TOKYO MASTER BANNER

MINISTRY OF TOKYO
US-ANGLO CAPITALISMEU-NATO IMPERIALISM
Illegitimate Transfer of Inalienable European Rights via Convention(s) & Supranational Bodies
Establishment of Sovereignty-Usurping Supranational Body Dictatorships
Enduring Program of DEMOGRAPHICS WAR on Europeans
Enduring Program of PSYCHOLOGICAL WAR on Europeans
Enduring Program of European Displacement, Dismemberment, Dispossession, & Dissolution
No wars or conditions abroad (& no domestic or global economic pretexts) justify government policy facilitating the invasion of ancestral European homelands, the rape of European women, the destruction of European societies, & the genocide of Europeans.
U.S. RULING OLIGARCHY WAGES HYBRID WAR TO SALVAGE HEGEMONY
[LINK | Article]

*U.S. OLIGARCHY WAGES HYBRID WAR* | U.S. Empire's Casino Unsustainable | Destabilised U.S. Monetary & Financial System | U.S. Defaults Twice A Year | Causes for Global Financial Crisis of 2008 Remain | Financial Pyramids Composed of Derivatives & National Debt Are Growing | *U.S. OLIGARCHY WAGES HYBRID WAR* | U.S. Empire's Casino Unsustainable | Destabilised U.S. Monetary & Financial System | U.S. Defaults Twice A Year | Causes for Global Financial Crisis of 2008 Remain | Financial Pyramids Composed of Derivatives & National Debt Are Growing | *U.S. OLIGARCHY WAGES HYBRID WAR*

Who's preaching world democracy, democracy, democracy? —Who wants to make free people free?
[info from Craig Murray video appearance, follows]  US-Anglo Alliance DELIBERATELY STOKING ANTI-RUSSIAN FEELING & RAMPING UP TENSION BETWEEN EASTERN EUROPE & RUSSIA.  British military/government feeding media PROPAGANDA.  Media choosing to PUBLISH government PROPAGANDA.  US naval aggression against Russia:  Baltic Sea — US naval aggression against China:  South China Sea.  Continued NATO pressure on Russia:  US missile systems moving into Eastern Europe.     [info from John Pilger interview follows]  War Hawk:  Hillary Clinton — embodiment of seamless aggressive American imperialist post-WWII system.  USA in frenzy of preparation for a conflict.  Greatest US-led build-up of forces since WWII gathered in Eastern Europe and in Baltic states.  US expansion & military preparation HAS NOT BEEN REPORTED IN THE WEST.  Since US paid for & controlled US coup, UKRAINE has become an American preserve and CIA Theme Park, on Russia's borderland, through which Germans invaded in the 1940s, costing 27 million Russian lives.  Imagine equivalent occurring on US borders in Canada or Mexico.  US military preparations against RUSSIA and against CHINA have NOT been reported by MEDIA.  US has sent guided missile ships to diputed zone in South China Sea.  DANGER OF US PRE-EMPTIVE NUCLEAR STRIKES.  China is on HIGH NUCLEAR ALERT.  US spy plane intercepted by Chinese fighter jets.  Public is primed to accept so-called 'aggressive' moves by China, when these are in fact defensive moves:  US 400 major bases encircling China; Okinawa has 32 American military installations; Japan has 130 American military bases in all.  WARNING PENTAGON MILITARY THINKING DOMINATES WASHINGTON. ⟴  
Showing posts with label Panama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Panama. Show all posts

June 04, 2017

CIA ASSETS - HALL OF FAME - Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega - Template US Intervention









CIA ASSETS - HALL OF FAME
Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega
- Template US Intervention

via @WikiLeaks


COL. WILKERSON

- students study covert and overt U.S. operations from 1947 to the present

- USA sits back and waxes eloquent re INTERNATIONAL LAW and re HUMAN RIGHTS

- WHAT THE WORLD REALLY IS ABOUT IS:  *POWER*

- USA exercises its POWER - CLANDESTINELY & OVERTLY quite frequently
    / since end of COLD WAR (moreso than DURING COLD WAR)

- complex reasons for invasions like PANAMA
- USA always puts out RHETORIC such as that of GEORGE H.W. BUSH, in case of PANAMA ...
- about LIBERTY and about DEMOCRACY and about FREEDOM
BUT it is RARELY - if EVER - about those commodities

- it is about RAW POWER -- ECONOMIC, FINANCIAL, sometimes PERSONAL POWER

- it is about POWER

- that is the way it is with GREAT POWERS

- that is the way it is about the WORLD

- lament it all day long, but this is the REALITY CONFRONTING us every day

--- COLONEL WILKERSON (ret.), an aide to Colin Powell during PANAMA INVASION



IN SUMMARY




https://www.democracynow.org/2014/12/23/how_the_iraq_war_began_in

--- PANAMA - 1989, US INVASION - H.W. BUSH

--- OPERATION JUST CAUSE
24,000 US TROOPS 
v. SMALLER ARMY THAN NYC POLICE

This month marks the 25th anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Panama.


On December 20, 1989
President George H.W. Bush
/  launched Operation Just Cause
/  to execute an arrest warrant
/  against Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega
/ General Noriega was once a close ally to Washington / on the CIA payroll
/ 1986, his relationship with Washington took a turn for the worse
/  on charges of drug trafficking

/during the attack, the United States unleashed a force of 24,000 troops equipped with highly sophisticated weaponry and aircraft
/ against a country with an army smaller than the New York City Police Dept


<< served as a template for future U.S. military interventions  <<


guests

- Humberto Brown, a former Panamanian diplomat

- Greg Grandin, a professor of Latin American history at New York University
  / author of The Empire of Necessity: Slavery, Freedom, and Deception in the New World
 / article:  "The War to Start All Wars: The 25th Anniversary of the Forgotten Invasion of Panama"


- Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell

 retired Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, special assistant to the Joint Chiefs of Staff
/  Chaired by General Colin Powell at the time of the invasion


--- GEORGE H.W. BUSH - MEDIA LIES - NO MEDIA CHALLENGE / PUBLIC DENIED INFORMATION


    PRESIDENT GEORGE H.W. BUSH: One year ago, the people of Panama lived in fear under the thumb of a dictator. Today, democracy is restored. Panama is free.

    JOSÉ DE JESÚS MARTÍNEZ: We are to say we invaded Panama because Noriega. I don’t know how Americans can be so stupid to believe this. I mean, how can you be so stupid?

    MICHAEL PARENTI: The performance of the mainstream news media in the coverage of Panama has been just about total collaboration with the administration. Not a critical perspective. Not a second thought.

