Mynd you, it war pretti nasti.

But nø wørries - Trump never trusted them anyway.

You can dowload the TS Swedish intelligence report about this US attack... it's online. https://t.co/Th8PGNkTDU pic.twitter.com/sUclkcXqXM

— Charles X Proxy™ (@Charlemagne0814) March 14, 2025

*We apologise for the fault in the subtitles. Those responsible have been sacked.*

As if all of that wasn't enough going on, the press has gotten word from sources that Trump has ordered the Pentagon to draw up several versions of Panama plans - working partnership with Panamanian forces, stationing more US military in the area, or just flat-out taking it back.

Donald Trump has ordered his military to draw up options to “reclaim” the Panama Canal – including by force.

The president has repeatedly said he wants the US to regain control of the strategically important waterway, which was handed over to the Panamanians by American authorities in 1999.

Wide-ranging proposals being developed by the US Southern Command include a new partnership with Panamanian security forces, an increase in troop numbers in the region and seizing the canal by force, officials told NBC News.

The sources said the use of force would depend on whether Panamanian security forces would agree to co-operate with the US in a partnership.

Mr Trump wants to reclaim the canal in order to diminish China’s influence in the region, the officials added.

This is causing all sorts of consternation and breathless excitement in the media...

The US is making plans to take back the Panama Canal:

“The White House has directed the US Military to draw up options for increasing the American troop presence in Panama, including even having US troops seize the canal by force.” pic.twitter.com/CATjE6EBsA

— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) March 13, 2025

...who are now speculating about the odds of Southern Command coming to take Panama away.

All of this, as you might imagine, is thanks to the Canal. A simmering sore point for Trump and many Americans since Jimmy Carter (spits) gave it away for a buck in 1977 with the final handover to Panama in 1999. 

How the Panama Canal works pic.twitter.com/Cl7uiVDqqQ

— Interesting As Fuck (@interesting_aIl) March 14, 2025

The thing is, just because a bone-head, suck-up Democrat handed one of our most strategic assets over to a foreign entity to run as long as they promised to behave doesn't mean that we believed them. This is where all the hyperventilating winds up looking sort of sad - as just another attempt to blow something routine into an OH, MY GODS, TRUMP! catastrophe in the making.

If anyone thinks that the United States military and the Defense Department - probably at State, too - and the subsequent presidents sat on their hands ignoring the 'what ifs' of a hostile Canal action or take-over, I have a floating dock in Gaza to sell you for cheap.

They update these scenarios every year or as circumstances in the theater change in order to respond as fast as they can.

Everything you need to know about the Panama Canal pic.twitter.com/ak1XAeg7gW

— Defiant World (@DefiantWorld) March 14, 2025

Things have certainly changed in Panama with Trump's election, have they not? Those alone might necessitate a bit of a redo on their own.

Panama's withdrawal from the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative after Rubio's visit was a big one. It was seismic for the Chinese, who are immensely unhappy about it.

Panama has officially informed Beijing of its decision to withdraw from China’s massive infrastructure and investment project, the Belt and Road Initiative, the country’s leader announced on Thursday.

Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino said he had instructed diplomats at the Central American country’s embassy in Beijing to submit the required 90-day notice of withdrawal from the memorandum of understanding signed in 2017.

“I do not know what was the intention of those who signed this agreement with China. What has it brought to Panama all these years? What are the great things that this Belt and Road Initiative has brought to the country?” Mulino said at a press conference.

Hong Kong-based port operators Hutchinson agreeing to sell their port operations on both ends - at Cristobal and Balboa - to Blackrock has been another.

Again, the Chinese government is not happy - they're blowing gaskets, actually - and is trying to put pressure on the company to canx the deal.

China has criticised the sale of the business that controls ports in Panama to US investors, saying the Hong Kong-based parent company should “think twice” and that the $22.8bn deal is “power politics” that is not in the country’s national interest.

Shares in the Hong Kong-based conglomerate CK Hutchison fell more than 6% on Friday after a critical commentary appeared in the Beijing-backed newspaper Ta Kung Pao in Hong Kong.

Last week, CK Hutchison struck a deal to sell a majority stake in Panama Ports Company, which holds the contract to run the ports of Balboa and Cristóbal until 2047, to a consortium led by the US financial giant BlackRock.

The move followed pressure from Donald Trump to end what he sees as China’s influence and control over the key trading route through the Panama canal.

 Any prudent defense department would be double-checking those plans after the incendiary official Chinese government statement was released.

...On Friday, China used the strongly worded commentary in Ta Kung Pao to attack the US for pressuring the deal “through despicable means”.

“[Critics] say this is a spineless, grovelling, profit-seeking move that sells one’s integrity for personal gains,” said the opinion piece. “And an act that disregards national interests … [which] betrays and sells out all Chinese people.”

The opinion piece said the sale would result in China’s shipping and trade being curbed by the US, and that CK Hutchison should “think twice” about “what position and side they are on”.

The 'independence' of any Hong Kong business is a smokescreen for CCP influence, and Chinese shipbuilding and port operations are their highest priority. It is absolutely integral to their force projection.

China is deadly serious about this.

Dusting off the plans makes perfect sense.

if 1 out of 10 generals in the Pentagon can't draw up a plan to seize the Panama Canal on the back of a napkin, from memory, within 5 minutes, they should be fired.

— Kyle Shideler (@ShidelerK) March 13, 2025

Just to be safe, though, have everything gassed up and ready to rock. In case...you know...someone has plans.