Nicaragua gives Chinese firm contract to build alternative to Panama Canal

[dipsydoodle]

Source: Guardian

Nicaragua has awarded a Chinese company a 100-year concession to build an alternative to the Panama Canal, in a step that looks set to have profound geopolitical ramifications.

The president of the country's national assembly, Rene Nuñez, announced the $40bn (£26bn) project, which will reinforce Beijing's growing influence on global trade and weaken US dominance over the key shipping route between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

The name of the company and other details have yet to be released, but the opposition congressman Luis Callejas said the government planned to grant a 100-year lease to the Chinese operator.

The national assembly will debate two bills on the project, including an outline for an environmental impact assessment, on Friday.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/06/nicaragua-china-panama-canal

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Nicaragua Canal : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicaragua_Canal

[CrazyJudy]

1. The US started construction...

The US started building this in the late 1800's...
http://www.cotf.edu/earthinfo/camerica/panama/pctopic2.html

I believe Iran has already constructed/help pay for a deep water port at the Atlantic side... @ Monkey Point

Trouble's a brewing!!

[KamaAina]

3. Iran? Wiki says Korea

presumably South Korea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicaragua_Canal

Nicaragua has let contracts to Korean developers to construct a deepwater port and facilities at Monkey Point on the Atlantic coast to improve capacity there.

[dipsydoodle]

5. That was Korea - not Iran

think so anway.

[CrazyJudy]

9. Iran/Venezuela/Korea/US take your pick

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_Point

it's someone? Maybe Iran/venz doing the port and Korea/US for the terminal..


Monkey Point (or Pim's Bay) is a village in Región Autónoma del Atlántico Sur, Nicaragua, south of Bluefields.[1] It is located near the site of a planned $US 350 million seaport, to be financed by Iran and Venezuela.[2][3] More recently American and South Korean investors have expressed interest in developing a container terminal there.[4][5] This container terminal will be situated at the Caribbean end of the planned Ecocanal, which will link Monkey Point to the town of Corinto on the Pacific coast of Nicaragua.

[Socialistlemur]

21. I don't think Iran nor Venezuela have money to finance anything at this point

I got the feeling it will be the Chinese. They will probably make a deal to bring Chinese labor. That's what they do elsewhere. They work those laborers very hard.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

17. trouble? Why?

Trading partners become dependent on each other, and cooperate more than not. You know that there was NO trade between Germany and France between WWI and WWII? INstead, the french demanded, and got, huge reparations, so large that they guaranteed that Germany's economy would explode. They also took vast mineral rich territories as further punishment.

Compare and contrast our Marshall Plan, and how Europe has not fought itself in a great war since. (except Serbia, Yugoslavia, and that mess) Or look to Japan, an ally and friend, instead of a hated enemy with long memories.

Dealing with China is in its and our best interests.

[DFW]

2. A Nicaragua canal has been under discussion since before the Panama Canal was built

Of course, technology has progressed a lot since 1915, and there are methods to prevent the workers dying off in droves from yellow fever. Still, it is a huge undertaking. I'd be really (and pleasantly) surprised if the Nicaraguan government is really and truly going to pay much attention to an "environmental impact assessment."

If there's one thing the Chinese have proven time and time again, that is the LAST thing they are interested in. They won't care less how much toxic waste or polluted water they leave behind as long as their ships have unlimited crossing rights that we can never interfere with.

Their political and economic goals are perfectly logical ones for them to pursue. However if the Nicaraguan government turns a blind eye to the Chinese tendency to not give a crap about pollution damage they cause and/or leave behind, they are doing a disservice to their people, no matter how much benefit Beijing may get out of the project.

[Benton D Struckcheon]

4. This is inane

If it's in this hemisphere, the US can shut it down without breaking a sweat if there's some dispute going on with China that would warrant such a thing. Surely the Chinese know that. They can't be that stupid.
Secondly, the last thing anyone will be worrying about is this canal should a US-China conflict serious enough to shut it down happen. We'd be staring at a true WWIII, with all that would mean.

