Posted on 03/09/2006 9:02:17 AM PST by prairiebreeze
Dubai is threatening retaliation against American strategic and commercial interests if Washington blocks its $6.8 billion takeover of operations at several U.S. ports.
As the House Appropriations Committee yesterday marked up legislation to kill Dubai Ports World’s acquisition of Britain’s Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation (P&O), the emirate let it be known that it is preparing to hit back hard if necessary.
A source close to the deal said members of Dubai’s royal family are furious at the hostility both Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill have shown toward the deal.
“They’re saying, ‘All we’ve done for you guys, all our purchases, we’ll stop it, we’ll just yank it,’” the source said.
Retaliation from the emirate could come against lucrative deals with aircraft maker Boeing and by curtailing the docking of hundreds of American ships, including U.S. Navy ships, each year at its port in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the source added.
It is not clear how much of Dubai’s behind-the-scenes anger would be followed up by action, but Boeing has been made aware of the threat and is already reportedly lobbying to save the ports deal.
The Emirates Group airline will decide later this year whether it will buy Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner or its competitor, Airbus A350. The airline last fall placed an order worth $9.7 billion for 42 Boeing 777 aircraft, making Dubai Boeing’s largest 777 customer.
Dubai in mid-February also established the Dubai Aerospace Enterprise, a $15 billion investment to create a company that will lease planes, develop airports and make aircraft parts to tap into growing demand for air travel in the Middle East and Asia.
The family-ruled sheikhdom may buy as many as 50 wide-body aircraft from Boeing and Airbus during the next four years, according to Aerospace Enterprise officials.
The UAE military also bought Boeing’s Apache helicopters. Meanwhile, Boeing has been in talks with the emirates to try to sell its AWACS planes.
An industry official with knowledge of Boeing’s contracts with Dubai said that the company has been involved in the emirate and that it would take a lot “to knock” those relationships.
“Nothing about the [ports] controversy diminishes our commitment to the region,” said John Dern, Boeing’s corporate spokesman. He added that at this point the company has no indication that there is or will be an impact on the company.
Any repercussion to Boeing could put House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) in a delicate position. Boeing’s decision to move its headquarters to Chicago has been seen as calculated to facilitate a close relationship with Hastert. He is against the ports deal, and his office did not return calls by press time.
Several businesses have expressed concern that the controversy over the $6.8 billion ports deal could damage trade with the UAE. Dubai is one of the seven emirates. The United States and the UAE are meeting next week for a fourth round of talks to sign a free-trade agreement. The American Business Group of Abu Dhabi, which has no affiliation with the U.S. government, said that Arabs may hesitate to invest into the United States, according to a report by Reuters.
A Republican trade lobbyist said that because the ports deal is a national-security issue blocking it would not be in violation of World Trade Agreement rules.
“In terms of them retaliating legally against the U.S. … I don’t think there are many options there,” the lobbyist said.
But when it comes to the emirates’ cooperation in the war on terrorism and in intelligence gathering, there is concern that some help may be pulled.
“If we reject the company in terms of doing the [ports] work, they are going to lose a lot of face. In the Arab culture, losing face is a big deal,” a former government official said. “We risk losing that help. It is not an empty threat.”
Dubai is a critical logistics hub for the U.S. Navy and a popular relaxation destination for troops fighting in the Middle East. On many occasions since the ports story erupted, the Pentagon has stressed the importance of the U.S-UAE relationship.
Last year, the U.S. Navy docked 590 supply vessels in Dubai, plus 56 warships, Gordon England, deputy secretary of defense, said in a Senate hearing last month. About 77,000 military personnel went on leave in the UAE last year, he added.
During the hearing, he warned about the implications of a negative decision on the ports deal: “So obviously it would have some effect on us, and I’d not care to quantify that, because I don’t have the facts to quantify it. It would certainly have an effect on us.”
Although owned by the Dubai government, the company at the heart of this controversy, Dubai Ports World, is trying to distance itself from any kinds of threats, said a lobbyist closely tracking the deal.
Another lobbyist monitoring the controversy said K Street still believes there will be a compromise that allows the Dubai deal to go through while meeting congressional security concerns, even though a bill aimed at that result, put forward by House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter King (R-N.Y.), was widely repudiated amongst lawmakers Tuesday.
