U.S. Port Control Given to Arabs

[LeftBrain Artist]

http://1010wins.com/topstories/local_story_047163027.html

Why isn't the media screaming about this? I heard Michael Savage talking about this on the radio last night so I took it with a grain of salt - I don't usally agree with what he has to say. But here's an article describing what he's talking about: a recent deal in which a company controlled by the United Arab Emirates just bought significant control of 6 major U.S. ports for 6.8 Billion - intending to "intend to maintain and, where appropriate, enhance current security arrangements,'' the company said in a statement. ``It is very much business as usual for the P&O terminals'' in the United States.

[PersonasBinar]

hmmm the outsourcing of "Fortress America"? That'll have the right wingers going ballistic. lol

[danedawg99]

are these foreign ports that U.S. controls? or are these domestic ports? I couldn't figure it out from reading the article.

[LeftBrain Artist]

hmmm the outsourcing of "Fortress America"? That'll have the right wingers going ballistic. lol

Yeah no kidding, I tend to be pretty liberal, and listen to Mike Savage every once in a while because he amuses me and always resorts to name calling to defend his uber conservative viewpoints. But yesterday he was threatening to join the liberals if the conservatives let this happen. I happen to totally agree with him on this, if we allow this to happen - the war on terror means nothing, its a load of crap.

[LeftBrain Artist]

are these foreign ports that U.S. controls? or are these domestic ports? I couldn't figure it out from reading the article.

DOMESTIC!! New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia.

[danedawg99]

too bad the media's all liberal. otherwise they'd be all over this! :rolleyes: this is bull shit. first he tries to sell off national forest land, now he's selling our ports. what next? is he gonna start portioning out the states to other countries? this **** needs impeached, bad. :mad:

[Mynock]

Arabs, well since they are ALL trying to kill us Americans, it might be a bad idea, if it's true.

[danedawg99]

arabs, french, poles, it doesn't matter. our ports shouldn't be run by foreign nationals. it doesn't make any sense!

[greyghost]

Oh jeez...
When will it end? Dare we ask how much MORE damage will be done by this f**k if he completes this last term?

[greyghost]

arabs, french, poles, it doesn't matter. our ports shouldn't be run by foreign nationals. it doesn't make any sense!


Exactly.
Especially foreign nationals with "spotty anti-terroist policies"

[LeftBrain Artist]

All it takes is one ship with a WMD on board. An easy thing to do if you control security at the port.

[greyghost]

All it takes is one ship with a WMD on board. An easy thing to do if you control security at the port.

And that, my friends, is the definite concern.

[Rocketpig]

arabs, french, poles, it doesn't matter. our ports shouldn't be run by foreign nationals. it doesn't make any sense!

Read the article before slamming everyone involved. The arab company bought a British company that already controlled port security. Bush didn't sell anything. He just approved the sale.

"The Associated Press reported Saturday that government-owned Dubai Ports World had won approval for the $6.8 billion deal from a secretive U.S. panel that considers security risks of foreign companies buying or investing in American industry.

Since then, a growing faction in Congress wants the White House to reconsider its approval of DP World's purchase of the London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co., which British shareholders approved Monday.

The British firm, the world's fourth-largest ports company, runs commercial operations at shipping terminals in New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia."

Sheesh, if you're gonna bash Bush, at least use one of the myriad of examples where he is guilty of doing something wrong.

[danedawg99]

in that post there, I wasn't bashing bush. I was stating my opinion on a given situation. It doesn't matter who it is, if they aren't US, they shouldn't be given control of our ports.

[Rocketpig]

Even though I quoted you Dane, I wasn't aiming the post at you.

It seemed as if a whole lot of people here were using their "Jump to Conclusions" mat a little too much without RTFA.

[LeftBrain Artist]

arabs, french, poles, it doesn't matter. our ports shouldn't be run by foreign nationals. it doesn't make any sense!

