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For the rest of time. Yes. Okay. Good.

This is CBS Eye on the World.

Here's John Batchelor.

I welcome Alison Fadirka of the geopolitical futures,

a subscriptions that I recommend.

The discussion of Panama.

The Trump administration has made Panama a major debating point around the world.

Why?

Because the allegation by the Trump administration is that Panama is not secure.

The Panama Canal is at risk, that the Panama Canal is bending to the reach of the People's Republic of China.

Reviewing how we got here, I'll start with the drought of 2023 that brought the level in the locks to an unattractive low, meaning it was difficult to get the big container ships

through without offloading, taking it across the isthmus on a railroad

and then reloading the same ships. That was trouble enough. However, then we had the story of the

two ports on either side owned by a company out of Hong Kong that has reason to be viewed as persuaded by the Chinese Communist Party.

And when there was a bid made for those two landing ports on either side of the canal,

it was an interruption by the Chinese Communist Party,

despite the fact that there was money on the table from a large equity firm.

In addition to all this, there's the labor dispute of the copper mine.

There are the disputes about Social Security and retirement, and there's just generally

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