Stalemate?
Be it victory, defeat, or just plain stalemate, it looks like it might be over. The Dubai company has pulled out of the ports deal. (Hat tip to the Captain).
Bowing to ferocious opposition in Congress, a Dubai-owned company signaled surrender Thursday in its quest to take over operations at U.S. ports.
"DP World will transfer fully the U.S. operations ... to a United States entity," the firm's top executive, H. Edward Bilkey, said in an announcement that capped weeks of controversy.
Relieved Republicans in Congress said the firm had pledged full divestiture, a decision that one senator said had been approved personally by the prime minister of the United Arab Emirates.
I suppose it's for the best. Democrats saw a chance to look more right wing than the President on national security and so they jumped on the anti-Arab band wagon. Some Republicans (including many I have respect for) had a hindu cow over the idea that Arabs might be loading and unloading ships in our country (Saudi is doing it in Brooklyn for Allah's sake, but no one's throwing fits over that).
Over all, a lot of people on both sides of the fence behaved poorly. This was a business transaction that had nothing to do with port security. This was a matter of who gets to load and unload the ships. Scrutiny is prudent, but frothing mad at the administration is just plain silly.
Regardless, it looks like it's over. There will not be a veto by Republicans against a Republican administration during an election year, which bodes well for Republicans. It might actually hurt the Democrats in the sense that they can no longer use this against the Republicans. Further, it resolved itself (hopefully) well before the election. By November the only ones to remember this will be internet cache files.
One other thing: This says something about Dubai's credibility. They diffused a political situation here in the US when they could have pushed it and caused further political fallout in the US (inadvertently or not, your choice). If we ever deal with Dubai in the future, I hope the naysayers will keep this in mind.
Don't bet on it.
Michelle has an excellent link round up. (the whining video at Political Pit Bull is my favorite.)
AJ Strata, Sister Toldjah and others have both talked about abandoning Republicans altogether. I'm not ready to go that far yet, but I must admit I am very disappointed with the Republicans right now. I'm willing to stick it out in the hopes that Republicans may come to their senses and stop being the stupid party. If not, then I may become a conservative independent.
Bowing to ferocious opposition in Congress, a Dubai-owned company signaled surrender Thursday in its quest to take over operations at U.S. ports.
"DP World will transfer fully the U.S. operations ... to a United States entity," the firm's top executive, H. Edward Bilkey, said in an announcement that capped weeks of controversy.
Relieved Republicans in Congress said the firm had pledged full divestiture, a decision that one senator said had been approved personally by the prime minister of the United Arab Emirates.
I suppose it's for the best. Democrats saw a chance to look more right wing than the President on national security and so they jumped on the anti-Arab band wagon. Some Republicans (including many I have respect for) had a hindu cow over the idea that Arabs might be loading and unloading ships in our country (Saudi is doing it in Brooklyn for Allah's sake, but no one's throwing fits over that).
Over all, a lot of people on both sides of the fence behaved poorly. This was a business transaction that had nothing to do with port security. This was a matter of who gets to load and unload the ships. Scrutiny is prudent, but frothing mad at the administration is just plain silly.
Regardless, it looks like it's over. There will not be a veto by Republicans against a Republican administration during an election year, which bodes well for Republicans. It might actually hurt the Democrats in the sense that they can no longer use this against the Republicans. Further, it resolved itself (hopefully) well before the election. By November the only ones to remember this will be internet cache files.
One other thing: This says something about Dubai's credibility. They diffused a political situation here in the US when they could have pushed it and caused further political fallout in the US (inadvertently or not, your choice). If we ever deal with Dubai in the future, I hope the naysayers will keep this in mind.
Don't bet on it.
Michelle has an excellent link round up. (the whining video at Political Pit Bull is my favorite.)
AJ Strata, Sister Toldjah and others have both talked about abandoning Republicans altogether. I'm not ready to go that far yet, but I must admit I am very disappointed with the Republicans right now. I'm willing to stick it out in the hopes that Republicans may come to their senses and stop being the stupid party. If not, then I may become a conservative independent.
posted by CT at 3/09/2006 02:57:00 PM
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