Sure it does, by outsourcing such operations to overseas companies, you don't have to pay the labor unions what they want. Its not so much that we don't want to pay the unions what they want, but rather that we can't - because we've outsourced so much and sent so many jobs over seas that we don't have the money anymore. Any economic gains we've made over the last 5 years have been based on money we've borrowed against our houses which have artificially increased in value due to low interest rates.

But back to the ports - you're right, foreign control of our ports is an incredulous outrage - there's another word for this you know - BLOCKADE.

[PersonasBinar]

AND can you be assured that the controlling company and it's nation members will ALWAYS be your friend? I don't think so.

[Rocketpig]

AND can you be assured that the controlling company and it's nation members will ALWAYS be your friend? I don't think so.

Trust me, they're in it for the money, nothing more.

What would happen if they tried something? Simple; they'd lose almost 7 billion dollars, piss off the most powerful Navy in the world, and have control of the port yanked from them.

It's not as if our docks are populated with UAE citizens. It's still a bunch of Americans running the day to day operations. If the gov't ever needed to seize control, the workers would happily continue to work.

I really fail to see what the fuss is about here.

[LeftBrain Artist]

Read the article before slamming everyone involved. The arab company bought a British company that already controlled port security. Bush didn't sell anything. He just approved the sale.

Take it easy. I'm not slamming Bush - he's just a puppet figure head who lacks the intelligence to orchestrate a kazoo recital, much less the downfall of a nation. (Now I'm slamming him).

I realize the ports were in British control beforehand - but I just found that out today after reading the article. Yeah the Brits are our friends, now - but why were they handling the security of our nation?! By your reasoning approving the sale of molestation services of 6 year old children from Uncle Chester to Jeffrey Dahmer is OK, as long as you don't actually do the molesting yourself. And anyway the original molester was our good buddy Uncle Chester, and he knows what he's doing - he wouldn't sell the business to Jeffery Dahmer unless Dahmer was on the level.

I'm sorry if I offended you with that analogy Pig, but is serious crap. You can't honestly tell me you beleive this is OK can you? You're completely right about not jumping to conclusions and reviewing all the facts. That's why I'm bringing this up. I think this is an important topic that should be discussed widely and broadly, and in an intelligent manner before a conclusion is reached.

The only conclusion I'm jumping to is that this sale is a bad idea.

Here's my speculations:

It was approved by the department of the treasury - part of the executive branch of government - who is now claiming that their word is law and cannot be countermanded by anyone else (30 day window to dispute the approval has passed - read the article). How can we dispute their approval when they grant such approval in a secret meeting and an irresponsible, corporate controlled media doesn't bother to bring this to anyone's attention until its too late?

[LeftBrain Artist]

Trust me, they're in it for the money, nothing more.

What would happen if they tried something? Simple; they'd lose almost 7 billion dollars, piss off the most powerful Navy in the world, and have control of the port yanked from them.

It's not as if our docks are populated with UAE citizens. It's still a bunch of Americans running the day to day operations. If the gov't ever needed to seize control, the workers would happily continue to work.

I really fail to see what the fuss is about here.

A lot of people on the other side of the globe would conjecture 7 billion dollars to be a fair price for striking a critical blow against the great Satan. The most powerful Navy in the world will be second to China in about 5 years from now. And port control would be yanked from them too late, many Americans could die.

Thats what the fuss is about. I think.

[PersonasBinar]

You can't take over the world both militarily AND economically, it leaves way too many strategic assets open to attack. When a mandate is put forth to shore up the US against possible attack this ain't doing it.

[Logo-Mechanix]

The ports here in Jersey are really run by the mob anyway so I hope the Arabs like paying for their own protection if ya know what I mean.

[Rocketpig]

A lot of people on the other side of the globe would conjecture 7 billion dollars to be a fair price for striking a critical blow against the great Satan. The most powerful Navy in the world will be second to China in about 5 years from now. And port control would be yanked from them too late, many Americans could die.

Thats what the fuss is about. I think.

You have to remember that this company is government owned and that government is an ally to the US, the same as Britain.

