Masrour Barzani, prime minister of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region and heir-apparent to the Barzani family s multi-billion dollar business empire, is not having a good year. Earlier this year, dissident Maki Revend and the U.S.-based Kurdistan Victims Fund
It isn't expected that presidents should go missing or be involved in crashes. However, historically, a number of important political and military leaders have met their end in crashes.
As most people are aware, the Suez Canal was blocked earlier this year for six days (March 23-29). According to the Suez Canal Authority, which maintains and operates the waterway, the canal has closed five times since it opened for navigation in 1869. Interestingly, the Panama Canal has never been blocked, and has only been closed for a day. That occurred in 1989, when U.S. military forces staged an assault in Panama to depose the country’s leader, Manuel Noriega.
A shortcut to the Orient
The idea of creating a water passage across the isthmus of Panama to link the Atlantic and Pacific oceans dates back to at least the 1500s, when King Charles I of Spain (whose nation laid claim to most of Central and South America) instructed his regional governor to survey a route along the Chagres River. A shorter water route from Europe to Asia across Central America was the goal. However, engineering and other challenges of building a canal across the mountainous, jungle terrain proved much
FreightWaves Classics: Panama Canal serves shipping and commerce for more than 100 years freightwaves.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from freightwaves.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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IF the new US administration is relying on the suspicions of its intelligence agency cited by the famous report on the murder of the Saudi citizen Jamal Khashoggi, then it undoubtedly needs a careful reading of the history of the agency. This agency is known for its failure in its strategic assessments, starting with Vietnam and not ending with Iran.
This report regarding the Saudi crown prince is nothing more than a trap set to entangle the United States in a problem with its closest allies in the region, which are the Arabian Gulf states, not just Saudi Arabia.