tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post642152430798900496..comments2024-03-29T15:04:20.549+11:00Comments on ART and ARCHITECTURE, mainly: The Panama Canal Scandal: 1880-1892Helshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-62510906881498516262016-03-07T16:44:47.548+11:002016-03-07T16:44:47.548+11:00Val
I enjoyed the topic as well - a bizarre mix o...Val<br /><br />I enjoyed the topic as well - a bizarre mix of an ambitious vision, heroic engineers, financial chaos, yellow fever and malaria in Panama, catastrophic landslides, corrupt French Government ministers and anti-Semitic newspaper owners in Paris.Helshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-84883324327799487242016-03-07T12:36:00.049+11:002016-03-07T12:36:00.049+11:00Thanks for this post. I read it this morning befor...Thanks for this post. I read it this morning before our lecture today on the Panama Canal Scandal in France.Valnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-69078725400501275072014-09-29T14:01:24.370+10:002014-09-29T14:01:24.370+10:00History Today
I suppose after decades of French d...History Today<br /><br />I suppose after decades of French deaths, soaring costs and lack of success, the Americans had to be ruthless! Nonetheless it is a nasty story.Helshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-4014392607495429572014-09-29T13:29:40.764+10:002014-09-29T13:29:40.764+10:00The American leadership under Theodore Roosevelt m...The American leadership under Theodore Roosevelt moved with utter ruthlessness to make the canal a reality. They bought out the French company for $40m, a figure that dwarfs the purchases of Louisiana, Alaska and the Philippines. When the Colombian government seemed unwilling to give in to the American demands that they concede total control over a canal zone, Roosevelt made plans to invade Panama, but instead fomented, supported and protected a separatist revolution on the isthmus. He then bullied the new Panama republic into signing a treaty that reduced it to vassalage and established total military control of the new canal zone.<br /><br />There was a sharp backlash in the US, where the president was accused of dragging the country down to the sordid level of the European land-grabbing powers, but it was a fait accompli and a watershed for US presidential power and American imperial ambition.History Todayhttp://www.historytoday.com/matthew-parker/keys-universe-building-panama-canalnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-46432077847423599572013-10-15T11:19:08.505+11:002013-10-15T11:19:08.505+11:00Mandy
Interesting, isn't it? I understand how...Mandy<br /><br />Interesting, isn't it? I understand how devastated the French government and population must have felt in the decades following the 1870–71 Franco-Prussian War, how impotent France was in the face of two years of devastation. <br /><br />But I don't understand how the despicable Edouard Drumont launched his newspaper La Libre parole AND was so influential. It suggests that French anti-Semitism was already thriving pre-1892 and the Panama Canal Scandal and the Dreyfus Scandal were to some extent inevitable. Let alone WW2!<br /><br />Helshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-86959409449078753432013-10-15T03:27:26.623+11:002013-10-15T03:27:26.623+11:00Wow, such a fascinating post. This paragraph remin...Wow, such a fascinating post. This paragraph reminded me so much of the bitter fighting we see today in the States: "The Dreyfus Affair was in fact the culmination of two decades of conflict between modernism and conservatism, leading to something that resembled civil war between Dreyfus’ distressed supporters and fanatical antagonists". It seems there will always be a strong, conservative, religious movement. <br /><br />This post is so interesting first because of the mind-blowing corruption but also on how it was then blamed on Jewish people. If we ever wondered how the criminal indifference of Vel d'Hiv came about, we only have to remember that this crisis occurred just one or two generations before WWII. Mandyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11931248631361366673noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-62074626406079825492013-10-13T12:22:16.624+11:002013-10-13T12:22:16.624+11:00Parnassus
I knew very little about the Panama Can...Parnassus<br /><br />I knew very little about the Panama Canal in particular, but I certainly did understand the political and social values of France from 1870 - 1900. <br /><br />So the question we have to ask is: Is a background of conflict, polarisation, humiliation and disappointment enough to explain the emerging culture of personal greed, corruption and bribery? The court trials in the 1890s were interesting but they did not answer our key question.Helshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-13013743564786495962013-10-13T04:37:46.812+11:002013-10-13T04:37:46.812+11:00Hello Hels, Impressive as is the achievement of t...Hello Hels, Impressive as is the achievement of the Panama Canal, it somehow comes as no surprise that it went along with such monumental greed and bungling. So many international troubles, as well as civic and business enterprises tell the same story.<br /><br />When I was in America, I don't recall meeting any Panamanians, but I have run into quite a few in Taiwan--the two countries get along quite well. Parnassushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08958901307538141468noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-49918349755068952522013-10-12T15:20:01.240+11:002013-10-12T15:20:01.240+11:00Glamour Drops,
the owners of the important and in...Glamour Drops,<br /><br />the owners of the important and influential French newspapers were paid huge bribes to speak highly of the Panama Canal project. So they did!<br /><br />What amazes me is that even if the Panama Canal Co and its directors didn't give a toss about the labourers dying, why didn't they care about all their very special engineers who were dying at the same, tragic rate?Helshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-29237436075145808842013-10-12T15:16:59.570+11:002013-10-12T15:16:59.570+11:00Joseph
Panama became independent of Spain in 1821...Joseph<br /><br />Panama became independent of Spain in 1821 and joined a union of Nueva Granada, Ecuador and Venezuela, as part of Colombia. The nation didn't become independent of Colombia until 1903 (note the date!) and even now the population is only 3.5 million. So you won't meet many Panamanians *nod*Helshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-38195421332047736332013-10-12T15:11:37.003+11:002013-10-12T15:11:37.003+11:00Andrew
Even if you credit the French with the bes...Andrew<br /><br />Even if you credit the French with the best motives in the world for opening up the Panama isthmus... to save shipping the long trek around the Americas... it was poorly prepared. Team de Lesseps engineers had no idea of what they were going to find, once they crossed the ocean. Team Eiffel might have, but by then it was far too late.Helshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02849907428208235392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-87125487265579838292013-10-12T13:33:42.009+11:002013-10-12T13:33:42.009+11:00The death toll is extraordinary. Surely that figur...The death toll is extraordinary. Surely that figure wasn't kept out of the newspapers at the time?Glamour Dropshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12651174250292927988noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-37303861961349764562013-10-12T12:44:18.548+11:002013-10-12T12:44:18.548+11:00There were four young businessmen from Panama in t...There were four young businessmen from Panama in the Hong Kong tour last year. They were the first citizens I have met from that country.Josephnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3067098918914268503.post-91077635649404533772013-10-12T08:28:37.785+11:002013-10-12T08:28:37.785+11:00It really was a wonder that the canal was built. T...It really was a wonder that the canal was built. The terrible death toll is a shocking indictment of the times.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com