--- PANAMANIANS KILLED - UNKNOWN NUMBER

    REP. CHARLES RANGEL: You would think, from the video clips that we had seen, that this whole thing was just a Mardi Gras, that the people in Panama were just jumping up and down with glee.

    VALERIE VAN ISLER: They focused on Noriega, to the exclusion of what was happening to the Panamanian people, to the exclusion of the bodies in the street, to the exclusion of the number dead.

    REP. CHARLES RANGEL: The truth of the matter is that we don’t even know how many Panamanians we have killed.


--- PANAMA - US, 'MIGHT MAKES RIGHT' DOCTRINE / DESTRUCTION OF COUNTRY TO 'SAVE IT'

PETER KORNBLUH: Panama is another example of destroying a country to save it. And the United States has exercised a might-makes-right doctrine


--- PANAMA INVASION - SETS STAGE FOR WARS OF 21st CENTURY

ROBERT KNIGHT: The invasion sets the stage for the wars of the 21st century.

ROBERT KNIGHT
well-known host at WBAI, Pacifica Radio, in New York
/  part of the trailer for the Academy Award-winning 1992 documentary, The Panama Deception


--- ONE MONTH AFTER FALL OF BERLIN WALL - SET TERMS FOR FUTURE INTERVENTIONS

- invasion of Panama took place a month after the fall of the Berlin Wall
- set the terms for future interventions


1.  unilateral
    * without the sanction of the United Nations
    * without the sanction of the Organization of American States

    = RISKY for USA / didn't occur often even during COLD WAR

2.  violation of NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY
    * while USA did this often during COLD WAR, it was the TERMS of the VIOLATION that changed
    * done in name of << DEMOCRACY <<

    OVERTLY ARGUED that NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY subordinated to << DEMOCRACY <<
  
    thus:  that USA has right to ADJUDICATE the QUALITY of << DEMOCRACY <<

3.  invasion of PANAMA -  preview to the first Gulf War
    * massive coordination of awesome force
    * done spectacularly for public consumption

    = putting VIETNAM SYNDROME to REST


DEATHS - PANAMA INVASION

- Panamanians said something like 3,000

- Pentagon said 'hundreds' of people died


HUMBERTO BROWN / PANAMA DIPLOMAT at time of US INVASION

- poor neighbourhoods devastated:  el Chorrillo, Maranon, Caledonia
- majority that suffered = urban poor

-  intimidation / literally expressing NO concern for the POOR
-  in the first hour, we had had 200 [BOMBS] and—about close to 400 bombs were dropped after midnight
- ELITE (who were complicit) - their neighbourhoods were PROTECTED & they were SAFE
- ELITE - some removed from their homes & placed in CANAL ZONE

- two different approaches to the URBAN POOR & the PANAMA COMPLICIT ELITE

new president, President Varela
/ wanted to create a special commission to investigate events of INVASION
/ attempt to get 'national reconciliation'

day of mourning vs. day of reflection vs. day of 'liberation' debate
/  conflicting view of the impact

COLONEL WILKERSON (ret.), an aide to Colin Powell during PANAMA INVASION


*my understanding was the understanding that the press reported

- everything from attacks on or threatened attacks on our officers and men and women in the military in Panama
- to drug trafficking and extensive contacts with drug gangs, grown larger than ever contemplated

NOTE:  "you could learn a lot about U.S. operations in its own hemisphere"---COLONEL WILKERSON (ret.), an aide to Colin Powell during PANAMA INVASION


-  an operation, not so unique

MARINE GENERAL SMEDLEY BUTLER
/ US MILITARY A CRIMINAL FOR AMERICAN COMMERCIAL INTEREST

- look at Marine General Smedley Butler, in his testimony to the then Armed Forces Committee in the Congress
- GEN. SMEDLEY BUTLER essentially compared himself to AL CAPONE

"Al Capone operated on one continent, I operated on two. I was a criminal for American commercial interest."---Marine General Smedley Butler, in his testimony

-- USA, x35 INVASIONS in CARIBBEAN since 1850

- USA hemisphere
- interjected our military force into someone’s territory in the Caribbean about 35 times since 1850
- Monroe Doctrine is still operational
- USA position:  entitled to interfere in anyone’s country at any time
- 2002, USA tried to foment coup in CARACAS, VENEZUELA to overthrow HUGO CHAVEZ

-- COLD WAR

- forced USA to operate under LEGITIMACY OF MULTILATERALISM
- multilaterialism is SWEPT AWAY with the US INVASION of PANAMA 1989
- sets terms of FUTURE USA INVASIONS


-- PANAMA INVASION 'CAPSTONE' TO IRAN-CONTRA & to 1980s US INVOLVEMENT NICARAGUA

- Noriega key player / shadowy player
- mysteries of national security state far outstrip the mysteries of the trinity (Catholicism / religion)
- Noriega played both sides
- passed info to CUBA same time he brokered deals with the CONTRAS
- was an intermediary with CARTELS in COLOMBIA
- this is the deep politics behind IRAN-CONTRA
- SEYMOUR HERSCH -  broke story, in NEW YORK TIMES - before IRAN-CONTRA
    / outlining Noriega involvement in drug running / that was TURNING OF TIDE re USA & NORIEGA

-- REAGAN ADMIN.

FEDERAL JUDICIARY issue WARRANTS for NORIEGA - drug trafficking & racketeering

"You know, Noriega wasn’t really high on our agenda."---BRENT SCOWCROFT, national security adviser for GEORGE H.W. BUSH

GEORGE H.W. BUSH ADMIN - pushed by DOMESTIC POLITICS /  OCTOBER INVASION / COUP PANAMA
- lot of criticism
- PRESS baiting BUSH ADMIN for not supporting plotters AGAINST NORIEGA


-- COLIN POWELL -KNEW NOREIGA CIA PAYROLL FOR QUARTER CENTURY

"Powell was aware that Noriega had been on the CIA payroll for a quarter century. He had witnessed Noriega being feted as a savior of the Contras by Weinberger at the Pentagon. Support for Noriega had been so staunch that for a time the Reagan administration impeded investigations into allegations of his drug trafficking. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency had even awarded him with a commendation for his contributions to the 'war on drugs.' Powell observed that the Reagan and Bush administrations should have know that 'you could not buy Manuel Noriega, but you could rent him.'"
---Christopher O’Sullivan, 'Colin Powell: American Power and Intervention from Vietnam to Iraq'

