From AP -
Russia said Wednesday it is sending a warship through the Panama Canal for the first time since World War II, a short journey loaded with symbolic weight: the destroyer will dock at a former U.S. naval base, showcasing Russia’s growing influence in the region.
Russia appears to be relishing the idea of stopping at what was long a symbol of U.S. global power; the Russian Navy announced it would visit “the Rodman naval base” – a name that the host nation, Panama has not used since taking over the base from the United States in 1999.
From Wiki -
The Torrijos-Carter Treaties (sometimes referred to in the singular as the Torrijos-Carter Treaty) are two treaties signed by the United States and Panama in Washington, D.C., on September 7, 1977, abrogating the Hay-Bunau Varilla Treaty of 1903. The treaties guaranteed that Panama would gain control of the Panama Canal after 1999, ending the control of the canal that the U.S. had exercised since 1903. The treaties are named after the two signatories, U.S. President Jimmy Carter and the Commander of Panama’s National Guard, General Omar Torrijos. Although Torrijos was not democratically elected as he had seized power in a coup in 1968, it is generally considered that he had widespread support in Panama to justify his signing of the treaties.
The treaties were the source of controversy in the United States, particularly among conservatives such as Strom Thurmond, William F. Buckley, Jr. and Jesse Helms who regarded them as the surrender of a strategic American asset to what they characterized as a hostile government.
Thank you President Carter for yet another great foreign policy victory leading to improved security of the United States of America.
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