Carter, that is. about Dubai Ports World, demagogy by Democrats, and (by implication) Islamophobia. Check it out.
President Carter does not get enough credit for being the first to tie human rights to foreign policy. Sometimes, it seems like he was also the last.
3 comments:
As you may know, I apparently disagree with you and with Jimmy Carter about DPW. I say "apparently" because I'm not sure exactly how to characterize your position vs. mine.
Mine is that DPW is owned by and answerable to a small, unaccountable group of foreign aristocrats who will place much less emphasis on my safety and interests than on their own. I don't think it's Islamophobic on my part to be concerned about what those interests may be, either by conviction or by blackmail.
As mentioned in comments here, there was at least one acceptable alternative available for DPW that could have been discussed but were not, at least as far as I know. DPW could have operated the ports through an American subsidiary such that the only things communicated to Dubai were profits, while information remained here. This arrangement is apparently not uncommon for foreign owned weapons manufacturers supplying American armed forces.
Hi Thomas,
I think that there is a reasonable foreign-ownership vs security argument to be made; but then it needs to be made for all ports and all foreign nations, especially China, which dominates control of our western ports. If the concern is limited only to Islamic nations - and the UAE is an *exemplary* ally, a modern nation, a true forward looking role model for economic liberty in the region - then what other conclusion to draw esides Islamophobia? I am not accusing you but rather those who push the security argument selectively (most of those pushing it, last I checked).
That's a good point. I would definitely not limit this to Dubai or Islamic countries, both as a matter of equal justice and as a matter of security. Ports are a nation's intake valves, they should be under the full and sole control of that nation.
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