"With the Cold War ending and the obsessive fear about Nicaragua dissipating, Noriega’s usefulness to Washington evaporated. He also took the fateful step of endorsing the Contadora Peace Process for Central America."
---Christopher O’Sullivan, 'Colin Powell: American Power and Intervention from Vietnam to Iraq'

"... it’s a pretty good summary of some of the things that happened ... Powell deputy NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER and then NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER ... last year of REAGAN second administration ... up close & personal watching these things ... Some still classified"
---COLONEL WILKERSON (ret.), an aide to Colin Powell during PANAMA INVASION


US MACHINATIONS in LATIN AMERICA from El Salvador to Honduras today:
/ US supported overthrow of leader of HONDURAS & installed USA'S MAN - well known
/ THIS IS HOW USA DEALS WITH SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE / LATIN AMERICA
---COLONEL WILKERSON (ret.), an aide to Colin Powell during PANAMA INVASION


U.S. has a long history with Panama, going decades back, long aligning itself with the light-skinned European elite

from an internal process of Panama itself; not US-only foreign policy
- invasion PANAMA
- represented a move of USA to ensure that when PANAMA CANAL was returned to PANAMA
- that govt in power was the ELITE that USA was accustomed to relate to
- former OLIGARCHY & their reps were installed by US as govt
- so not limited to NORIEGA no longer served US INTERESTS  / also internal conflict in PANAMA over governance & control of resources
- USA concern that if PANAMA CANAL got transferred to PANAMA military would still be in power, giving them control of RESOURCES
- ie.  resources from ADMINISTERING PANAMA CANAL

--- DEAD IN PANAMA - STILL NO ANSWERS HOW MANY KILLED

- families that don’t have any answers of where their family disappeared to / big question in PANAMA

- from 1903, when USA supported the oligarchy to become an independent country
- to intervention in every INTERNAL conflict in PANAMA
>> USA was the FORCE <<


- first 40 years, Panama policemen never a force that could handle the internal process
- depended on US 14 military bases
- thus US defines politics and internal process of Panama

- PANAMA INVASION / COUP - consolidation of the historical domination of US in PANAMA
- US determined politics and all internal process in Panama and supported a small elite that are loyal to USA

PANAMA - US INVASION IS PANAMA'S 9/11

- US bombed PANAMA when ppl celebrating CHRISTMAS
- US bombed PANAMA at midnight
- US violated every basic INTERNATIONAL LAW
- from GENEVA CONVENTION / and violated principle of PROTECTING CIVILIAN population in time of war

President George H.W. Bush’s announcement on INVASION of PANAMA:

    PRESIDENT GEORGE H.W. BUSH: L

    Last night, I ordered U.S. military forces to Panama.

No president takes such action lightly.

This morning, I want to tell you what I did and why I did it.

For nearly two years, the United States, nations of Latin America and the Caribbean have worked together to resolve the crisis in Panama.

The goals of the United States had been to safeguard the lives of Americans, to defend democracy in Panama, to combat drug trafficking and to protect the integrity of the Panama Canal Treaty.

Many attempts have been made to resolve this crisis through diplomacy and negotiations.

All were rejected by the dictator of Panama, General Manuel Noriega, an indicted drug trafficker.


--- PRESIDENT GEORGE H.W. BUSH, December 20th, 1989

- NORIEGA "was on the payroll of the CIA"
- NORIEGA "played multiple roles within Panama"
- during the height of Iran-Contra, CIA was willing to work with NORIEGA
- at end of COLD WAR, things turned:  NOREIGA became inconvenient to USA

- NOREIGA - El Chorillo neighbourhood, barrio, next to CANAL ZONE
- from migrant workers - most from Caribbean / helped build CANAL ZONE
- NORIEGA - lower classes, dark lower classes
- NOREIEGA - belief in witchcraft, sorcery / NORIEGA superstition presented in press

- deemed 'racism' by history prof. GREG GRANDIN

--- GREG GRANDIN, professor of Latin American history at New York University


--- NORIEGA - RENDERED / NOT EXTRADITED

- NORIEGA imprisoned
- wasn't "extradited" / USA did NOT have extradition treaty with PANAMA at time
- NORIEGA seized ILLEGALLY by USA & brought to FLORIDA / then extradited to FRANCE
- NOREIGA imprisoned in FRANCE briefly
- NORIEGA then back in PANAMA
- NORIEGA put on trial in FLORIDA by federal court in 1992
- NORIEGA defence:   "I was working for the CIA."
- number of US GOVT witnesses CONFIRMED NOREIGA DEFENCE
- one confirmed NOREIGA helped broker COLOMBIAN DRUG CARTEL deal, in which COLOMBIAN CARTEL passed $10m to CONTRAS
- speaks to other issues having to do with the "Dark Alliance" series of Gary Webb, journalist, disclosed later
- overt history of US INVASION of PANAMA seen
- but DEEP POLITICS - covert / unseen / dark national security state / CIA
- the dark national security state history is still UNKNOWN / classified

--- GREG GRANDIN, professor of Latin American history at New York University

--- MODEL FOR LATER IRAQ INVASIONS

NOREIGA -  tyrant, his worst crimes committed with U.S. support, then at some point either he disobeys or her misunderstands orders, then all of a sudden he’s demonized in the corporate media and his country is invaded

---AARON MATÉ, JOURNALIST



COL. WILKERSON

- students study covert and overt U.S. operations from 1947 to the present

- USA sits back and waxes eloquent re INTERNATIONAL LAW and re HUMAN RIGHTS

- WHAT THE WORLD REALLY IS ABOUT IS:  *POWER*

- USA exercises its POWER - CLANDESTINELY & OVERTLY quite frequently
    / since end of COLD WAR (moreso than DURING COLD WAR)

- complex reasons for invasions like PANAMA
- USA always puts out RHETORIC such as that of GEORGE H.W. BUSH, in case of PANAMA
- about LIBERTY and about DEMOCRACY and about FREEDOM
- but it is RARELY - if EVER - about those commodities

- it is about RAW POWER -- ECONOMIC, FINANCIAL, sometimes PERSONAL POWER

- it is about POWER

- that is the way it is with GREAT POWERS

- that is the way it is about the WORLD

- lament it all day long, but this is the REALITY CONFRONTING us every day

--- COLONEL WILKERSON (ret.), an aide to Colin Powell during PANAMA INVASION

-- DEMOCRACY NOW PRESENTER RAISES QUESTION OF CALLING PROSECUTING GORGE H.W. BUSH ADMIN OFFICIALS
     & PROSPECT OF CHANGE - CHANGE IN US FOREIGN POLICY, AS RESULT