Senate leaders have indicated that they would wait to take action until the new 45-day Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) review is completed.
Meanwhile, in London, DP World cleared the last hurdle for its take over of P&O. The Court of Appeal in London refused Miami-based Eller & Co., which opposed the deal, permission to appeal against clearances for the legal and financial measures necessary to implement the takeover.
P&O said it expects to file the requisite court orders, making the takeover terms binding on DP World, according to the Financial Times.
Elana Schor contributed to this report.
You're a disruptor and an insignificant one at that.
Easily led and duped by the likes of Michael Savage, your "hero."
Of course they're not threatened. Thousands upon thousands of them passing through the UAE itself. But let a cargo ship come over here? Horrors!
It was never about security in any form as you have aptly revealed. Not for you, not for Chucky and not for the RINOs. Are you with the Unions?
Emirates SkyCargo
NCA Building 79
JFK Int'l Airport
Jamaica, NY 11430
800-366-6845
718-553-6900
Fax: 718-553-7326
skycargonyc@emirates.com
www.sky-cargo.com
Not to mention that one of those UAE nationals was living in Germany when he was recruited. The antis position just can't stand up to any scrutiny.
You forgot to tell us "we have no bias against A-Rabs." /sarcasm
You people are so outed.
LoL. He was plagued by the same kind of mindless ideologues.
Shamefully Jefferson was leading the mob.
Baseless assertions are the stock in trade of the Antis. I deal in truths.
LOL!
On display, the dumbing-down of conservatism, Michael Savage style.
We would prefer ideological whores. Do you voluteer.
"I say we Giulani them and say keep your money..."
Might work if we weren't so in debt up to our eyeballs that it take foreign countries to keep us afloat. Sticking the UAE in eye over this is going to backfire. Agree with previous posts that suggest this will prompt the UAE to start playing both sides of the game again like they were doing before 9/11. They see that Iran is going to get its nuclear weapons and see that they are not treated as true partners in their dealings with us. "Arabs need not apply" is the sign they see us hanging at our "front door". Big time FUBAR.
The Emir didn't fly the plane. An ordinary cross section of the man in the street did.
So say you.
He did so because both countries had ties to the U.S. and both countries were part of the holy Arabian peninsula, a place where he was kicked out of.
But it is all better now, and we should never question any business deal involving American interests. It could insult sensibilities and make us be perceived as racist xenophobes against the countries whose nationals attacked us. Got it.
"Absolutely. Threatening to blackmail the U.S. should be a no deal starter. How about they let the US to take control of their ports for our military ships?"
Is this the part where you do the bad Al Sharpton impersonation ?
"I thought this would happen. Our debt will rise. Gas will rise. Our military will be kicked out of countries that have previously supported us."
Hyperbole. They won't kick us out because they are making money by our troops and ships being there. Our debt will rise why? Gas is rising all the time. We don't get our gas from Dubai, and if gas prices rise for us, they rise for everyone else in the world too. So the UAE is going to get us back by somehow causing prices of gas to rise throughout the whole world?
What countries will our military be kicked out of, pray tell? Please list them, and why they would be kicked out. Countries such as Bulgaria, Romania, Poland and others are begging us to locate our military bases in their countries, because they know a good deal both financially and security-wise for them, when they see it. The UAE would never allow any of our U.S. companies to manage their ports; why would we let them do that which they would never contemplate allowing us to do? Especially in light of 9/11. The ports Dracula is down for the Count (pardon the pun) now. It's time to drive a permanent stake in it.
Why would anyone care about that silly story? Worse have been said here about solid Republicans by the Ideological Idiots leading this jihad.
Now your LIES have spread to accusing Rush of being a traitor.
That is the sort of idiocy which one would expect from a Lover of Losers. Who is your dream guy? Buchanan, Tancredo, the candidate of the Constitution party, someone even less capable of getting more than 1% of the vote?
Just wait until Duncan Hunter learns that we have military basing in the UAE, he's going to be really steamed.
The Emir didn't fly the plane.
Do me a favor. When you actually find the guy who posted that the Emir's flew the planes into the WTC, can you post to him instead of me. Okay?
An ordinary cross section of the man in the street did.
No, as stated above it was specific members of Al Qaeda as chosen by OBL who flew planes into the WTC.
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