Posted on 02/22/2006 6:31:33 AM PST by rattrap
As I recall, there was a lot of FRoutrage over China getting control of those ports as well.
I've been a vocal Bushie here at FR.
This one has me stumped! (as well as a couple others.)
What is the Prez thinking?
LOL
I've been listening to the debate on every network. The deal stinks. For Bush to stake his Presidency on this by playing the veto card is nuts. What an insult to his supporters.
"So this is where George Bush wants to use his first veto? "
No kidding. Of all the things he should have fought for on behalf of We the People and used his veto power, he fights for a foreign interest.
I dont know, it must have been before I was a member here, I dont remember hearing anything about it in the news.
If thsi was Clinton doing this people would be screaming not supporting the idea.
"Turning off the oil spigot" would have been impractical, if not impossible. More likely, what they would do is stop selling oil in U.S. dollars and start pricing it in euros instead.
And who could possibly blame them? They can't eat dollars, so when they sell oil to us they have to use those dollars to buy/invest in assets that are priced in dollars (U.S. government securities, U.S. real estate, etc.). If the U.S. government impedes them from buying legitimate, profitable business interests in the U.S., then our currency isn't worth a damn thing to them.
Is that supposed to be funny? How childish.
ok, they send day to day operations of their ports. Is it worth losing them as an ally? I think thats what people are forgetting, this country allows us to have AIR Bases on their soil. They also share intel with us.
I want the borders closed, and I'll vote that way,
but it will never happen, unless states do it individually.
I think the ports are a different issue, but I'm listening.
For those who claim that UAE has been a good friend in the GWOT, remember this:
UAE was one of only 3 govt's to recognize the Taliban as a legitimate gov't.
UAE was also a key shipping point of nuclear weapons components transportation for the whole A.Q.Khan fiasco.
They were so quick to jump on the band wagon and I believe they will come to regret it. When the story first surfaced, Schumer and the media blew it out of proportion without all the facts (as usual). The Coast Guard is still running the show when it comes to security on U.S. waters.
My bad, Lippo is from Indonesia and it's Pauline Kanchanalak, not Elaine. She has ties to Singapore businesses but was born in Thailand.
Wait a second-- are you saying that if we have crazy Hilary write a bunch of goofy laws screwing up DPW's buying out P&O, then some how terrorists will not be able to own computers and have offices overlooking ports?
I'm guessing a lot of people here on FR aren't aware of this, but container ports are open-air facilities where all cargo activity -- both on the ship and on the pier -- takes place outside. With a group of three or four people I could do the following (starting this afternoon):
1. Identify a container ship entering the Port of New York and New Jersey.
2. Identify the exact time of berthing at one of the seven terminals in the port.
3. Visually select a few random containers on the vessel. Identify the exact time when each of these containers was unloaded from the ship.
4. Identify the exact location on the pier where each container was placed.
5. Identify the date and exact time when each of these containers is picked up by the consignee.
6. Identify the warehouse or distribution center where each container is taken, the routes taken to get them there, and the exact time they arrived at each location.
Now I wish someone would please tell me this . . . from a national security standpoint, what kind of information could someone possibly want that is worth paying $6.8 billion to acquire?
I wonder if Dubya struck a deal with Dubai to build an air or naval base there? After all, it is just a hop, skip and jump across the Strait to Iran. Has he already got the invasion of Iran planned?
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