Any foulup with the ports could be considered a declaration of war by the United States and I guarantee you that's the last thing the UAE would want. Despite all the hoopla over terrorism there hasn't been an attack anywhere in the western world that was government sponsored. As much as the government might praise the terrorists' actions, they haven't gotten involved directly.

Why? That would give said Western nation a reason to go over there and whoop some ass on them. These middle-eastern countries talk a good talk, but when push comes to shove, that's all they are: talk.

You can bet that the government of the UAE is handling this situation with kid gloves. They'd be insane not to.

PS. It will take considerably more than 5 years for the Chinese Navy to catch the US. It's not about numbers, it's about technology. And China is still seriously lagging in that respect. They can't even compete with Russian technology, much less the US.

[LeftBrain Artist]

I take back everything I said. There's nothing to worry about. Nevermind.

[Rocketpig]

Just dwell over this for a moment:

2004 Chinese defense spending: $50-70 billion

2003 United State defense spending: $355 billion

Gonna be pretty hard to catch up with those numbers.

[LeftBrain Artist]

PS. It will take considerably more than 5 years for the Chinese Navy to catch the US. It's not about numbers, it's about technology. And China is still seriously lagging in that respect. They can't even compete with Russian technology, much less the US.

"Meanwhile China is on a rip. China is now the third largest shipbuilder after South Korea and Japan. In five years China's submarine fleet will be twice the size of America's. In 10 years China's navy will be larger than the American fleet.

This is amazing performance for a country that as recently as 1989 had essentially no shipbuilding industry."


OK so it was 10 years - here's my reference if you're interested - Paul Craig Roberts - former Secretary of Treasury during the Reagan administration.

http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts07252005.html

Not like it matters, everything will turn out fine.

[Rocketpig]

Not like it matters, everything will turn out fine.

I see sarcasm is your rebuttal of choice.

I didn't say anywhere that China isn't worth watching closely, but they have absolutely no incentive to piss off the Western world. It would create a domino effect that would crush the communist party. There's already enough dissent in that country, all they need is a spark to set things ablaze.

Anyway, enough. People like you have been predicting the downfall of society since society was created, yet here I am sitting at my computer typing this post on a relaxing Friday afternoon.

[Logo-Mechanix]

All the ships in the world will not mean much between 2 countries with nuclear arsenals. I don't think China wants a war with the US any more than the US wants a war with China due to mutually assured destruction. Lets hope it never happens, if it does it would not just be the end of the US and China, it would be the end of the world as we know it.

[LeftBrain Artist]

Just dwell over this for a moment:

2004 Chinese defense spending: $50-70 billion

2003 United State defense spending: $355 billion

Gonna be pretty hard to catch up with those numbers.

Yeah, but how much of America's spending went into Halliburton executives' pockets, - and then how much cheaper is China's labor - factor that in and the actual production numbers and a quite different picture develops. If the average Chinese worker makes a 10th of what the American worker does (I'm assuming, but I'm probably not far off), then Chinese defense spending is acutally more like 500-700 Billion - and I wouldn't be surprised if of the 355 billion of our defense spending - half was overcharges that went into executive pockets (but again I'm just assuming) - this would actually put the numbers at like 500-700 billion to 175 billion - and since they outnumber us population wise 10 to 1 (that I can back up) - its not entirely unreasonable to speculate that they are out-producing us 10 to 1 as well - forget what is actually spent.

Oh, why do I bother, its Friday.

[Logo-Mechanix]

What if we send Chuck to China to solve our little dilema?

[LeftBrain Artist]

A good plan. Will he do it ya think?

[LeftBrain Artist]

I see sarcasm is your rebuttal of choice.


You betcha!

[jimking]

The US used to operate and control, and of course built the Panama Canal.
The Chinese run it now, thanks to Jimmy Carter. And if my information is correct the Soudi family owns part of the Dallas Coyboys. :p

[Logo-Mechanix]

Chuck is already in China, because he traveled ahead in time saw what we were typing then went back in time and arrived in China 2 weeks before we even typed this.