Posted on 03/03/2006 2:00:04 PM PST by Willie Green
For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.
We at GLOBALIZATION FOLLIES are sorry that Washington Post reporter Steven Pearlstein got up on the wrong side of the bed earlier this week, but did he have to take it out on his readers? How else can you explain his March 1 hissy fit against critics of the Dubai ports deal?
It must have made Pearlstein feel great to lash out against "the racist hypocrisy on the part of Democrats who are morally outraged by racial profiling of airline passengers but not of port investors" and against "the political hypocrisy of the Bush administration, which stoked irrational fear of terrorism and then complains when it boomerangs against them," and against "the rank hypocrisy of commercially blackballing a country that allowed terrorists to pass through its borders – by a country that not only harbored terrorists for years but even taught them to fly." But did these fulminations do anything to inform or enlighten his readers? Not even close.
If Pearlstein had actually thought for a moment before hitting the keyboard, he surely would have realized that treating prospective foreign investors who come from different parts of the world with dramatically different business and cultural traditions and whose countries are at dramatically different stages of economic and political development is anything but racism. It's called simple common sense. This goes double when it comes to port security, and to countries that are little more than entrepots – earning much of their income by permitting goods and people to cross their borders as easily as possible, and looking the other way at hard cases.
Pearlstein would also realize that governments in regions like the Persian Gulf can be mercurial, to put it kindly, in geopolitics. Yes, the United Arab Emirates has been an anti-terrorist ally for a few years. A few years before that, it was in bed with the Taliban. Where it will be next week is anyone's guess. It's also anyone's guess when the current government gets deposed by the anti-American fanatics so prevalent and powerful in the Gulf – fanatics unlikely to disarm their car bombs if the ports deal goes through.
Finally, we were left agape by Pearlstein's reference to the "irrational fear of terrorism." Perhaps he hasn't traveled recently to New York or London or Madrid or Turkey or Bali or any other sites of recent, murderous terror attacks. Evidently he hasn't even been to Arlington, Virginia. Yes, President Bush apparently can't put two and two together regarding terrorism, either. But the answer surely isn't to pretend that the ports deal is just hunky dory from a security standpoint.
The essence of sound policymaking is using good judgment to draw the distinctions presented by a forbiddingly complex world. Apparently Pearlstein believes that the essence of punditry is to say the first fool thing that comes into one's head. That sounds more like the essence of being a seven-year old to us.
ping
Cool word.
-PJ
Actually the President's invasion of Iraq did such a complete job in convincing Americans that all muslims are terrorists even if they all nothing to do with 9/11. He is having some difficulty unwinding that now for the capitalist exception.
If all Muslims are not Terrorists....then the ones
that aren't, are just as guilty, as they are silent..
or if there are Muslims that are normal...and want
t live peacefully....the media doesn't give them the
time of day....how else is this type of terrorism
going to stop? You can be sitting next to one in a
train station and bango..the guy blows up himself,
you and anyone else within 30 feet?? JJ
Free Traitin' - one rude thing to do!
I hesitate commenting...
(whisper) I agree with the opinion piece.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.