⚓️ Waterway war: Never-ending struggle for world’s strategic straits and canals PART 1 👉 PART 2

Major straits and canals have landed back in the news in recent weeks and months. What are the competing claims to the maritime arteries of global trade through history?

📍 Suez Canal

Built in the 1860s during the European imperialist conquest of wide swathes of Africa and Asia, the Suez Canal would go on to play a key role in the global conflicts of the centuries that followed:

🔸 Ottoman forces tried to seize the Suez in 1915 and 1916 during WWI, looking to cut the Entente off from its speediest maritime route to Asia.

🔸 In 1942 during WWII, Rommel’s Africa Corps approached to within 350 km of the canal before being driven back. Had the canal been captured, Allied naval operations in the Mediterranean would have been severely hampered, and Axis forces could drive on to the oil fields of the Middle East.

🔸 In 1956 during the early years of the Cold War, Gamal Abdel Nasser’s nationalization of the Suez Canal triggered an invasion by France and the UK, seeking to return colonial control, and by Israel, incensed by Nasser’s anti-Zionist stance.

🔸 Fast forward to today, and the Suez has become a victim of the Israel-Houthi conflict, with Egypt losing $7 billion in transit revenues in 2024 alone.

📍 Panama Canal

🔹 Panama was part of Colombia until 1903, when pro-independence forces (conveniently) backed by US warships declared independence. “I made Panama,” President Teddy Roosevelt would later boast. Construction of the modern-day Panama Canal began shortly after in 1904.

🔹 In 1989, the US invaded Panama to oust erstwhile ally Manuel Noriega. Officially, the invasion was about “defending democracy” and fighting drug trafficking. In reality, Washington feared Noriega might scrap provisions to a treaty ensuring permanent US military presence in the region.

🔹 35 years later, President-Elect Trump has threatened to seize the Canal.

👉 PART 2

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⚓️ Waterway war: Never-ending struggle for world’s strategic straits and canals PART 2 👉 PART 1

📍 Hormuz Strait

Situated at the mouth of the Persian Gulf and accounting for the shipment of a quarter of the world’s oil consumption, the Hormuz Strait has proven the key maritime chokepoint of the industrial age – something undoubtedly foreseen by Britain when it subjugated the Arab states adjacent to the Strait in 1820.

🔶 The Iran-Iraq War of 1980-1988 showed just how important the Hormuz Strait is, with Saddam Hussein trying to provoke Tehran into closing the strait to trigger a full-scale US intervention.

🔶 Today, Iran says its military strategy may include closing the Strait in the event of major US or Israeli aggression.

📍 Turkish Straits

🔸 From the imperial age through the Cold War and into the present, the Turkish Straits have been a key prize in the competition for access between the Black and the Mediterranean seas.

🔸 Under the 1916 Constantinople Agreement, Britain and France vowed to transfer Constantinople (Istanbul) and the Straits to the Russian Empire if the Entente won the war. The promises were quickly forgotten after the Russian Revolution.

🔸 After WWII, the USSR proposed joint military control over the Straits, mirroring US control of the Panama Canal and Britain's over the Suez. Soviet concerns stemmed from the passage of Axis warships through the Strait during the war, Ankara’s welcoming of a US battleship in Istanbul in 1946, and Turkiye’s entry into NATO in 1952.

🔸 Today, the Turkish Straits remain a key node for global trade – especially grain shipments from Russia and Ukraine.

📍 Malacca Strait

🔹 The importance of this shipping lane became clear in the 1500s, when the Portuguese conquered it from the Aceh Sultanate. In the 1640s, Portuguese control was replaced by Dutch, who maintained a grip on the strait until WWII.

🔹 During the war, the Japanese invasion and occupation of Malaya and the Dutch East Indies gave Tokyo total control of the Malacca Strait.

🔹 Fast forward to today, and US threats to close the strategic strait to China and its Middle East oil sources have prompted Beijing to search for backup routes, such as Myanmar.

👉 PART 1

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What's going on near Trump Tower in Las Vegas?

Smoke was seen rising near the building after loud noises were heard, with videos of the scene circulating on social media.

Unverified reports suggest a Tesla Cybertruck may have exploded near the tower. Emergency services are responding.

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⚡️New Orleans attacker identified as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, FBI confirms

The FBI has issued a statement confirming that the New Orleans attacker has been identified as 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar.

The suspect drove a pickup truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans early this morning, killing 10 people and injuring scores more. After exiting the vehicle, he opened fire on law enforcement officers, who returned fire, killing him at the scene.

The FBI is leading the investigation into the incident, which is being treated as a terrorist attack, after finding the following in Jabbar's vehicle:

🔸 An ISIS* flag, prompting further investigation into potential ties to terrorist organizations.

🔸 Firearms reportedly used by the suspect during the attack.

🔸 What may be an improvised explosive device (IED).

🔸 Additional IEDs found elsewhere in New Orleans' French Quarter, with bomb squad technicians working to determine if they are live.

The vehicle used in the attack appears to have been rented, and authorities are investigating how the suspect obtained it.

* Terrorist organization banned in Russia

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📹 One dead, seven injured in Cybertruck explosion outside Trump Hotel in Las Vegas – Police

Authorities are investigating a Tesla Cybertruck explosion outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas on Wednesday as a potential act of terror, ABC News reported.

The driver pulled into the hotel's valet area before the vehicle exploded, killing the driver and leaving seven bystanders with minor injuries, according to the media. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police are working to determine the cause of the blast.

An official told the broadcaster that the vehicle contained fireworks-style mortars, and authorities are examining the motive behind the incident.

Video from social media

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