[Half-Century Man]

6. Competition for the Panama Canal...

no problem, it's the free market at work.
Mind the pollution thing though.

[Coyotl]

7. Another major accomplishment by Ronald Reagan.

Pissing off Latin America!

[okaawhatever]

8. Since the Chinese are well known for their bribery, I'm beginning to think we need to start allowing

companies in the u.s. to do it. I'll bet a lot of money there was some serious bribery here.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

18. NO NO NO NO NO!

take it to its logical conclusion, if we did?

[vinny9698]

10. Nicaragua route has always being the easiest route.

On the Atlantic side, there is a river that connects to Nicaragua Lake, from there on the Pacific side there is only a short piece of land separating the lake from the ocean.
Panama was chosen because a coup was staged on Panama and it broke off from Columbia and Teddy recognized the country over night. USA got all the concessions it wanted from the new country of Panama. Columbia and Nicaragua were both demanding more concessions from the USA.

[Berlum]

15. "Repubbies raised me up with drug loot, then took me down. Damn their evil occultism." - Manuel N.

[naaman fletcher]

22. Thre is also a conspiracy theory around it: (i live half time in panama)

Originally a French firm had the concession to the panama canal. The firm went bust. The US had to pay off the old French bond holders in order to get the concession to the land where the Canal was being built.

There is some credible evidence that there was a con job whereby a significant portion of the money (or all of it) that the US paid the old French bondholder never made it to the french at all, but was stolen by the American bankers and lawyers. It's been a few years since I read up on this. One supporting piece of evidence though is that there are still a lot of old french canal bonds floating around which theoretically should have been exchanged for partial payment by the US.

Interestingly, these bonds trade at a significant premium in the historical stock/bond world in part because there are people here in Panama who basically claim that the US never perfected title to the underlying land, and thus couldn't give it back to Panama, and thus the lands are properly owned by the french bond holders.

[hunter]

11. Meh. Wait 'til the arctic ice melts.

Canal won't be useful then for two reasons:

1. World trade will grind to a halt as climate change destroys economies.

2. The Northwest Passage will be open and whatever money is left will be developing Arctic regions.

[cprise]

16. Hmmmm...

1. I recall seeing a geoengineering proposal to counteract AGW that involved connecting Atlantic and Pacific through Central America.

2. This time, the Chinese want access to Brazil and Venezuela.


and 3. A new canal would be a tool for cementing South America's independence from the US (and Canada)... no more 'back yard' status.

[hunter]

20. China would probably love to build a wide deep sea level canal.

The USA would probably consider that an act of war.

The environmental damage would be catastrophic, but that hasn't stopped China yet.

Pretty clever how the USA handed the dirtiest manufacturing off to China, isn't it?

Hmmmmm..... Maybe the USA wouldn't consider it an act of war.

[roamer65]

25. That is actually true.

When the North Pole ice cap has melted enough, the most direct route from Asia to the east coast of the US and Europe will be right across the Arctic Ocean. It will be seasonal for a while, but long enough to do a lot of bulk shipping.

[geek tragedy]

12. Here I thought Nicaragua had a poverty problem.

I guess a $40 Billion vanity projects should dispel those concerns.

[Sunlei]

13. wow, 100 years of Chinese run prison slave labor in Africa.

probably already have the slave labor camps there for their other projects.

[Sunlei]

14. time to reverse the mississippi towards the NW passage and have a nice water transportation system.

[mitchtv]

19. it is an ecological hot spot

with the world's only fresh water sharks in Lake Nicaragua

[maxsolomon]

23. Its an ecological disaster for Lake Nicaragua

invasive species will destroy the lake's native fauna.

all in time for global commerce to collapse due to peak oil.

[mitchtv]

24. yup, it is

that used to mean something, now only money means anything