Hmm. Wonder what’s up with that? I know S. America and Panama is a hot bed of unrest and full of Middle Eastern and homegrown terrorist groups.
US forces have been in Panama since Jan. 2018, and citizens have had some protests. Panama Canal is very needed for our exports as well as military deployments, and interdictions.
Admiral of S.Command has indicated a big shortage of ships needed for national security and interdiction.
In addition the way the ships move through the canal is very dependent upon a nefarious group/gang type organization, I just can’t recall the name.
Russia has been propping up Venezuela and providing Russian military equipment and weapons. Possible to be another Cuban missile crisis in the future. It’s a dangerous world and we have lots of enemies.
I was extremely relieved that DJT did not attend that summit there last week. Even though we sent in an advance force of 500 military, the location was far from ideal, kinda deep in the heart of a terrorist gang territory.
Yesterday on the freeway out here I saw a large half completed littoral sized military type vessel being transported. It had traffic escorts and took nearly 2 full freeway lanes. ~60 feet, twin screws, relatively shallow draft and stealth aspects to design.