- COL. WILKERSON (ret.) does not thing there was POLITICAL WILL to hold G.H.W. BUSH ADMIN OFFICIALS accountable
- that is reflection DEMOCRATIC FEDERAL REPUBLIC of USA - not very democrratic these days
- does not see anything changing substantially until a PROFOUND CRISIS (eg. 9/11, but more serious) confronts USA
- thinks that crisis is RAPIDLY COMING upon USA
- thinks it's 'climate change' / how tht is handled next generation will:
    - paint republic either in very draconian terms
    - collapsing in own perfidity [betrayal, intentional deception, intentional breach of good faith]
    - or it will resurrect republic

--- COLONEL WILKERSON (ret.), an aide to Colin Powell during PANAMA INVASION


--- CUBA - SIGNIFICANCE LIFTING OF US EMBARGO

- President Raúl Castro and President Barack Obama made their announcements
- historic moment
- hope the rhetoric of President Obama is matched by deeds

- embargo, horrible thing for CUBAN PPL - esp. since end of COLD WAR

- BATISTA being original dictator that CASTRO originally overthrew in 1959
- embargo on CUBAN PPL satisfied "BATISTA LEFTOVERS"  - ppl such as:

    * IIEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, US Congress
    * BOB MENDEZ, US congress
  
- policy should have been changed long, long ago
- all kinds of ramifications to change:

    * security
    * agricultural sales
    * commercial operations

- but this is change for 11.5 million CUBAN PPL

-- COLONEL WILKERSON (ret.), an aide to Colin Powell during PANAMA INVASION
    CUBAN POLITICS - HEAD OF US-CUBA POLICY INITIATIVE 'NEW AMERICAN FOUNDATION'



https://www.democracynow.org/2014/12/23/how_the_iraq_war_began_in




Enjoyed that interview / article.







April 07, 2016

Panama 'Leaks' Amigos: Limited Hangout Leak



SOURCE
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/Dance-to-the-Panama-Papers-Limited-Hangout-Leak-20160405-0036.html


Dance to the Panama Papers 'Limited Hangout' Leak

By: Pepe Escobar


Associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin were revealed to have hundreds of millions of dollars stashed away in offshore accounts.

Published 5 April 2016

Pepe Escobar connects the dots.


Calling out around the world; time to put on your made in Ecuador Panama hat and frantically start dancing to the ultimate limited hangout leak.

And if you believe in the purity of intentions of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) at the center of the leak, I’ve got a made in Shenzhen Panama hat to sell you (disclosure: I never was, and never will be, a member of the ICIJ).

The Washington-based ICIJ gets its cash and its "organizational procedure" via the Exceptionalistan-based, Orwellian-named Center for Public Integrity. The funds flow mostly from the Ford Foundation, the Carnegie Endowment, the Rockefeller Family Fund, the Kellogg Foundation and the George Soros-owned Open Society.

Then there is Eastern Europe-based partner organization OCCRP, an even more Orwellian outfit self-styled as playing some sort of progressive, alternative media role. OCCRP is funded by Soros and USAID
.

And finally there’s this fictional land named Panama – a certified U.S. vassal. Absolutely nothing of real substance happens in Panama without a green light by the United States government
. Or, as an international tax lawyer told me, “you have to be an idiot to stash money in Panama. You cannot flush a toilet there without the Americans knowing about it.

This sets the scene for the Panama Papers leak – a massive hoard of 11.5 million documents allegedly leaked from someone inside offshore heavies Mossack Fonseca to the center-left, NATO-friendly Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper in Munich and then shared by the ICIJ with selected mainstream media partners.

Even without a smoking gun, a case can be made this alleged most massive leak ever was obtained by – what else – U.S. intel. This is the kind of stuff the NSA excels at. The NSA is able to break into virtually any database and/or archives anywhere; they steal “secrets;” and then selectively destroy/blackmail/protect assets and “enemies,” according to USG interests.

    Absolutely nothing of real substance happens in Panama without a green light by the United States government.

That’s the essence of a limited hangout sold to public opinion as a serious corruption investigation. And that’s where Western corporate media enters the scene, protecting whatever 0.00000001 percent honcho is caught in the net, as well as sacrificing some disposable pawns.

So we have over 300 reporters pouring over hundreds of thousands of document/files for over an interminable year with, miraculously, no leaks whatsoever; just for a bunch of corporate mainstream media hacks meticulously cherry picked stories and decide what is “newsworthy." Western alternative media would have investigated the data without sparing anyone; but it would be out of the question to grant them access.

What’s already certain is that the full extent of the Panama leak will never be known. Even the by now exceedingly pathetic The Guardian admitted, on the record, that "much of the leaked material will remain private". Why? Because it may – inadvertently and directly – implicate a gaggle of Western 0.00000001 percent multibillionaires and corporations. All of them play the offshore casino game (although not necessarily in Panama.)

So the Panama Papers, stripped to the bone, may reveal themselves essentially as an infowar operation by the NSA – targeted mostly against “enemies” (as in the BRICS nations) and selected disposable pawns; a weaponized psyops posing as an 'activist leak', straight from the Hybrid War playbook.

Step on the Monster Truck

A who’s who of wealthy/powerful players has been directly targeted in the Panama Papers, from the – demented King of Saudi Arabia to former Fiat/Ferrari stalwart Luca de Montezemolo, from Lionel Messi to (unnamed) Chinese Communist Party officials and the brother-in-law of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Extra-juicy element is provided by the presence of Alaa Mubarak – the son of the deposed Egyptian snake; Ayad Allawi, the butcher of Fallujah and former U.S. occupation prime minister; Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (a Saudi protégé, so he must get offshore advice as well); and Dov Weisglass, the butcher of Gaza and former advisor to Israeli Prime Ministers Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert (this one already convicted of corruption.) These are all disposable.

We find in the list not only Middle Eastern racketeers but also the token “respectable” European – from Iceland’s Prime Minister (already forced to resign) to David Cameron’s father Ian. And some players that might be considered Exceptionalistan’s friends, such as vulture fund-friendly Argentina President Mauricio Macri and chocolate heavyweight cum Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who has a lot of funds parked in the British Virgin Islands.

Predictably, particular emphasis is on BRICS members – from those mysterious Chinese to Indian companies. As far as Brazil is concerned, there may be a healthy counterpoint; the presence of notoriously corrupt leader of the lower house Eduardo Cunha; his Swiss accounts had surfaced after the HSBC leaks, now some more showed up on the Panama Leaks.

