The Tragic Treatment of the UAE Ports Deal

StrategyPage ^ | February 24, 2006 | Harold C. Hutchison

[maica]

That counts!!!

Sorry, I forgot Chicago.

I wonder how safe south central LA is?

[devane617]

If and when we see the list of people with their hand in the UAE cookie jar, many will be surprised and shocked. A couple FR favs will be on the list.

[reformedliberal]

Relax. Savage's influence with wiseguys or anyone capable of making an independent decision, let alone do a hit, is a figment of his own imagination.

I no longer listen, but your dialog sounded like what I recall from the times I did. Soon, if this settles down and the deal goes forward, Savage will be moaning to his listener about his depression.

[elli1]

(2002 citation) The longshoremen's basic wage, $27.50 an hour, will rise by $3 an hour, or almost 11 percent, over six years. With premiums, night differentials and overtime added, longshoremen now earn nearly $100,000 a year on average.

Link

[maica]

It was an open bidding process. Apparently the companies with the economy of scale to perform on the level needed do not exist in the US.

We are an agricultural and manufacturing nation, among other industries. Small nations with little land mass seem to have developed strong international shipping expertise.

And remember - reporters are using the word "ports" when they should be using the word "terminals". The widespread impression seems to be that everything that is next to water, and the water of our harbors are being "sold" to Arabs.

[maica]

Ditto!

[tomjohn77]

I have never heard that the UAE is a dangerous place to be. It assumed to be a safe place for people to walk around. It might be less safe now because of the whole terrorist thing. Before 2001 it was a very safe place for foreigners

[Lib-Lickers 2]

and yet not one peep about the Red Chinese and Singapore running our ports,, hypocrasy knows no bounds

[Flifuss]

Curious if you knew who the recommendation came from

After re-reading the article, answered my own question - DP World, Dubai's state-owned ports operator, made an offer at 443p a share. Worth £3.3bn in total, this was recommended by the P&O board.

[cripplecreek]

And those same wage earners will still be there.

[PrinceOfCups]

You Wrote: ...The totalitarian monarchies of the middle east are nice to America only because they are afraid of being overthrown.

In Dubai's case, terrorism is bad for business; they are building literally thousands of elite condominiums and villas for Westerners to buy. All Dubai needs is for Al Qaeda to gain a foot-hole here---and poof---there goes the high-end market. It's hard to explain Dubai to someone who hasn't lived here. Las Vegas and Disneyland are the closest metaphors. We have Internet City, we have Media City, we have Knowledge Village, we have Global Village, we have thoroughbred horse racing, golf tournaments and now, Dubai wants to host the Olympics. The local UAE folk are making tons of money; there is no economic reason to revolt. Life is good.

[tomjohn77]

I will trust the Turks more than the other middle eastern countries. They have been under European influence and have a shared history with Europe.

[PrinceOfCups]

Americans and several other Western countries do not require a Visa to visit the UAE. Just present your passport for a stamp. Jews, therefore, can come and go as they please sotto voce.

[tomjohn77]

When you control the terminals you control goods coming into the country. It can make it easier for terrorist to attack the US in the future. If the alliance with UAE goes bad you might be stuck with a problem.

[PrinceOfCups]

You Wrote: ...Their busy promoting fantasy island. I talked to one of my mothers friends who just got back from driving a truck in Iraq. He says he traveled freely in Jordan and Kuwait (with a warning to be careful) but in the UAE they strongly suggested that he not leave the resort areas...

I've been in every UAE Emirate here; never had a single problem. I drive across the border to Oman frequently for "visa runs". This just plain misinformation

[F16Fighter]

"I'd say this guy's arguments are just about as unsubstantiated as those purported by Malkin. I've worked and done business in Dubai. They are demonstrably unreliable. They have three different legal systems. Contract law means nothing. All it takes is a 'Will of Allah' and you can flush your contract down the toilet...and if some Sheik wants something, its obviously the 'Will of Allah.' Oh, and I love the 'largely permits religious freedom' part. The whole time I was there I never saw a church nor could I find a Bible in their book stores."

Folks should defer to your experience...

And imo, yep, this slop is nothing but propaganda. The "religious" part is rich for a country which recognized the 'Taliban' as a entity, but NOT Israel.

(Gee, I wonder how much UAE sheiks paid this author?)

[cripplecreek]

"I've been in every UAE Emirate here; never had a single problem. I drive across the border to Oman frequently for "visa runs". This just plain misinformation"

Sure you have.

[dynoman]

Before 9-11 how many imagined terrorists could have pulled off something like that? Tom Clancy? Tom Clancy had that scenario in one of his books, why would have anyone thought it was impossible? 9-11 was really pretty easy for the blowbots to plan and execute. The way one should look at this port deal is does it give America's enemies an easier inside track or or a harder one? I don't think anyone could argue having the UAE run these port operations would make it harder for America's enemies to ship nasties into the US. It can only make it easier. It wouldn't take to many insiders or players to set up an inside track, a couple shipping containers full of nasties and you have another potential 9-11 size event. A half dozen of America's enemies embedded in this UAE deal working with others embedded in an Arab owned shiping line would be very possible, who's going to deny that possibility? You have to think like a terrorist on this one, would Osama be for this deal or against it? Sure the port security is still a US function, but how good is the security? Is it 100%? It better be if we are going to allow an easier inside track into the US for America's enemies.

Draft Halliburton for the job.