P & O port deal widens Dubai's global reach

[NVMojo]

From Madame Tussauds wax museum to Giorgio Armani brand, Dubai has no limits of ambition.


Feb. 20, 2006 -DUBAI

Dubai's acquisition of British port giant P and O (P & O) that will give it control of six US harbors may have riled Washington lawmakers, but it was just one instance of the Gulf emirate expanding its global reach.


Not content with its transformation into a business and tourism hub at breakneck speed, Dubai, one of the seven members of the United Arab Emirates, has pushed the limits of ambition by bagging landmarks such as London's Madame Tussauds and launching ventures worldwide.


The ink had not dried on the P and O deal when the bustling emirate's civil aviation chief unveiled on Sunday plans to channel 15 billion dollars into creating a global aerospace manufacturing and services corporation that would, among others, develop and operate airports around the world.


Even the seven US lawmakers who demanded a government review of the security implications of the takeover under which DP World would manage the US ports did not question the management skills of the Dubai firm, which acquired Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P and O) on February 13 for 6.8 billion dollars.


"This United Arab Emirates government-owned and operated company could be perfectly qualified to operate ports around the world," said Senator Chuck Schumer, the most vocal among the group. "But the question that needs to be answered is whether or not they can be trusted to operate our ports in this post 9-11 world," he said, referring to the Muslim emirate.

more...

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=15794

[katmondoo]

1. I was just thinking next will be our Airports

Then I read this.

[NVMojo]

3. it's scary, isn't it? Michael Moore was right when he pointed out

how much money from Saudi Arabia is invested in the United States.

[Avalux]

2. Not just global and airports, but space too -

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=473243&mesg_id=473243

[NVMojo]

4. yep, a long thread on this is here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2117603

[Avalux]

7. Thanks - I didn't see your thread.

And yes, this is exactly why the port deal.

:hi:

[MADem]

5. So what happens with the dockworkers, now???

Reagan broke the backs of the air traffic controllers....will those stevedores be getting the union wages, or will they be hiring poor bastards at minimum wage wearing sneakers instead of safety shoes???

[reprobate]

6. My LTE to Orlando Slantinel

Frankly, I'm getting fed up with our government using "National Security" to hide anything they are afraid of us finding out about.

First there was the National Energy Plan, then warrantless spying on American citizens, and now turning or port security over to the government that supports the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan. By the way, the Pince of Dubai, head of the company taking over our ports, Dubai Port World, has regularly gone falconing with someone our President "I don't care about him" George W. Bush can't track down.

With DPW's connection to Osama Bin Ladin, if he had nukes, what would keep our ports from becoming nothing but radioactive glass?

The ONE thing President Bush had going for him was the rubric of "national security President". Now we can see that that, too, was just a mask. Isn't it about time we, the citizens of the United States took back control of this government "of the people, by the people, and for the people" while there still is a nation to take back?

[reprobate]

8. Sentinel just called. It's being printed tomorrow.

[RagingInMiami]

9. Cool

I've gotten two letters published in the Miami Herald and they've never called me. Good letter.

[reprobate]

10. Thanks, Miami. They've published five of mine in the last two years.

That's about a third of what I've sent them. But I guess thats a pretty good average, considering.

[RagingInMiami]

11. Do they give you a limit as what they will publish?

The Miami Herald allows one letter every sixty days, which I guess is reasonable.

[reprobate]

13. Sentinel's the same. Once every sixty days, 250 word limit.

[The Stranger]

12. Neocon fear of the Arab "Other" is spewed all over these boards in the

form of this P & O corporation and its being somehow affiliated with the UAE, an Arab country.

[gasperc]

14. another point, why isn't there a US company stepping up to take over

this seems to indicate that there is no US company that either has the cash needed to buy and run these ports or has no interest in doing so. But middle eastern countries, flush with profits from the sale of oil are going on a buying spree.

I wonder if my next mortgage will be sold to the bank of Dubai? Just asking?