Still to be explained is a juicy Brazilian-related angle; whether the Panama Leaks are directly related to the fact that Ramon Fonseca, 50 percent of Mossack Fonseca, was dismissed as president of the Panameñista Party last month because of Operation Car Wash – which targets mostly the ruling Workers’ Party in Brazil. The Panama Papers are in fact a Monster Truck, global version of Car Wash.

Lula, predictably, is not on the Panama list – to the despair of the Exceptionalistan-supported regime changers in Brazil, many of them (media barons, bankers, businessmen) featured on the previous HSBC leaks. Regime-Changers-in-Chief, the Globo media empire, are also not on the Panama leaks, although they profit from a certified offshore racket.

Syria was always bound to be a key target. Much of Western corporate media “newsworthy” stories now focus on “Assad’s fixer” Rami Makhlouf, described in U.S. diplomatic cables as Syria’s “poster boy for corruption” and under U.S. sanctions since February 2008. Such a convenient target. Yet “poster boy” happened to be quite sheltered by HSBC as well.

Putin Did It

And so we finally get to the key target of Monster Truck (in Brazil’s Car Wash they are Lula and President Rousseff). It’s got the requisite BRICS angle and it’s a dream spin; cue to virtually every major Western corporate media headline blaring that Vladimir Putin has stashed US$2 billion offshore.

The problem is he didn’t. Putin is guilty by association because of his “close associates” Arkady and Boris Rotenberg’s alleged ties to money laundering. Yet three “incriminating” emails in the files happen not to “incriminate” them, or Putin.

And then there’s cellist Sergey Roldugin, a childhood friend of Putin’s. Here’s the – politically filtered – spin by the ICIJ
:

“The records show Roldugin is a behind-the-scenes player in a clandestine network operated by Putin associates that has shuffled at least US$2 billion through banks and offshore companies. In the documents, Roldugin is listed as the owner of offshore companies that have obtained payments from other companies worth tens of millions of dollars. … It’s possible Roldugin, who has publicly claimed not to be a businessman, is not the true beneficiary of these riches. Instead, the evidence in the files suggests Roldugin is acting as a front man for a network of Putin loyalists – and perhaps for Putin himself.”

What about rephrasing it as, “the evidence in the files suggests Lionel Messi is acting as a frontman for a network of football loyalists trying to evade the rape of Argentina by U.S. hedge fund vultures friendly to new President and offshore account holder Mauricio Macri”?

The juiciest bit is that Moscow knew all along another
Hybrid War offensive chapter was imminent, days if not weeks before Panama went viral.

Make America Great Again

Offshore bank accounts are not intrinsically illegal. Quite a few though involve dodgy money, or at least provide the euphemistic “low-tax environment” fundamental to the very wealthy.

    OPINION:

    The New Silk Roads and the Rise of the 'Chinese Dream'   

It’s not an accident that the Panama Papers unveil connections to several dozen firms and individuals who are prominently featured in U.S. sanctions blacklists. That configures the Panama Papers as even more of a limited hangout; the real Papers would be the Cayman Papers or the Virgin Island Papers. That’s where most of the in-the-know park their money (not to mention Luxembourg). Adding to the hilarity factor, David Cameron suddenly woke up to the need to stop British overseas territories – and Crown dependencies – being used by the wealthy to park their untaxed fortune.

It’s never going to happen. The so-called international banking/financial system is a demented casino. It’s not only 8 percent; Hong Kong players tell me as much as 50 percent of global wealth may currently be parked, undisturbed, in untaxable offshore havens. If a fraction of these astonishing funds would be taxed, governments right and left would be paying their debts, investing in infrastructure, launching round after round of sustainable growth, and a productive spiral would be in motion.

And that leads us to the cherry in the corruption cake; how come there are no Americans in this limited hangout leak? Of course there are none. Panama is for suckers. Too obvious. Too rakish. Too crude. Ergo, forget about The Cayman Papers.

As for foreigners in-the-know, we just need to go back a mere three months ago to this Bloomberg piece, where Andrew Penney, Managing Director of Rothschild & Co., spells it all out; the U.S. “is effectively the biggest tax haven in the world.

The circle is finally squared; Panama is revealed as the patsymere collateral damage in this limited hangout Monster Truck operation. Domestic tax haven providers, such as Rothschild, are the real deal. Make America great again? It already is – as the top tax shelter for hardcore dodgy money had to be...a monster Panama: Exceptionalistan itself. Now dance, suckers.


Pepe Escobar is a columnist for RT.

SOURCE
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/Dance-to-the-Panama-Papers-Limited-Hangout-Leak-20160405-0036.html

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COMMENT
Cool article.   
Wow, an NSA dunnit?  LOL
C'mon, China ... give us real leaks.  ;)


April 05, 2016

US Ruling Oligarchy Imperialism: Panama & Panama Invasion 1989

Article
SOURCE
http://web.stanford.edu/class/e297a/Panama%20Imperialism%20and%20Struggle.htm


US Ruling Oligarchy Imperialism:  Panama

source - circa. 2003
http://web.stanford.edu/class/e297a/Panama%20Imperialism%20and%20Struggle.htm

Iraq: a Lesson from Panama Imperialism and Struggle for Sovereignty
By Coleen Acosta



            If History is to be the signifier of lessons learned, then why do wars continue to happen? The United States has never really been considered an Imperialist nation, but as history proves, the US has had a long stake in international geopolitical control over various countries, as well as economic markets that have made these countries dependent on the United States for survival. In light of recent events in Iraq, one should take a step back and look at the US’ history of hostile invasions to “make the world safe for democracy.”  This mantra had devastating [edit: consequences] on the tiny country of Panama 14 years ago. Why did the US invade Panama? To free Panama from its oppressive dictator, Manuel Noriega. The result was the a death toll of three thousand, and the country’s further dependence on the US for economic survival. Who again was the US trying to save Panama from? In reviewing the story of Panama, one is able to draw uncanny connections to the current situation in Iraq. The administration even has many of the same people that decided to invade Panama under Bush senior. Now the same minds have decided to invade Iraq under George W. Bush, under the same pretext of “freeing the Iraqi people.” Based on history however, what will be the consequences for the Iraqi people and the Iraqi nation?

