Thread:TR/@comment-198.190.231.15-20180711152701/@comment-25626-20180711164541

No, it is not based on the books. The words "Panama" and "Panama Cana" don't appear in a single volume of the series. We do not know it's fate.

You can argue your legal definitions, but the Race had the upper hand, and had no obligation to care about who owned the Canal, especially since the handily overran the entire landmass surrounding the Canal. Moreover, the US had no real way of fighting them in the Canal Zone, since the US was far more focused on fighting in the territorial US--you might recall that the Race occupied most of the south and much of the midwest, including Missouri, Illinois, Kansas and about half of Colorado. A health chunk of the country, in other words.

If anything, giving up the Canal Zone to get the Race out of the US and stop the atomic bombs from falling strikes me as a very good trade.