The Tragic Treatment of the UAE Ports Deal

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

[ClaireSolt]

"The same is told to every visitor to downtown Baltimore."



...and Miami. By all means stay away from port districts. They are dangerous.

[PrinceOfCups]

You Wrote: ...but how long time can they keep the Islamofascist from taking the power or influencing the average citizen...

I believe the UAE and Kuwait have the highest income per person in the world. Terrorism will never have significant influence in a capitalist society. There wackos everywhere in every country, but with that caveat, life in the UAE is too comfortable for the locals. It is illogical to tear down a society that produces this extraordinary wealth. How often do you hear about demonstrations after "Friday Prayers" in Dubai or the UAE? It just doesn't happen. The locals have just too much shopping to do. There are thousands of single women here from NATO countries; they aren't afraid to go out on weekend nights to party and socialize. Dubai is so tiny; you can criss-cross the country in a half-hour.

[ClaireSolt]

Greeks have been in shipping for 2500 years or so because island hopping is something they learned to do early.

[syriacus]

Any talk of a "fix" was facilitated and shrouded by the secrecy we've witnessed recently. WHY??

Too bad no one was reading the business pages. They would have noticed the Chinese and Arabs were in a bidding war for P&O.

[ClaireSolt]

Sounds like you have not experienced anti-semitism. People who care about it can tell a Jew by his appearance and name, they think. And they pay attention to these things.

[syriacus]

Greeks have been in shipping for 2500 years or so because island hopping is something they learned to do early.

And the Chinese government seems to know a thing or two about shipping. They're smart enough to realize there is money in shipping and they are agressively pursuing this.

COSCO interested to buy stake in Greek port By Dai Yan (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-02-09 05:37 [excerpt]

China shipping giant China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company (COSCO) is in talks to own part of a major Greek port giving it increased access to European markets.

Company officials said COSCO Hellas, the firm's subsidiary in Greece, is interested in taking part in possible plans to buy shares in the Piraeus Port Authority (PPA).

[dynoman]

UAE and Kuwait wealth is not really because of capitalism, it is dishonest to say that, it is more like they are wealthy because of winning the lottery. Iraq was wealthy too, shopping, and all that, but it was about as far from a capitalsitic country as you could get. But they too had a winning oil lottery ticket.

[ClaireSolt]

Just to be onery, I would like to remind everyone of some history of Muslim shipping. Maybe you have heard that when the US was founded Muslim shippers called Barbary pirates controlled the Mediterranean and extracted tribute from everyone who wanted to pass. thomas Jefferson was not amenable to paying tribute and sent an armada to defeat the Barbary pirates, benefiting all Eurpean shippers, too. These days, such pirates are active off the Horn of Africa and in the Mallaccan strits in Asia. The attack on the US Cole is in that tradition.

[ClaireSolt]

Is the Cosco related to the membership store Costco?

[Cannoneer No. 4]

The koran says it is OK to lie ,cheat and steal as long is it is not a muslim you are dealing with. So any thing goes. Buyer be ware.if you are not muslim.

There are 1.2 billion of them. Do you want to hide from them?

[Cannoneer No. 4]

Mr. Schumer, the first to raise the alarm about the deal? He's collected $4,500 in campaign contributions from the trough of the Longshoremen.
Rep. Peter King, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, who was one of the first big-name Republicans to break ranks with the administration over the deal? The Longshoremen's political committee donated $5,500 to the King campaign.

Senator Clinton's campaign took $4,500.

Senator Dodd, $2,500.

Congressman Fossella, $9,500.

Senator Boxer, $6,000.

Senator Lautenberg, $9,000.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a Democrat from New York who is another outspoken critic of the Dubai deal, has accepted $22,500 from the Longshoremen since March of 2000.

Senator Menendez, a leader of the opposition to the Dubai deal, has taken in fully $39,500 in campaign contributions from the Longshoremen's political action committee.

[tomjohn77]

The GDP of Kuwait and the UAE is much smaller than the US and Norway. To me it looks like the average citizen is very well off in the UAE. I surely want to visit the place. My cousin went there for honey moon. It was great. He told me about all the luxury cars at the mall like Porche Cayenne and Rolls Royce.

[Paulus Invictus]

Hannity has been frothing at the mouth for a full week about the deal, but he is slowing down his attacks and appears to be more moderate. I doubt he had read the fine print about the port deal when the week started. For me, it is of little consequence that they manage six ports.

Much more significant is the management by the Chicoms of both ends of the Panama Canal. Their insidious penetration of Latina America is recognized by few and is being very successful. There are now four commie/socialist presidents in LA. Mexico may be the next to elect a known commie president. Then what do we do?

[jetson]

Forget this ally baloney. If Iraq goes south and becomes part of Iran, we don't want Arabs having any control of port movements. What the US needs to do is beef up port security big time and not worry about making new friends.

[ClaireSolt]

No this makes no sense. Without capitalists investing in making a business, the oil would still be in the ground like it was for eons. Capitalism is not about a country's economic system it is about individuals and groups acting as individuals. It requires a lot of genius and knowhow to begin and run a business and that is in no way like winning the lottery. It is, however, like running the lottery business.

[Cannoneer No. 4]

Would you be less frightened if the UAE opened up an Embassy in Tel Aviv?

[tomjohn77]

I guess that reply was intended to somebody else. I agree with you. That is what I have been arguing with some other people here.

[Cannoneer No. 4]

Boiled down to its essence, the argument for opposing the deal is: Dubai Ports World is owned by Ayrabs, and it was Ayrabs who attacked us on 9/11.

[tomjohn77]

You have to remember the people that do most of the work in the UAE is not the arabs themselves, but people from US, Europe, Pakistan, India etc

[RayChuang88]

Here's the thing about the UAE: are there any Freepers that have BOTHERED to visit the UAE in the past 4-5 years?

If you go to Abu Dhabi or Dubai, they are very modern cities that just about equal even Singapore in modernity. There spanking new buildings all over the place, and many Indians, Pakistanis, Iranians and Filipinos make good money working in the UAE.