            On December 20,1989 President Bush ordered US forces into Panama as he explained, “to safeguard the lives of Americans, to defend democracy in Panama, to combat drug trafficking, and to protect the integrity of the Panama Canal Treaty.”[1]   In December of 1989, 26,000 US soldiers occupied Panama in search of Manuel Noriega to be seized and tried on trafficking and racketeering charges in a US Federal court. The invasion ended two weeks later when Noriega was captured and transported to Miami. Subsequently, a new colonial government under the leadership of Guillermo Endara was hand-picked by the United States which was followed by economic and political disaster. What lead to such a drastic action against Latin America’s least populated country, and what were the lasting traumatic effects on a people faced with an imperialist, nationalist struggle?

            The situation in Panama in 1989 had been the result of a vacillating sense of national pride at odds with an eighty year old American imperialist presence. Panama had been the bearer of imperialist tensions since the turn of the century solely because of its strategic location and possible economic advantages that such a location would yield. Panama is a country that occupies the isthmus dividing North and South America. With its passage way saving sea-farers 5,000 miles of additional sailing around the tip of Tierra del Fuego, it is no wonder that Panama had been so highly sought out, and so strictly guarded.

            In 1903 President Theodore Roosevelt supported a Panamanian uprising that enabled the country to gain its independence from Colombia. Roosevelt promised that warships would be placed off the coast of Panama, allowing Panama to declare its independence on November 3rd. As a trade-off, Panama had conceded to the US sole rights to the isthmus. Following Panama’s declaration of independence, it entered into a treaty agreement with the United States allowing it to build the canal and gain sovereignty over a ‘canal zone’; a ten mile wide strip of territory along the canal that divided the nation in two. In effect, panama’s independence from one nation, marked its subjugation to another. This imperialist presence remained in place for the next eighty-five years with no significant changes until the Treaty of 1977.  On September 7th US President Jimmy Carter and Panamanian President Torrijos signed a treaty in Washington promising that the US would concede control of the waterway over to Panama on December 31st 1999.

            Midway between these years, World War II had a profound effect on Panama’s sense of nationalism. In spite of internal strife and class-conflicts that pervaded Latin America during this period, “the Panamanian people were bent on promoting development that would benefit everyone.”[2] This economic development was closely associated with the national recovery of the Canal and the closing down of US military bases. This “nationalist” feeling began to grow increasingly strong between World War II and the treaty of 1977 to the consternation of the United States. After 1977, this spirit of nationalism began to wane and the US government sought to retain control over one of its most strategic protectorates.[3]

            Upon approval of the 1977 Canal treaties, Panama lost much of its national stability as the country began to be divided. When the treaties were signed, much of the population expected immediate results, economically and geo-politically. When these results were not realized, civil unrest began to imbed itself
into the fabric of the Panamanian people. Economic recession only fueled this feeling of resentment at the government as well as imperialist powers still occupying the canal zone. When Torrijos Herrera came to power in 1968 as a result of a junta of National Guard officers in 1968, he embarked on an impressive public works program that in hindsight proved to be over-ambitious.[4] As a result, Panama declined into economic recession that only further instigated public dissatisfaction with the administration. In 1981, this instability came to a head when in 1981, Torrijos was killed in a plane crash. The result would be a power struggle leading up to the invasion of Panama in 1989.

            After Torrijos’ death, his dictatorship was usurped by Colonel Manuel Noriega Moreno, an army successor to Torrijos as well as Chief of Panamanian Secret Police and CIA operative. With Noriega’s ascendancy to dictator, civil strife worsened in Panama. Noriega instituted new economic reforms that called for a more centralized policy controlled by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund
. This meant shifting emphasis from productive industry investments and raw materials to service activities.[5]     The economic             consequences proved to be increased unemployment coupled with factional aggravation between business groups belonging to the ‘national’ alliance verses that of a free market.

            Another change that Noriega instituted was the increased presence and strength of the Panamanian Defense Forces (PDF) to guarantee social order endangered by the new economic policy. Obviously this caused unrest at the notion of being watched and controlled by a military government. By 1988, the Panamanian government had turned into a military regime.

            Also during 1988, Noriega had been indicted by a U.S. Federal court in Miami on drug trafficking and racketeering charges. A year later the opposition leader, Guillermo Endara won the presidential race by a large margin. In response to his ouster, Noriega nullified the election and proceeded to install one of his own constituents as president on September 1st 1989. On December 15th after surviving a violent coup, Noriega sought to gain increased dictatorial powers from the legislature whose members were placed there by him. The corruption ensuing in Panama under Noriega was palpable. On the same day, Noriega declared war on the United States. One day later his regime solicited the harsh response by US upon killing an unarmed American Marine Officer. On the December 19th the US decided to go to war.

            The economic damage caused by the invasion and subsequent civil disobedience had been estimated to be between $1.5 and $2 billion balboas, which would be comparable to US dollars.[6]  Unemployment rose to record highs as the government infrastructure was left in chaos. According to the chamber of Commerce, 10,000 employees lost their jobs in the aftermath of the war.
            Sanctions that had been placed on Panama since 1988 had created staggering financial ruin as well. North American sanctions included the freezing of  $120 million in funds at the National Bank of Panama operating in the United States.[7] In addition, 200 US firms suspended their fiscal obligations which included payment of Panamanian taxes valued at $400 million annually.[8] Panama’s sugar quota had been suspended which accounted for 30,000 tons of sugar exports along with the prohibition on US loans, donations and economic assistance. The US also announced sanctions on those merchant ships registered in Panama.[9]

            Why however did the US respond with such a heavy hand to a country that posed no logical threat? When the US invaded Panama, it did so under the banner of restoring order, protecting its citizens and to defend democracy. Whose democracy was the US defending however? In the words of Xabier Gorostiaga, “The complexity of the Panamanian crisis is not only the product of a long history but of a dialectic struggle between the Panamanian people in search of sovereignty while living under the imperial eagle.[10]  This crisis was not a simple event related to the removal of one corrupt leader or the US’ concern for democracy. Philip E. Wheaton would argue that, “the fundamental motivation was US military control over Panama after the year 2,000.”[11] Wheaton argues that the time-table for Panama to achieve complete sovereignty was reaching a critical moment, with the United States facing the danger of losing its century-long control over the Isthmus.

            It is true that neither US defense of the canal or judicial prosecution of Noriega justified an invasion which has, “cost possibly a thousand lives or more, tremendous suffering and damage to the county, an action that has not resolved but complicated the emergence of democracy in Panama under a colonial government.”[12] US invasion into Panama served to remind the rest of the world that Washington retained hemispheric hegemony.

