... But as the article notes appropriately, those who attacked us on 9/11 and the money that supported them passed through the UAE; the hijacker who piloted American Airlines flight 175 into the south tower of the World Trade Center was a UAE citizen. What would you have said if, on September 12, 2001, I told you that five years later Bin Laden would still be free, nuclear terrorism would be a top concern, and a panel of political appointees would approve the takeover of our port operations by a UAE company?As a sidenote, the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) meets in secret and is headed by Treasury Secretary John Snow. In 2004, DP World purchased part of the American company CSX for over $1 billion. Before he became Treasury Secretary, John Snow was Chairman and CEO of CSX.
The chairman of DP World is Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem. Since this man is about to play a role in protecting our borders from nuclear terrorism and other threats, it's probably worth getting to know him a bit. Here's the link to an interview in which he was asked to rate the corporate threats he faces on a scale of 1-10. His response, in descending order of importance:
- U.S. dollar decline
- Oil shocks
- Stagflation
- Over regulation
- Pandemics
- Terrorism
- Proliferation of weapons of mass destruction
- China
- Climate change
- Natural catastrophes
So the head of a corporation that's about to control the ports of New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia spends his day worrying about currency volatility, oil, stagflation and over-regulation. Terrorism and WMD's rate as only slightly more threatening than that menace we know as "climate change."
How's that for alignment of priorities?
http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11246674&postID=113973532275057989
Dubai, 24 January 2006: - Global ports operator DP World today welcomed news that one of its senior executives, Dave Sanborn, has been nominated by US President George W. Bush to serve as Maritime Administrator a key transportation appointment reporting directly to Norman Mineta the Secretary of Transportation and Cabinet Member.The White House has issued a statement from Washington DC announcing the nomination. The confirmation process will begin in February. ...
Mr Sanborn, a graduate of The United States Merchant Maritime Academy, joined DP World in 2005. He previously held senior roles with shipping lines CMA-CGM (Americas), APL Ltd and Sea-Land and has been based, besides the US, in Brazil, Europe, Hong Kong and Dubai during his career. He has also served in the US Naval Reserve.
http://www.dpiterminals.com/fullnews.asp?NewsID=39
Dubai, Hong Kong, Jacksonville, FL, 9 December 2004 - Dubai Ports International ("DPI"), one of the world's leading port operators, announces that it has signed a definitive agreement with CSX Corporation (NYSE: CSX) to acquire the international terminal business conducted by CSX World Terminals ("the Company") and other related interests for a cash consideration of US$1.15 billion, subject to customary adjustments.CSX World Terminals is a leading international container terminal developer and operator with operations in Asia , Europe , Australia and Latin America . The Company's container terminal portfolio currently consists of interests in 9 terminals with 24 berths and combined future capacity of 14.6 million teus. All of the terminals are operated by the Company.
Key existing port operations include CT3 and CT8 in Hong Kong , Tianjin and Yantai in China and operations in Australia , Germany , Dominican Republic and Venezuela . In addition, CSX World Terminals has interests in logistics businesses in Hong Kong and China, notably ATL the market leading logistics operator based at Kwai Chung.
As well as an existing portfolio of significant scale and global reach, the Company has a strong pipeline of development projects. In particular, CSX World Terminals has a 25% interest in, and will be the operator of, Pusan Newport, a 9 berth facility with capacity of 5.5 million teus that is currently under development and is expected to commence operations in 2006.