I just realized the Dubai Ports deal will go through

[JohnnyRingo]

On CNN's Blitzeration Room Wolf got an "exclusive tour" of some Dubai operated ports. The backstage meet and greet took up every bit of 60 seconds of air time.
I assumed footage of Wolf attending the lavish dinners and applauding the Persian belly dancers ended up on the cutting room floor.

Then they followed up stating that the UAE economy is "booming" having it's net worth more than double since 2002. They mentioned that a lot of that cash comes not from oil, but through business investments by some very familiar companies including a couple with "General" in their name, as I recall.

If there's one thing that trumps everything from national security to jobs security it's money.

I expect we'll soon see politicians on both sides decide that they can live with the deal with certain "concessions".

Why do I feel like I live on land that's being divided up piecemeal and sold on e-bay by rich Republicans who forged a fake deed?

[LSK]

1. i guess i won the bet

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=487747&mesg_id=487747

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

9. I've Still Got That Bridge For Sale....

I said the same thing, right about the time this uproar began. I agree with you 100% Completely!

Not only will this deal go through....it already has gone through. There is no way to stop it. Just like everything else this government gets it's hands on. They're only sorry we found out about it.

It can be added to the list that this administration has gotten away with. If anybody still doubts this....I've got this nice bridge in Iraq that I have to sell you.

[Carrion]

2. Perhaps so...

But that just improves the value of this issue for Dems in '06 and '08.

[stillcool]

3. we need them....more than they need us...

if we want to stay top dog

<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="" border="0" alt="Image hosting by Photobucket"></a>




<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="" border="0" alt="Image hosting by Photobucket"></a>

[JohnnyRingo]

25. I think they need us more than they let on

Without our military presence, their neighbors would soon be knocking on the door asking the royal family to move out.
I'm sure they don't have much, if any, armed forces of their own and it seems like quite a bargaining chip that we're not using.

Instead we'll just bend over and let Corporate America cash in.

[stillcool]

26. Dubai and the Straits of Hormuz

By Mike Whitney

03/05/06 "ICH" -- -- “If you want to understand the policy of a country, look at the map.” Napoleon Bonaparte

Geography is fate.

United Arab Emirates is located at the center of an oil-dependent world. This tiny state forms the promontory that juts out into the famed Straits of Hormuz through which 40% of the world’s oil passes every day. Across the narrow straights sits Iran, the next victim on the list of “axis of evil” nations. Any attack on Iran will require that military forces quickly deploy to Dubai to forestall the closing of the straits and the subsequent devastation that would cost to world oil supplies and financial markets.

This is the critical point which is being intentionally concealed by America’s diversionary media. This is the reason that President Bush continues to force the Dubai port-plan even though 70% of the American people and Congress resoundingly oppose it.

The importance of UAE as a staging area for future hostilities cannot be overstated. No military strategy can hope to succeed without first establishing a beachhead across the straits in Iran so that the danger of blowing up oil tankers and blocking passage is removed. This tells us that plans for an attack may be on track for late March as originally threatened by Israel.

http://informationclearinghouse.info/article12202.htm

[Ezlivin]

4. You are owned. Welcome to the Ownership Society

Why do I feel like I live on land that's being divided up piecemeal and sold on e-bay by rich Republicans who forged a fake deed?

Me? I'm getting ready for my bunk in the detention camp.

[TomInTib]

5. I have been saying this since Day 1...

They would never have announced the "deal" if the "deal" wasn't already "done".

This is James A Baker III deal with Vin Weber as point man.
When these two guys are involved in anything there is no speculation whatsoever.

[underpants]

11. According to Thom Hartmann UAE can just go through the WTO

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0227-20.htm

If that is true I can't wait to see how they keep that out of the news.

[Taverner]

6. The enemy has always been EastAsia

The enemy has always been Eurasia.

[LSK]

8. War is Peace

Freedom is Slavery
2+2 =5

[Taverner]

12. Pretty Much

God this is getting old...this whole "1984" life we're living.

Wake me when the good guys are back in charge...

[Horse with no Name]

17. Sorry to be the one to break the news to you

The good guys have left the building with Elvis...

[Taverner]

22. Oh I didn't mean this year...or next...

Or even 10 or 20 years from now. For all I know it may take 100 years for the bad guys to finally leave.

But I beleived Gandhi when he said that evil always loses out to the forces of justice over time...

[MissMarple]

27. The enemy is totalitarianism. It always has been.

Democracy is the alternative. The control freaks and the power brokers hate us for that.

[LynneSin]

7. What's going to happen is that states take matters into their own hands

The lease for Tioga Terminal in Philadelphia, one of the main ports in question, expires in May. Ed Rendell has already gone on record that he will allow the lease to lapse in order to not have Dubai controlling our ports.

[rucky]

10. You have meddled with the primal forces of nature!

AND YOU WILL ATTONE!

[leftstreet]

14. There are no nations! There are no peoples!

Only corporations!!!!111111111

:bounce:

[NewInNewJ.]

13. Wolfie is doing the PR for the Repugs again!

Will it never end?

[soothsayer]

15. Now that afghan drugs are flowing, we need a way to bring them

here, silly, and who better than the excellent drug smugglers in Dubai. Sounds like a poppy bush/CIA plan all over again.

[warrens]

16. It'll take the GOP with it if it does

And I think you're right. It reminds me of the character in Catch 22 who had to let the Germans bomb his own airfield, because after all, they had a CONTRACT by god.

[Sensitivity]

18. Deal is a DAGGER AT THE THROATS of the Repug congress --

We know that the "war on terror" is NeoCon diversion.
So what's not to like?

[berni_mccoy]

19. Of course it will silly, the Freeper's have already been convinced

It's a good thing:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=587762&mesg_id=587762

[Ksec]

20. What really matters to these people

The UAE has capital.

Nothing else matters. If you have money and want to buy America thats great, no matter who or what you are or what you do. This deal Really shows that this is a fact, and we are at the mercy of the highest bidder and the lowest labor cost.

God Bless America.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

21. I don't think it will. Politicians are all about being re-elected.

I they see that the majority of people are po'd about this - they won't dare vote for it.

[slaveplanet]

23. No fake deed necessary

HW just got his trusty pen and scribbed out an Executive Order, and both sides have been off to the races ever since.

Title 3
Executive order 12803 of April 30, 1992
57 FR 19063 / May 4, 1992
TEXT: By the authority vested in me as president by the laws of the United States of America, end in order to ensure that the United States achieves the most beneficial economic use of its resources, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Definitions. For purposes of this order: (a) “Privatization” means the disposition or transfer of an infrastructure asset, such as by sale or by long-term lease, from a State or local government to a private party.

(b) “infrastructure asset” means any asset financed in whole or in part by the Federal Government and needed for the functioning of the economy. Examples of such assets include, but are not limited to: roads, tunnels, bridges, electricity supply facilities. mass transit, rail transportation, airports, ports. waterways, water supply facilities, recycling and wastewater treatment facilities, solid waste disposal facilities, housing, schools, prisons, and hospitals.


It's pretty clear nowaday, to whom this is most beneficial, and it ain't you and me.

[spanone]

24. Yea, Wolfie being wined and dined by the UAE.