Donald Trump has hinted at the possibility that if the Panamanian government is too intransigent in negotiating the canal, the US military could sort it out. On the face of it, this is terrifying, but then one wonders how it would have played out under a different president. If a solid president were in power, the United States would not have exerted any pressure. In addition, however, it would have found that the Panamanian President is a cruel dictator who, moreover, threatens the peace of the entire region. Then the Panamanian freedom fighters would have staged a palace coup, just by chance at a time when American commandos and many agents would have been in place. But that would only be a coincidence. The media would have been full of enthusiastic commentary, we would have seen footage of cheering crowds and dramatic descriptions from prisons where they had tiny torture chambers for torturing kittens. The new Panamanian president would sell the canal to an American company as his first act.
There’s a lot of upside to talking directly. For example, you can negotiate, bargain and compromise. And whether we like it or not, Panama is in the American sphere of interest. Just as the Czech Republic is in the American sphere of interest. It is all very well to set out independence and national sovereignty as an ideal, but we all understand that we have only limited options. Even within those limited options, it is possible to manoeuvre and negotiate. To do some things with enthusiasm and to quietly sabotage others. Support one faction of the deep state against another. After all, Hungary or low-key Austria are good examples of how the game can be played.
In Panama, they will have to learn. They can play enough games, but going into direct conflict with the United States is pointless. Donald Trump just said out loud what everyone knows. And it’s good that he said it.