@Kalbahamut: Probably,seeing as he was General Manuel Noriega.
@CR7isthebest: He was the leader of Panama who was taken by the Americans and thrown in a U.S. prison deep in the middle of the country. He was kept in prison until he died.
If you're a puppet working against your own country, you will eventually be betrayed and scapegoated by the puppeteer; it's inevitable.
Mmm... while the short answer is "No", many would say "yes".
Guillermo Endara, the president after Noriega's downfall, took many steps to distance Panama from Noriega's shadow. One of them was transforming the military forces into police forces (in order to purge Noriega loyalist from power), to the point that the military was abolished in 1994.
The issue with the "US did that" thing is that Endara was sworn president at a US base in Panama. He was refuged there after the military forces under Noriega attacked him. So, many would say "He did all under US influence."
Yeah after US invaded Panama, they disbanded the entire police and military force of Panama (because these police and military forces cooperated with Noriega according to the US), and the Government following Noriega's failed to deal with the public security crisis caused by that. So the trading companies in Panama employed the ex-military personnels as security forces, and Panama runs without a military to this date...
How dare you even begin to compare the USA's weakling army to the likes of that of Antigua and Barbuda! Next you'll be comparing Russia and the Marshall Islands!
I'll have you know that Antigua and Barbuda's Military is the largest and most powerful in the world! People dare not speak of it because it is so powerful ;)
Sadly, as if to prove his point, BigGeographyGuy disappeared July 26th and hasn't been seen since. But not before letting us all in on the secret of you-know-who's you-know-what. Hang on, somebody's at the door....
Actually it is only partly true. Antigua and Barbuda surely has larger military capacities than US and Russia combined, but it just falls second to Barbados. How could forget?
Wake up sheeple, don’t be fooled by the Occidentalist, anti-counter-contrarywise imperialist pig-dogs and their propaganda. The real enemy would love you to believe Antigua and Barbuda and Barbados are the real big boys. Their plan is to sow mistrust and hostility between them until their inevitable descent into full blown, apocalyptic Bananageddon. Only then will the great Satan reveal itself: NARNIA will sweep into the breach and declare Earth a slave colony. No one can see them coming. Except the Swedes. They will be spared the horror to come because of their secret deal to sell you all the wardrobes that will lead to your downfall! I feel like I should be using a big letter Q, so there’s that also!
Right then, half a dozen Ambien and a lie down for me then. Remember to sign up to the newsletter at www.definitelytrueconspiracywebbiz.zzzzzzzxxx
I was surprised to find Iceland on the list because I hadn't read the subtitle. The title is "NO military", but it turns out all that means is no standing army. As if nothing can be military other than a standing army... Iceland clearly does have some military capability, just not a standing army.
Yeah, but that leaves those countries at the mercy of American whims. When you have a president who is desperate to placate tyrants and dictators, it doesn't inspire a lot of confidence that he will intercede on behalf of countries that don't have much power, which is all he cares about.
Costa Rica is actually pretty famous for doing away with its military. Some say it's how it avoided a military coup like in many other Latin American nations
Fiji is on another spectrum in this regard. It was invited to participate in peacekeeping missions, trained an army and now has military coups every once in a while.
Kibibati, Nauru, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Vanuatu are British Commonwealth Countries and the whole of the Commonwealth would support these countries if under duress, likewise the same goes for Mauritius, Grenada, St. Lucia and St. Vincent.
The Commonwealth is a loosely associated group of countries with not much in common except formerly being part of the British Empire. It's not a defensive alliance.
What Carrow said. I don’t recall other Commonwealth countries getting involved when the US invaded Grenada, except for the ones that were allied with the invaders!
Mauritius: It's an island nation, like many with no army, as the ocean is a good natural protection. They have no close neighbors which could be a potential harm (closest island is La Réunion which is part of France, then you have Madagascar and the Seychelles. Not very aggressive neighbors). And since a few decades they have an effective policy of peaceful development based on business and tourism. If there were a big danger, French army would give a help, I imagine.
Panama: It was a puppet state of the US, led by a general, so militaries aren't exactly a good memory for Panama people and like Costa Rica they don't really need an army. Everyone needs Panama to be let in peace, because everyone needs to use the canal. Their only potential threat would be Colombia if they wanted to take back Panama, but Colombia surprisingly doesn't want a war with the US, which is what annexing Panama would mean...
That's right folks, they're all there for the taking!
I was really surprised at Panama. I was also sure Grenada had a military. Didn't Clint Eastwood and a rag tag band of marines invade there. I was sure they met with some military resistance.
Could I suggest that the title is changed? The source is quite clear about distinguishing between countries with NO military and those which simply don't have a standing army. There's a lot more to the military than just the army.
And yes, yes, I know I should have read the subtitle, but one doesn't expect the subtitle to contradict the title.
@CR7isthebest: He was the leader of Panama who was taken by the Americans and thrown in a U.S. prison deep in the middle of the country. He was kept in prison until he died.
If you're a puppet working against your own country, you will eventually be betrayed and scapegoated by the puppeteer; it's inevitable.
Guillermo Endara, the president after Noriega's downfall, took many steps to distance Panama from Noriega's shadow. One of them was transforming the military forces into police forces (in order to purge Noriega loyalist from power), to the point that the military was abolished in 1994.
The issue with the "US did that" thing is that Endara was sworn president at a US base in Panama. He was refuged there after the military forces under Noriega attacked him. So, many would say "He did all under US influence."
Right then, half a dozen Ambien and a lie down for me then. Remember to sign up to the newsletter at www.definitelytrueconspiracywebbiz.zzzzzzzxxx
Also surprising are some of the countries not included here, like St. Kitts and Nevis & Antigua and Barbuda.
Panama: It was a puppet state of the US, led by a general, so militaries aren't exactly a good memory for Panama people and like Costa Rica they don't really need an army. Everyone needs Panama to be let in peace, because everyone needs to use the canal. Their only potential threat would be Colombia if they wanted to take back Panama, but Colombia surprisingly doesn't want a war with the US, which is what annexing Panama would mean...
I was really surprised at Panama. I was also sure Grenada had a military. Didn't Clint Eastwood and a rag tag band of marines invade there. I was sure they met with some military resistance.
But that was in the 80's, no military since then.
And yes, yes, I know I should have read the subtitle, but one doesn't expect the subtitle to contradict the title.
It's a rather militarised country, extensively fortified too.
It's interesting that they maintain this attitude despite being surrounded by friendly countries.
I just forgot about Vanuatu.