Special Report :: Portugal - Turning Corners (Part 3)

Day 519, 13:24 Published in USA USA by Nick Everdale

Following the misguided eAmerican forays into Portugal and Mexico, a period of uneasy detente grew along the U.S./Mexican border. Portugal controlled nearly half of Mexico, including all vital oil regions, and the Portuguese remained in a state of Cold War with the United States.

This is how things stood at the beginning of President Scrabman's term, when the Portugal Study Committee was formed. The results have been nothing if not stunning.

Few held out much hope for substantive changes in the North American balance of power at the beginning of the Scrabman Administration. However, President Scrabman made it a foreign policy priority to secure American borders, and in this respect his initiatives have borne fragile but noticeable fruit.

One of the most noticeable changes in U.S./Mexico/Portugal relations can be seen in the Portuguese return of several Mexican territories, allowing for the full renewal of Mexican sovereignty while providing military training for Mexican soldiers. Oaxaca and the Southeast have already been returned to Mexican control, but all eyes are focused on the sensitive Northeast.

As has been discussed previously, the Mexican Northeast is the main route of invasion into the United States, and until very recently this region has been held by Portugal, with whom the United States remains at war. However, on April 22nd, the Mexican government - with the tacit consent of the Portuguese - initiated a Resistance War designed to return the Northeast to Mexican control. The foreign policy waves of this move are huge.

With the return of the Mexican Northeast, Portugal surrenders its last major strategic hold in Mexico, reducing the case for continuing the long-running U.S./Portugal conflict. At the same time as the Portuguese withdraw from the Northeast, President Scrabman has announced productive talks have taken place with the President of Portugal on drawing the conflict to a close.

What once seemed an intractable problem now appears on the verge of a peaceful resolution. That President Scrabman's administration achieved such a complicated diplomatic feat so early in its tenure raises questions about where Scrabman may next cast his diplomatic net. If nothing else, the conclusion of the Portuguese conflict - which now seems certain to happen shortly - will relieve burdened resources along the Mexican border.

In the next Special Report on Portugal -- The U.S., Mexico, and Baja