            Long before the invasion of Panama in 1989, the US sensed the budding seeds of nationalism within Panamanian society that lead to the treaty of 1977. The US however was not prepared to disavow the economic and strategic gains that control over the canal would provide. Throughout the 1980’s therefore, the Reagan administration strove to contain a stronghold on control of the canal. Since the Carter-Torrijos treaties had been ratified by the US congress and approved by a Panamanian plebiscite, the US would never be able to renege a treaty returning a geographical wonder back to its owners. At the same time however, the treaty had to be created in 1977 or else the US would have run the risk of being condemned as an imperial colonizer. The US wanted to disentangle itself from the world perception of Roosevelt and his 'big stick’ oppressing the people of Latin America. The US therefore had the task of circumventing popular perception by first creating the treaty of 1977 and then surreptitiously trying to weaken it so that it could legally retain control. As Luis Restrepo commented, “the Reagan Administration’s strategy was to weaken the treaties, to debilitate them through non-compliance, to condition their content and modify their implementation.”[13]

            Two examples of such debunking tactics may be found in the passage of ‘International Law 96-70’ which fostered and justified a judicial position for the United States over the canal through, “jurisdictional, operative and administrative powers which violently disrupt the spirit and wording of the Torrijos-Carter Treaties.”[14] The anti-juridical tactic of 96-70 denies the sovereignty of the Republic of Panama over the zone territory. In addition to subversive measures to retain power in the region, Reagan violated the Treaties on over 50 separate  occasions such as, “the establishment of a Panama Canal Commission linked to the executive branch, under direct authority of the US President.”[15] Another example of such a violation would be, the reduction of the oversight functions of the Joint Board of Directors, established by the Treaty, to a mere supervisory role.[16] The invasion of Panama therefore was merely an extension of the Reagan policy to circumvent the language of the Treaty in order to retain some degree of influence if not control.

            The persons most harmed by the ensuing power struggle over control of the canal, were the Panamanian people. Ambushed from all angles, the Panamanian people existed at the whims of dictatorial regimes at the local echelon and imperialist forces at the international echelon. As a result, the Panamanian people were locked into subjugation in all possibilities. Where were they to go if the greatest superpower in the world was manipulating their own government? Noriega, the dictator that relegated Panama’s government to a military dictatorship had been a former employee of the US government and an army successor to Torrijos who had been supported by the US. Now that the superpower and the dictator were at odds, what would be the alternative be upon ousting that same leader? A higher power able to install yet a new leader while undertaking the forceful invasion of the country. Who was worse then? Noriega or the US?

            The bitter feeling of entrapment in light of the 1989 invasion seems to have been the lasting sentiment among the Panamanian people. This is a sentiment stemming not only from the invasion of 1989 but also nearly a decade of control, influence and presence; the manipulation of their sovereign government so that the Panamanian people are left incapable of actually living under a democratic government; resentment towards the US for all of these maladies in addition to the arrogance with which such a policy is carried out. It seemed ludicrous to the Panamanian people that the US would pretext the invasion to “defending democracy” when democracy was non-existent due to US policy.

            Exemplified in an interview with ‘Chuchu’ Martinez, one of Torrijos’ personal confidant and member of his ‘personal security team,’ bitterness towards the US seems unabashedly clear. When asked a question about when the United States began planning the invasion, Martinez responds,The ‘gringos’ were absolutely firm about not losing their military presence in Panama after the year 2,000. The problem was how to accomplish this goal.”[17] He further makes a vehement remark about one of Bush’s comments; “‘If Endara doesn’t win, we invade.This is Washington’s so called democratic option: either vote for Endara or we invade. So, the Panamanians went to the polls thinking that if Noriega’s candidate wins, the Yankees will either kill Noriega or invade. . .”[18]  He later comments that, “There is only one progressive thing about Noriega’s government: his clash with the Empire. . .”

            In another interview Wheaton speaks with a Panamanian writer and a Chilean woman from an upper middle-class neighborhood, February 1990. In the first interview, an anecdote was shared that reflect some of the contradictions about the invasion and point to the difficulties facing those committed to building a new Panama.[19] The first involves a unique robbery by the US occupation forces, reminiscent of WWII;

            In Buenos Aires, Argentina word came to the intellectual circles here that the North American forces had stolen the entire library of Dr. Ernesto Castillero Pimental, along with the art collection of Noriega, valued in the millions of dollars, from the National Museum, thence taking it the United States . . . Incredible!


The robbery in this anecdote is important because it represents a premeditated crime but more importantly, the fact that the US thinks it has the right to steal such treasures precisely because they consider it a US colony.
          

            More than lasting resentment against the United States, it is important to take note of the thousands of people that lost their lives in this conflict. That fact, more than any imperialist ploy serves as a stinging reminder of US imperialism; that
these people died because the US was sending a “humanitarian mission” to make Panama safe for democracy. In one account from the Codehuca province, the fatalities from the bombings were described as somewhere between 700 and 800 people, both civilian and military.[20] Other accounts from the same province quote the US Army as carrying out ‘sanitation’ activities in which they use, “flamethrowers to burn hundreds of bodies. They also used common graves in which they buried hundreds of bodies.”[21] These activities can be linked to the rumors of disappearances of people reflecting the discrepancy between the numbers of missing persons and the lists of prisoners.

            Other accounts of torture tell of one the US military acting against a ‘Macho del Monte’, a soldier from the Panamanian Defense Force. The soldier reported that a wound on his lower leg was caused by a projectile which had lodged in the sole of his foot. US soldiers took a metal cable that had been used to hang up laundry and introduced it into the hole until it touched the projectile producing intense pain. Another Macho del Monte soldier was hung up by one arm on which he already had an injury to his elbow, though that wound had not been stitched up.[22]

            In another report from Coco Solo, Colon,[23] the headquarters of the of the Panamanian Defense Forces and the second largest city in the country, a reporter observes, “one can hardly see any remains from the battle. The headquarters are intact with only a few smoke stains around its main windows. There isn’t a single explosion hole in the facade, yet the three-hundred Panamanian soldiers who were inside died there without a single US soldier losing his life.”[24] It was speculated that the explanation for the unusual phenomenon is that a bomb landed inside the building with such force that it caused the building to implode instantly killing everyone.

            In another town of El Chorrillo,[25] some 14,000 persons were left homeless as a result of the bombing visited upon El Chorrillo barrio from December 20th onwards. In this report, it was estimated that approximately 3, 983 homes located around the central headquarters were destroyed. Census data shows that 14,170 people lived in that part of the barrio that was destroyed. Of that population, 40% were minors aged 14 years and younger.

