Here’s the Bullets Friend, Now Let Me Turn My Back…

I can only assume that the Bush policy going forward is that we expose ourselves as much as we can to potential fanatical Arab/Muslim violence and then be in a constant state of reactive war. In other words, we’ll just give Al Qaeda et al every opportunity to kill American citizens and then when the dust settles, we’ll blow somebody up. This will be fine because as we all know, “Freedom is on the march.”

The latest news out of Washington is that our good friends, the United Arab Emirates, are in line to control the security of America’s most valuable ports. Mind you, this is the same UAE that insists the Israeli’s are a terrorist state and is also the UAE that was used as both an operational and financial staging ground for the 9/11 attack.

The deal is not set in stone just yet as some Democrats believe that handing over port security to quasi-hostile Arab nations is probably not in our best interest.

The Washington Post reports, ”The U.S. government should urgently review the security implications of a $6.8 billion deal granting a Dubai-based company management over key ports including New York, U.S. lawmakers said on Thursday, citing terrorism concerns.

Analysts and port sources doubted the takeover of British company P&O by Dubai Ports World would have any impact on security. They cited multiple layers of screening and protection involved in global shipping, particularly among such major operators.

P&O shareholders voted on Monday in favor of the multibillion-dollar bid, giving the United Arab Emirates-backed firm control over the management of P&O's global operations, including in the major U.S. ports of New York and New Jersey, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New Orleans and Miami.

The deal makes Dubai Ports World the world's third largest ports group.”

But the Bush administration has promised that all is well and that the Arabs in this scenario can absolutely be trusted. The Secretary of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff, said the Government built in "certain conditions or requirements that the company had to agree to".

A deal such as this reveals the real intent of the Bush administration when it comes to national security. Bush and company are CEO’s and that is exactly how they run this country. America is a business and their job is to help the business make quick money, regardless of any ethics violations or potential for destruction.

The United Arab Emirates is become the new Saudi Arabia. According Al Bawaba, “Statistics issued by the American Ministry of Commerce show that the volume of trade between the UAE and the USA doubled to Dh 36.5 billion ($9.95 billion) last year, up from Dh 19.2 billion ($5.2 billion) in the previous year, say a 90% growth.

According to Al-Khaleej newspaper, which cited the US statistics, the value of the American trade surplus with the UAE jumped to Dh 25.7 billion ($7 billion) last year, up from Dh 10.6 billion ($2.9 billion) in the previous year, i.e. a 140% growth.
© 2006 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)

Al Bawaba also reports, “Soaring oil prices and a vibrant UAE economy are expected to further boost the private wealth of UAE citizens in the coming three years, according to recent estimates.

With some 53,000 dollar millionaires, the UAE already has a greater networth of billionaires than does the United States-- the world's richest nation, reported Khaleej Times.

UAE's private wealth sector is expected to grow by a staggering 12.5 percent per year, exceeding the average rate throughout the Gulf.

The country's GDP grew 16 percent to $120 billion in 2005 from $103 billion in 2004, and has a per capita income currently of $28,138, one of the highest in the world.

It also boasts the fourth largest gas reserve and third largest oil reserves in the world, and is the second largest economy in the GCC after Saudi Arabia.

Furthermore, some 67.4 percent of the country's fiscal revenue is derived from non-oil sectors.

Much like China, ethics and humanitarian concerns fly right out of the window where trade and commerce are concerned.

As a matter of fact, one US company is banking on a continued rise in capital investments in the UAE as they stand to make money off of space tourism.

The AP reports that, ”A day after Space Adventures announced it was in a venture to develop rocket ships for suborbital flights, the company said Friday it plans to build a $265 million spaceport in the United Arab Emirates.

The commercial spaceport would be based in Ras Al-Khaimah near the southern end of the Persian Gulf, and the UAE government has made an initial investment of $30 million, the Arlington, Va.-based company said in a statement.

The spaceport announcement comes on the heels of Space Adventures' new partnership with an investment firm founded by major sponsors of the Ansari X Prize to develop rocket ships for suborbital flights.

The agreement between Space Adventures and the Texas-based venture capital firm Prodea would help finance suborbital vehicles being designed and built by the Russian aerospace firm Myasishchev Design Bureau.

Space Adventures is best known for sending the first three space tourists to the orbiting international space station for a reported $20 million a person.

Space Adventures' jump into the infant suborbital flight industry comes at a time when several companies already are designing spaceships to take paying passengers on short trips up into space and then back to Earth without circling the globe.”

Everyone from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on down is defending the UAE and it’s apparent right to take over security of our ports. And since the Democrats these days can’t block this administration from taking candy from a baby, despite efforts by such vaunted Senators as Ms. Clinton and Robert Menendez, let alone try to block a multibillion dollar business deal, you can bet that we will be seeing our good friends, the Arabs at our local ports very soon.