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Panama Canal expansion project: Have American fears come true?
BBC ^ | 13 Jan 2014 | Thomas Sparrow

Posted on 01/14/2014 7:28:00 AM PST by Theoria

More than four years ago, when Panama awarded the lucrative contract to expand its inter-oceanic canal to a mostly European consortium, the United States was not pleased.

An American company whose bid was unsuccessful, Bechtel, thought the winning tender would barely pay for pouring the concrete and that the consortium would probably try to renegotiate the price at some stage during the construction process.

Some might argue that those American doubts have been justified, especially in view of the ongoing economic row between the European consortium and the Panamanian government agency that runs the waterway. The spat has threatened to bring work to a grinding halt, unless the two parties manage to resolve a $1.6bn (£1bn) dispute over cost overruns.

A series of WikiLeaks cables from the US embassy in Panama that were revealed by the Spanish daily newspaper El Pais in 2010 provided an inside view of the frustration that was felt in the US at not having been able to get that contract. Bechtel had been strongly backed by the US embassy, which was fully aware that the deal would have meant millions of dollars' worth of business for US suppliers.US ports expanding

Instead, the contract was secured by the GUPC consortium (co-led by Spanish company Sacyr and Italian Impregilo), which had offered considerably less money than other bidders but whose proposal, in the opinion of the canal authority, had the best value. GUPC stressed that the project would be built to the highest quality standards, but even so, the decision did not go down well in the US.

The cables also revealed that the US has retained a "fundamental interest" in the expansion project.

(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Extended News; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: canal; nicaragua; panama; panamacanal
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To: Eric in the Ozarks; jdege

I have a map of the survey made by the US Engineer office “Nicaragua Canal Survey 1929-1931” scale 1: 253,440.

The route Begins at Brito on the west on the Rio Grande and traverses east not far north of the Costa Rican Border, through Lake Nicaragua thence along the Rio SanJuan to just North of Grey Town. For much of the distance , the San Juan river is the international border.


21 posted on 01/14/2014 8:20:43 AM PST by bert ((K.E. N.P. N.C. +12 ..... History is a process, not an event)
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To: Don Corleone

What happened to the Monroe doctrine — is it still in the books?

I forgot — no nads to support or enforce it.


22 posted on 01/14/2014 8:24:14 AM PST by 353FMG
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To: AEMILIUS PAULUS
There was no “Panama” until we created it.
23 posted on 01/14/2014 8:28:24 AM PST by Eric in the Ozarks ("Say Not the Struggle Naught Availeth.")
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To: Theoria

Thanks to Amazon we don't need no STINK' CANAL!
24 posted on 01/14/2014 8:34:30 AM PST by Kartographer ("We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.")
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To: Theoria; All

So the Free Trade Communists...who support Free Trade with Communist China...thought that by aiding the Communist Chinese financially...would mean they would give US companies contracts to work on the Chinese Canal in Panama?

The Chinese Canal in Panama is basically owned by the Communist Chinese....

Free Traders once again proving to be the most ignorant people on the planet....this nonsense is direct result of Free Trade Communists


25 posted on 01/14/2014 8:34:58 AM PST by SeminoleCounty (Amnesty And Not Ending ObamaCare Will Kill GOP In 2014)
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To: Eric in the Ozarks
We took "Panama" from the Colombians and gave it to the "Panamanians" with an important provision - that we have a 10-mile wide swath through the isthmus for 99 years with an option (ours) for an additional 99 more.

Thanks Jimmy for giving Panama back to the "Panamanians" so that Latin America would finally start to love us.

Why the Colombians make a huge stink about that is hard to understand.

26 posted on 01/14/2014 8:37:31 AM PST by corkoman
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To: AEMILIUS PAULUS

But wasn’t the original deal between the US and Panama, that the US would control the canal for something like 75 years, after which the US would relinquish control of the canal to Panama?


27 posted on 01/14/2014 8:37:58 AM PST by Age of Reason
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To: Age of Reason

See # 26.


