We should reject the Dubai Ports deal, not just because it is risky to have a hostile country managing critical parts of our infrastructure, but because the claim that the UAE's desire to do so is "just business" presents us with a mystery. At the very least, those who make this claim need to explain why the UAE agreed to pay P&O a 70-percent premium over existing share prices to buy the company. If P&O is really worth $6.8 billion, why didn't any other international shipping company offer anything remotely like that? Apologists for the deal say the problem is that few privately-owned companies have pockets deep enough to pay that much. Maybe, but DPW is hardly the only deep-pocketed, government-owned international shipping giant, and none of the others made any attempt to outbid DPW either. Apparently, no one else thought they could pay that kind of money to manage our ports and still make a profit. Perhaps DPW knows something no other shipping company does. Then again, it may be that DPW has some other motives for wanting to take over the management of key American ports.Read More
I have been on the fence on this issue from the start. My instincts told me it was wrong, but embarrassing even a nominally 'friendly' Arab country would be counter-productive to a larger effort to say the least, so I was willing to support the deal, but felt very uneasy about it.
But now, with this little tid-bit of information - if accurate - destroys any notion that this is "just another business deal" in my mind. Especially when Bill Clinton wants it so much. - Alli
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