I think Bush is INTENSELY focused on creating a western influence in the Middle East as the only way to bring lasting peace. He sees the Middle East as his Soviet Union, and so far he's done a far better job than he's been given credit for. And I believe this is part of that. There has to be give and take, nations need to be taken seriously and yet there are so many puzzle pieces that have to be kept track of over there that we don't quite see all the subtleties necessary to placate certain folks over there. Who is in the better position to crush Al Qaeda, ultimately, a US with NO allies in the region, or one that has good relations with a few nations there, which can serve as examples?
I'm not sold on this port thing, but the only folks here who have experience and knowledge about the workings of ports support this deal, or at least don't oppose it so strenuously. I don't think there is some master plan, I just think it's what it is. The MSM and DNC are already making it seem like the Administration is on the take, and are stoking impulses that are dangerous and will only weaken our hand in the Middle East. I can easily see this defeating the Republicans in 2006, and then in 2007 when the issue completely drops from the radar, people realizing they've been hoodwinked.
Look, I can see that the whole impetus for this is the MSM making the GOP look bad on defense to negate the GOP advantage on security. They'll bang this drum until it breaks.
But Bush sticking with this is going to make it worse. It will make it seem like he's all for foreign ownership of our ports. The average American knows this is a bad idea, no matter the free trade uber alles theory of the globalist GOP, no matter how much more efficient it is to have shipping specialists running the container ports.
The problem is that the GOP is winning because Americans believe this is a nation, not some subdivision of Earth, Inc., and as a nation, we need to defend ourselves. The biggest advantage America has had in the past in defending itself, outside of sheer geographic separation, has been its industry and largely because of its ability to trade freely to support that industry. Letting other countries get into a position to influence this and potentially clamp down on it, whether it's China in Panama running the canal, or the UAE in our ports, is a mistake.
[...Who is in the better position to crush Al Qaeda, ultimately, a US with NO allies in the region, or one that has good relations with a few nations there, which can serve as examples?...]
I like the way you are thinking. Bush has been misunderestimated his entire administration. I'm hoping this is another brilliant move in his big game. We won't know and he has no apologists... except us. If we could decypher the Bush code that gets him around the MSM, we could figure out what he's doing.
I tried to research the port management specialists and didn't find much. I don't know the "insider" language.