Dubai Ports World Isn’t Taking Over Anything

• February 24, 2006

Alistair McNab, president of the Greater Houston Port Bureau, said, “The total lack of understanding displayed has been unconscionable.”
“They’re going to be operating a terminal as a tenant,” McNab said. “The Port Authorities are still in charge. I’ve seen these statements that Dubai Ports World is ‘taking over’ these ports. The statements in my view are designed to inflame passions rather than to give the truth. There are so many misstatements it’s breathtaking.”

Read the whole thing.
I think what we’re seeing here is a political “perfect storm” consisting of the public’s general ignorance about how our sea ports are run and a whole bunch of “get Bush” opportunism from the President’s enemies in the media and on the left.
The Republicans joining in on the chorus of criticisms seem to be more in “duck in cover” mode to avoid this storm than anything else.
In the end its as I said yesterday: Much ado about nothing.

Tags: Domestic Issues, John Hoeven, Red River Flood

http://Array robert108

Rob: Good point.  They also have a lot of capital, and so might not have made such a great deal.  They have no competition in their own country and so might not be all that great at doing business.  Only time will tell.  Frankly, I have no fear about letting them into this business.  Saudi Airlines has terminals all over this country, and no Dems are worried about them.  Go figure.  I have said all along that this is just another chapter in the "Get the President" story.
MikeAdamson

some posters and commenters anyway.
2Hotel9

Yes, r108, isolationism is a syren song that seems very attractive to many people, on both sides of the aisle. There is also the pervasive idea that all the rest of the world accept our definitions of legal and right and abide by them. Within our borders this can be made reality, across the water it is their ballfield, their rules.
robert108

MikeA:  The main source of suspicion for me was that the Dems were suddenly on the side of caring about national security.  It’s not credible.

2h9: The trait of isolationism is strong in the American psyche.  I think it’s something we have to address while the terrorist threat level is what it is at this time.  After we kill them all, we can probably go back to minding our own business, as usual. 
http://www.WILLisms.com/ Will Franklin

Indeed.
robert108

MikeA:  Yes, I said that when we kill all the terrorists, we can go back to minding our own business.  By extension, then, if we don’t kill them all, we may have to tend to the current business.  Thought you could figure that out.  I fully accept that we may never be able to go back to minding our own business. The real path to success here is to create allies in the Middle East.  The more we put aside the suicide bombs and do business together, the better for us all.  That is why I support the port deal and the campaign in Iraq.
MikeAdamson

It does seem like much of the opposition is of the knee jerk "suspect all Arabs" persuasion. I’m glad that the  posters and commenters here are too sophisticated for that sort of simplistic analysis.
C

A good rule of thumb is that when everyone else is freaking out, its probably best not to freak out also.
2Hotel9

I am not real comfortable with ANY government owned companies doing anything. When COSCO was trying to purchase the container facility at Longbeach CA in the ’90s I was part of the letter writting and phone campaign against it. I still don’t like the fact that COSCO has majority control of cargo facilities at each end of the Panama Canal. All this having been said, we as a country have been doing business with DP for years. I would feel better about this if it was not wholey owned by a government that is essentially run by 3 families. Kidnapping members of their families would give persons with evil intentions a great deal of influence. And since kidnapping, extortion, and blackmail are accepted business practices in the Mid-East it is just a matter of when, not if, it happens. Do a quick search on the term "Pishkesh" and how it is applied to business and government in the Mid-East. It will be rather enlightening. Or the Chinese practice of spreading "Fragrant Grease" among government officials to get favorable actions acomplished in regards to business and shipping. Things westerners consider corrupt or illegal are just how business is done. And pointing these things out is the hieght of rudeness.
Marty

I got no problem with them renting a terminal.  But am highly opposed to them operating the port, as has been repeatedly (mis?)stated all over the place. 

 
Marty

Now WTF.  AP reports:

WASHINGTON – A state-owned company in the United Arab Emirates volunteered late Thursday to delay part of its $6.8 billion takeover of most operations at six U.S. ports to give President Bush more time to convince skeptical members of Congress that the disputed deal poses no security risks.

Now i’m sorry, but that doesn’t sound at all like "renting a terminal" to me.  No one would pay 6.8b for that…

So who’s lying to me, and why?

Back to the NRO article quoted above:

The world standards through the IMO were driven by the U.S. Coast Guard. We got just about everything we wanted regarding port cargo and personnel security. It’s not just the U.S. — the whole world is on the same page. It doesn’t matter if it’s a port in New York or Dubai or Sydney — we all comply with the same regulations.

Sounds to me like the U.N. is going to be the global port authority, not the USCG.   If "we all comply with the same regulations" then surely the UAE won’t mind if we station a few of our cruisers and destroyers off the coast of Dubai… 

Mike: suspect all Arabs?  After the "cartoon riots", only an idiot would’t give all islamic arabs heightened suspicion.  Clearly a great many of them are freaking lunatics with no sense of humor at all (much less any qualms about killing innocent people in the name of the prophet).

 
Dave

 I fully accept that we may never be able to go back to minding our own business.

Then you were just trolling with your last comment.
MikeAdamson

A Chinese firm operates a number of terminals in America and I haven’t heard any complaints about their effectiveness or dependability. I’m sure that this is in part another "Get the President" story but I think it is also a consequence of the security scare of the past few years. The public and the elected leaders have become accustomed to scruitinising every story for its security implications. I am not surprised that there is a great hue and cry, even if it’s misplaced in this situation.
robert108

Dave: Unlike you lefties, I don’t think the inability to so something perfectly means that we should cut and run away from it.  I think we should try harder to kill more terrorists, even if we never succeed in killing all of them.  That is what differentiates me from you lefties.  I was replying to Mike’s question.  As far as I know, that isn’t trolling.
2Hotel9

And that adds to the conversation how?
MikeAdamson

r108…if "all" refers to the terrorists then I think you’re too ambitious although there’s nothing wrong with aiming high. I doubt that you can take out the existing pool let alone deal with the replenishment. It’s unrealistic statements like your’s that illustrate the difficulty that America faces in its battle against terrorists.
http://sayanythingblog.com robport

If "we all comply with the same regulations" then surely the UAE won’t mind if we station a few of our cruisers and destroyers off the coast of Dubai…

Marty…the UAE already lets us dock our Navy vessles, including our beloved carriers, in their port.

As for the $6.8 billion…how exactly are you determing what the going rate is for a muti-year lease on several U.S. ports?

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