Washington Overlooks Foreign Port and Cable Takeovers, Risks Strategic Blind Spot

An opinion piece contends that Washington's preoccupation with conventional high-technology wars blinds it to a systematic takeover of global trade infrastructure by revisionist powers. It cites the recent 80% acquisition of El Salvador's Unión Portuaria del Pacífico by Turkish operator Yilport under a 50-year concession, which went unremarked by US Southern Command. The analysis extends to Tehran's leveraging of expanded Omani ports, Ankara's aggressive Mediterranean maritime expansion, Beijing's construction of the Chancay megaport that anchors a Chinese military presence near the Panama Canal, and Moscow-directed disruptions of Baltic undersea cables and power grids.

Historical parallels are drawn to China's covert highway building in Aksai Chin that preceded the 1962 Sino-Indian war. To counter these low-visibility threats, the author proposes a "transactional realism" doctrine involving immediate financial penalties, designated security officers for vulnerable sites, and pre-emptive sanctions targeting hostile operators.