what they didn't say was that it had been started years before this by the French, but they pulled out when people began getting very sick and rumors were it was because it was cursed.

They also said that in 1977 an agreement was signed wih the country of Panama which gave to canal to them .... oh let's see, who was President back then .... hmmmm .... President Carter .... yup, he which just passed .... I'm telling you, before Biden, he was the worst President of my lifetime .... anyways, the agreement was that Panama would get full control of the canal back in 1999 ... hmmm, now which President would that be, again?   Ah, Bill Clinton!!! Of course, there was no way for Carter to know who was going to be in the office, nor which party it would be ....

BUT - here's where Trump has gotten his facts a tad mixed up .... and the Press just won't tell the truth about it ...

Panama began to take bids in the 1990s to see who they could get to be in charge of the PORTS which hold/manage the CONTAINER/CARGO VESSELS ... so basically, nearly every ship which goes through ...

And the winner of the contract was Hutchison Whampoa .... don't let the name fool you though - it is a HONG KONG based company ... Hong Kong was handed back to China in 1997, from Britian (long story, brings up the Opium Wars) ....

Now part of the Treaty which gave the canal back to Panama said that the canal had to be operated UNBIASED of who/what was being transported ...

So .... IF Trump can prove that there is a bias going on .... I wonder if the ownership of the canal would then revert back to the USA????

I do not know anything about the agreement ... but it's a good question!

Another interesting point in the story - the Panama government is suppose to be seeing BILLIONS from the canal in all the fees it recieves ... but the general public sees NONE of it, they say ...

In fact, the person they interviewed said all the money goes to the politicans and the rich ... and IF it came down to a fight where the general public would have to do all the fighting - well, according to him, NO ONE would put up much of a struggle.  Not for the people who are in charge right now.

It sounds like they are having the same issues as the USA during he Vietnam War ... 

we will have to see what happenes - Marco Rubio, now Secretary of State, is down there talking to the Panamian Prime Minister/President .... I don't know what the name of the office is ... 

Oh, the Panamian guy - he says that he will NOT be talking about the canal ... AT ALL with Rubio ....
Rubio, seems to think they will be ....

We will see ....