quietlife.net

more on "the ports"

22 Feb 2006

So, it seems like one side of this “debate” has basically congealed in a sad alliance between two groups of people: those on the left that are so committed to opposing everything Bush does that they’re willing to stoop to bigotry and xenophobia, and those on the right who are so committed to bigotry and xenophobia that they’re willing to defy Bush.

I find both positions to be a little disgusting, frankly. So, let’s go over this again: Not all Muslims are Arabs. Not all Arabs are Muslims. Not all Arabs are terrorists. Not all Muslims are terrorists. Not all terrorists are Muslim or Arab. (Maybe we can make a song out of this, I don’t know, what do you think? Anyways, continuing ..) The UAE is not composed of terrorists, or even entirely of Arabs. The UAE had nothing to do with 9/11. DPW is not a terrorist organization, it’s just a company that bought P&O (a British company), the employees of whom will likely to continue to work as they always have. Probably nothing much else will change hands but money.

There is a valid opposition to this move, of course: Bush continues to hand over control of the ports to ever-consolidated corporate conglomerates. Yeah, big shocker there. It’s not new, but it’s something to be outraged about. The fact that DPW is a company from the middle east is not.

Comments

doug — February 23, 2006 at 06:34 · reply

“Iraq - zero nationals involved in 9/11 - so we bombed their country back to the stone age over 9/11.

UAE - 2 nationals directly on the plane, many links to money funding - we invite them to run our ports.

Why can bush simply scream TERRORISTS when it comes to the rights of the american people, but it is insane to scream that now?

My guess? I simply think bush hates logic, in some deal he made with the devil, he got to be president only if he attacked logic every step of the way.”

Thanks, Chet.

Glen Dean — February 23, 2006 at 16:12 · reply

I think your analysis is pretty accurate. It is pretty weird to hear Chuck Schumer and Michael Savage agree.

Doug Orleans — February 24, 2006 at 16:47 · reply

I haven’t been paying attention to this at all, but it seems like an argument could be made that our ports should only be controlled by an American company. Or, better yet, the American government. But I actually have no idea what “controlled by” really means.

cwage — February 24, 2006 at 16:53 · reply

I absolutely agree. But you’ll note that this wasn’t exactly a hot-button issue when it was a British-owned company. The reaction to the UAE take-over may eventually lead to useful discussions in this area, in some digressions of conversation, but it’s dangerous to ignore the fact that the initial outrage was a knee-jerk xenophobic/racist backlash because the country involved is from the middle east.

Hill Billy Bill — February 24, 2006 at 20:49 · reply

The UAE was directly involved with 9/11. The present unholy alliance is temporary until they see whether Mr. Bush is through invading Arab countries yet.

Glenn — February 24, 2006 at 23:33 · reply

I think this nicely summarizes my frustration with this issue. Why is it that an administration which has seemingly built its entire strategy on bigotry and xenophobia suddenly changing gears? Just giving the contract to the highest bidder out of reflex?

cwage — February 24, 2006 at 23:42 · reply

Because this administration doesn’t operate on the principles of bigotry and xenophobia, they merely use their presence in the populace to their advantage.

Xibo — February 27, 2006 at 13:55 · reply

Generally I can agree or at least understand the conservative viewpoint, but the major flaw in this whole reasoning stems from the fact that UAE and the UK are not the same. The UK is an ally, part of NATO. The UAE is not. The UAE doesn’t even recognize Israel. The whole “it wasn’t a problem when a UK firm owned the company, so it shouldn’t be a problem now that a UAE firm owns it” naturally assumes that the UK and the UAE are equal in their relationship with the US. But they’re not! Would it be okay if an Iranian firm owned P&O? I’m not saying that UAE is a state sponsor of terrorism, but they’re nothing like the UK.

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