28 posted on 01/14/2014 8:40:57 AM PST by Eric in the Ozarks ("Say Not the Struggle Naught Availeth.")
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To: corkoman

29 posted on 01/14/2014 8:43:11 AM PST by Theoria (End Socialism : No more GOP and Dem candidates)
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To: bestintxas
China is already building in Nicaragua a new canal

Look for Van Hallen's new hit, "Nicaragua"

30 posted on 01/14/2014 8:44:20 AM PST by dragonblustar (Psalm 37:7 ~~~~~Obama is the 12th Iman~~~~~~~)
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To: 353FMG

The Monroe doctrine was never “on the books”. It was a foreign policy doctrine espoused by Monroe that was essentially the idea that the entire western hemisphere was an American sphere of interest and that European intervention in the Western Hemisphere would be opposed by the US. Obviously, Monroe lacked the power to implement this. There was still plenty of European intervention in the Western US, the Carribean, Alaska, and Latin America at that time. It became more of a reality after the Latin American countries gained independence, but even then was never really fully implemented, as the French invasion and occupation of Mexico in the 1860’s as well as Soviet actions in Cuba and Nicaragua attest.


31 posted on 01/14/2014 8:49:08 AM PST by stremba
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To: Mouton

My fury with Carter over this is tempered by the fact the Canal would have gone to Panama in 2002 if he had done nothing at all. We only had a 99-year lease on it.

This is very similar to Hong Kong, UK and China. Eventually Hong Kong was going to be repatriated to China no matter what the UK did.


32 posted on 01/14/2014 8:54:54 AM PST by Cyber Liberty (H.L. Mencken: "The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule.")
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To: corkoman

First I’d heard about the option for another 99 years....


33 posted on 01/14/2014 8:56:22 AM PST by Cyber Liberty (H.L. Mencken: "The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule.")
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To: Theoria

http://www.pancanal.com/eng/photo/camera-java.html

Enjoy these live views of the canal.

If you pick the Miraflores Hires view, you can see the expansion canal to the far left.

The view is to the northwest towards the Atlantic(!?)

(some are surprised that the canal runs from the Atlantic souteast to the Pacific)


34 posted on 01/14/2014 9:00:59 AM PST by Conan the Librarian (The Best in Life is to crush my enemies, see them driven before me, and the Dewey Decimal System)
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To: Uncle Chip

You’re correct = the “French Cut” was the abortive attempt pushed by De Lesseps. Col Goethals did an admirable job. “Path Between The Seas” by McCullough is a terrific story of how the Canal was built and the amazing advances in malaria and yellow fever control and treatment that came out of it by people like Dr. Gorgas. My daughter was born at Gorgas Army Medical Center in the old Canal Zone.


35 posted on 01/14/2014 9:05:18 AM PST by jagusafr (the American Trinity (Liberty, In G0D We Trust, E Pluribus Unum))
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To: stremba

Thanks for the well-reasoned dissertation.


36 posted on 01/14/2014 9:06:35 AM PST by 353FMG
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To: AEMILIUS PAULUS

You forgot induced vomitting so one could do these things all over again.


37 posted on 01/14/2014 9:17:03 AM PST by certrtwngnut (')
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To: Mouton
On who will give it away.
38 posted on 01/14/2014 9:17:39 AM PST by arthurus (Read Hazlitt's Economics In One Lesson ONLINEhttp://steshaw.org/economics-in-one-lesson/)
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To: corkoman
We took "Panama" from the Colombians and gave it to the "Panamanians" with an important provision - that we have a 10-mile wide swath through the isthmus for 99 years with an option (ours) for an additional 99 more.

On February 26, 1904, the Isthmian Canal Convention was proclaimed. In it, the Republic of Panama granted to the United States in perpetuity the use, occupation, and control of a zone of land and land under water for the construction, maintenance, operation, sanitation, and protection of the canal.

source: Wikipedia (I know!)

Regards,

39 posted on 01/14/2014 9:20:41 AM PST by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
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To: Cyber Liberty
We only had a 99-year lease on it.

I believe with an option for another 99.

40 posted on 01/14/2014 9:21:23 AM PST by arthurus (Read Hazlitt's Economics In One Lesson ONLINEhttp://steshaw.org/economics-in-one-lesson/)
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