Cuban Missile Crisis II? Panama catches North Korea bringing missile parts through canal

It's not 1962 anymore, and the players are not Kennedy and Khrushchev, but for some reason a North Korean ship left Cuba recently with sophisticated missile parts on board. It doesn't seem too likely that Cuba is providing North Korea with missile parts, so it's not entirely clear what kind of transaction was going on or who played what roles.

But we do know the Norks encountered a small problem when they tried to bring the ship through the Panama Canal. The Panamanians were having none of it, and they boarded the ship to conduct a search. That resulted in major resistance from the crew, including an attempt by the captain to commit suicide. And what did they find? I don't have to tell you because I can show you, because the president of Panama, Ricardo Martinelli, posted a photo on his Twitter feed. I'm not even on Twitter, but that's awesome. The BBC has more:

The ship, the Chong Chon Gang, was stopped near Manzanillo on the Atlantic side of the canal last week. Chong Chon Gang's route

• 17 April: Departs port of Vostochnyy, Nakhodka in Russian Far East (200km east of North Korean border)
• 31 May: Arrives at Pacific side of Panama Canal
• 1 June: Passes through Panama Canal
• 11 July: Arrives back at Panamanian port of Manzanillo
• 12 July: Ship searched
• 16 July: Panama announces its discovery

---

It had left Russia's far east in April and travelled across the Pacific Ocean before entering the canal at the start of June, with Cuba as its stated destination. The ship had crossed the Pacific without its automatic tracking system switched on - a move described by the BBC's security correspondent Frank Gardner as highly suspicious. Panama's Security Minister Jose Raul Mulino told the BBC that the ship - carrying 250,000 bags of sugar - was seized on 10 July after a tip-off that it was linked to drugs, but the "resistance and violence from the crew" delayed the search. He said the suspected weaponry was found in two containers and did not rule out further "surprises" as the search of the ship continues. Panama would be seeking "friendly governments" with the "technology to look into it" to help identify the exact nature of the cargo, he said, adding that there was no contact with North Korea.

Now, if North Korea is actually selling missiles to Cuba, which remains communist and hostile to the U.S., and also remains a mere 90 miles from our shores - that is a very big problem. We simply cannot have a hostile nation pointing missiles at us from such close range. Kennedy understood this in 1962, which is why he ordered a Naval blockade of Cuba and forced a standoff with the Soviet Union that ultimately forced Nikita Khrushchev to back down and get Soviet missiles off the island. Today, Cuba is no longer a Soviet client state because there is no longer a Soviet Union. Apparently the Castro brothers haven't given up the ghost on the communism thing, which is why they're still maintaining friendships with the likes of Kim Jong Un. But they no longer have Moscow to protect them if they get out of hand. Vladimir Putin may not be our friend but his pursuit of Mother Russia's exaltation hardly involves picking military confrontations with the U.S., especially on behalf a rickety, aging dictatorship like the one that's been hanging on for the past few decades in Havana. Maybe Fidel and Raul realize no one is there to save them anymore and they figure they need to arm themselves against a potential U.S. invasion. If so, it seems like a strange time to come to that conclusion, given a U.S. administration that probably has more inclination to normalize relations with Cuba than any since the 1957 revolution. But if Cuba really is acquiring missiles from North Korea, the U.S. has to take action to stop the Cubans from acquiring the capability to launch one at us. Right? Even Barack Obama wouldn't allow that kind of threat to come to our doorstep. Right? Fidel and Raul do realize that . . . right? Then again, maybe they're letting Dennis make the decisions.