            One of the few reports concerning attacks on places in the interior of the country came from the village of Pacora, near Panama City.[26] The village was bombed with chemical substances by helicopters and aircraft from Southern Command. Residents reported that this chemical substance, “burned their skin, producing intense stinging and diarrhea.”[27] Other people of Pacora reported that their town had been converted into a huge concentration camp surrounded by barbed wire,
as the Nazis used to do,”  so that its residents could not offer any assistance to Panamanian soldiers in the area.

            Panama also served as a testing ground for new US weapons.
On January 9, 1990, Reuters published an article that stated the US military as, “being proud of the demonstration of their new weapons and techniques used during the Panama invasion, ranging from 500-foot parachute jumps to high-tech apparatus for night vision.”[28] A ‘humanitarian mission’ seems like an inappropriate operation to show off military might. Given the level of opposition that US forces encountered, there was no need for much of the advance military fighters used to bomb Panama. For example, it was reporter in Reuters that, “the most exotic weapon in the invasion was the F-117A ‘Stealth bomber.’”

Reuters reported that at least one of these attack aircraft flew to Panama from its desert base in Tonopah, Nevada to command an attack on the FDP base in Rio Hato where it fired two 2,000 pound bombs to stun and disorient Noriega’s troops.[29] A fighter of that magnitude was clearly not necessary for the defeat of Noriega’s army. In a war most often referred to as the “invasion,” one may deduce how much military force would have been necessary.

            What then was the United States trying to demonstrate? Clearly it wanted to accomplish more than simply apprehending Noriega in order to save the people of Panama from its leader. Perhaps the US wanted to send a message to the Panamanian people that it is not to be intimidated, or much more importantly, denied continued control of the Panama Canal, specifically before the date which the Treaty had specified the US should turn over the canal.


            The invasion of Panama left an irrevocable mark on the psyche of the Panamanian people. The sense of trauma, grief and tremendous sense of loss suffered at the hands of a dictator as well as an imperial power began to emerge in the culture of Panama during and shortly after the invasion. The sense of Trauma could be summed up in the words of Dr. Mauro Zuniga, a popular civic leader; “From December 20th on, we no longer have a nation. . . In an attack without precedent in military history, the United States has leveled the defenses of the Panamanian army and in less than four days, that institution lays in ruin.”[30]  He continued to say that, “During this new period, the struggle will be for us Panamanians to define what we intend this nation to be. . .”[31]  That redifinement was subsequently expressed in cultural mediums. One such medium was that of literature and poetry. Norah de Alba wrote a poem in the early days of the invasion entitled Mortal Cry.

Alba is the earliest known poet to reflect on the suffering and protest of the Panamanian invasion.  In her poem she describes the outrage that the Panamanians felt in response to the US’ false banner of war and the hardships that incurred.

            Alba’s first stanza;

                                                The arrived

                                                as do thieves in the shadows

                                                --imperceptibly—

                                                In complicity with our sleep.



She describes the US military as “thieves,”  clearly expressing Panamanian sentiments towards the US as plunders that have been stealing from the people; stealing economic riches from the canal.  In a later stanza she remarks on the completely ludicrous claim that the US had come to help the Panamanian people;

                                                They arrived

                                                and said – casually –

                                                that they had come in the name

                                                of peace to make war;


                                                That they had come to “democratize”



            It is clear that the Panamanians were no better off after the US show of ‘democratization’. The economy was in ruins, 3,000 people were dead, the country was divided, people were homeless and the US retained control over the canal.

            In the aftermath of the invasion, the Panamanians moved quickly to rebuild their civilian constitutional government. On December 27, 1989, Panama’s Electoral Tribunal invalidated the Noriega regime’s annulment of the May 1989 election and confirmed the victory of the opposition candidates under the leadership of President Guillermo Endara. When President Endara took office, he pledged to foster Panama’s economic recovery, transform the Panamanian military into a police force under civilian control, and strengthen democratic institutions.[32] During the subsequent years, the Endara government struggled to meet the public’s high expectations for reform.

            An important US congressional concern was the status of Panama's economic recovery during the aftermath. Before the military intervention, the economy had been severely damaged by two years of  U.S. economic sanctions and economic disruption caused by the political crisis. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) had declined some 25% between 1987 and the end of 1989. The intervention added further to the economic decline. Some sections of Panama City were heavily damaged, leaving thousands homeless, and subsequent looting left businesses with damages in the hundreds of millions.

            The canal was indeed returned to Panama in just before midnight, December 31st 1999, ending nearly a century of American jurisdiction over one of the world’s most strategic waterways. There is still however  a large military presence in Panama. Today, Panamanians regard the US with mixed feelings. The invasion of 1989 remains a sore point in US-Panama relations however the relationship between the two countries is a mutually beneficial economic arrangement. Some observers maintain that Panama has to be concerned with other nations' views of its legitimacy and its independence from the United States. Others, however, would welcome the beginning of military base negotiations, and argue that many Panamanians favor a permanent U.S. presence because of jobs and income associated with the U.S. military facilities. Some 6,000 Panamanians work directly for the U.S. military, while thousands of others provide a variety of services to the U.S. military community.[33] The bases reportedly bring in about $360 million annually to the Panamanian economy, directly and indirectly.[34] Still other Panamanians oppose any kind of U.S. military presence. Some argue that only with the U.S. military out of the country will Panama be able to break the dependent relationship it has with the United States and recover its own national identity.


Bibliography
[ listed in original document ]

source
http://web.stanford.edu/class/e297a/Panama%20Imperialism%20and%20Struggle.htm



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COMMENT

Hey, so much for 'humanitarian' intervention ... again.

I'd say it's a war crime to bomb civilians, to use excessive force, to destroy civilian dwellings, to use chemical weapons & to use targets of aggression as guinea-pigs for weapons testing.

The invasion was probably illegal as well, but the Three Amigos (USA, Britain & France) vetoed condemnation of invasion) and therefore OK'd it in the UN (probably after extorting a 'no' (to condemnation) vote from a bunch of poor countries?).  So much for the UN farce.

US should have been sent the bill for the obscene, massive destruction of the country's infrastructure, which was probably done so US creditors and contractors could benefit reinstating what was destroyed, or so that the country is otherwise somehow dependent on the US oligarchy and friends.

Iraqi assets were also looted.  So were Germany's:  the Americans and British helped themselves.  US stole most of the patents, I think.

It's interesting that World Bank and IMF have a hand as money lenders to Noriega's govt. in advance of the destruction in 1989.  The impression I had was that they were the vultures that come in after a country or region has been destroyed, but maybe the lenders are a constant presence?