Current mood:	pissed off
Current music:	"Untouchable Face" - Ani Difranco

Grr...argh...
In the news over the last few days, there has been much wailing and gnashing of teeth over dubya's recent decision to turn over our ports to a company operating out of Abu Dabi in the United Arab Emirates. Now, while I do love the extraordinary amount of shit this horrific president is taking for it, and while this pushes him further and further into the realm of obscurity, since many a "Patriot" is appalled that he would have the audacity to turn our sea ports over to a pack of *gasp!* foreigners...and ARABS no less. Still, the fact that in all likelihood the government will demand our business be sent elsewhere has massive repercussions and makes very little sense...

For starters, America has not been in charge of it's own sea ports for over 20 years!!! We have constantly relied on foreign companies to control them, though they NEVER (and will never) have been in charge of security and all ports are staffed by the same people that staff so many of our nations' low-level jobs. This means poor Americans and immigrants work there, more often than not, and it is the United States Coast Guard who always has, and will for the forseeable future, controlled security and inspection. The foreign companies simply own the rights to the port and enforce the charges on each entering and exiting ship. For this right, they pay a hefty amount to our government in taxes and subsidies. The reason no American company has controlled our own ports for so long is no American company wants the job!!! We live in a CAPITALIST society. However you feel about capitalism, one of its greatest principals is that businesses will take care of themselves. If nobody in this country wants to run the ports, or can run them efficiently and productively, someone else in the world will.

Also, regardless of who is in control of our ports, we essentially control theirs. The port at Abu Dhabi is one of the most lucrative in the world. It also is our main way to bring in weapons to protect our oil interests (aka, the most recent conquest out there) and transport many other things. If and when we decide against permitting them to run our ports, the problems this will create will be immense. First of all, one THIRD of our economy is the direct contribution of wealthy Arabs and Middle Eastern nations. Refusing them the right to take up our ports will encourage them to sign potentially more lucrative deals with China, Russia or India for their oil, to drive up their tariffs which have historically been pretty low for us on the use of their ports, their resources and their land. These nations are already pulling out from our economy at an alarming rate. This will only encourage them to do so faster; and make European companies start looking like better potential investments than our own.

Apart from those important facts, though this company is based in the United Arab Emirates, the owners of it are mostly BRITISH. The country is a genetic grab-bag, with South Asians, Iranians, Emiratti and a hefty amount of European Ex-Patriots living there. Because of its make-up, open economy and tax benefits, tons of European countries are based there; much like how so many companies incorporate in states like Delaware for all the benefits. The UAE is also totally secular, while not rejecting religion, it has very little impact on its business transactions (save for the respect granted to Sharia law when dealing with more religious Muslims.) The company based in Abu Dhabi is a descendant of the ORIGINAL British company that has historically been in charge of the ports before now. They have an excellent track record and are highly efficient. They've done a good job for twenty years, why take their right away because they are now incorporated in a country with the word ARAB in its name?

Inevitably, what this all boils down to is racism, pure and simple. Nobody likes Arabs in today's' world. Have they done some horrible things to have earned their horrible caricatured treatment in our nation? Yes, especially if you look at the ridiculous rage they have over a set of Danish cartoons, but we've done horrible things to them to encourage some of the brazen racist hatred they feel for us now (like the civil war we've created in Iraq, for example...) Unfortunately, both parties are jumping on the racist bandwagon in this case. The Republicans are so callow that they will sell out their own poster-boy to not appear "weak on terror" and the Democrats are so cowardly that they will seize any opportunity to make this ridiculous president look bad, even at the cost of their own economy. We live in a global world. We have encouraged free trade for ages and now that we are put to the test, we reject it because we're so terrified of the Big Bad Arab who will sneak through our ports, rape the women, kill the men, sell the children to meat factories and the like. While I have put up with plenty of subtle (and not so subtle) racism towards my ethnicity for many years, I have never experienced anything like the hatred and loathing I have experienced in the last few days. Yet this time, there is no justification whatsoever. These are not a pack of religious extremists who want to run our ports for their own dastardly purposes, this is a group of businessmen who have respected our laws for decades and have no higher ideal other than profit.

Racism and other forms of closed-mindedness will be the downfall of our nation, as it has been for so many in the past. Free trade is opening so many doors and making so much possible, especially for a wealthy nation like our own. If we can just get beyond our own petty hatred, perhaps we can snag a piece of that pie before the rest of the world beats us out.

*Sigh...*