Quake3World

Arab biz in deal for U.S. ports

WASHINGTON - A company in the United Arab Emirates is poised to take over significant operations at six American ports - including New York and New Jersey - as part of a corporate sale. The deal will leave a country with ties to the Sept. 11 hijackers with influence over a maritime industry considered vulnerable to terrorism.

The Bush administration is not objecting to Dubai Ports World's purchase of London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co.

The $6.8 billion sale is expected to be approved tomorrow. The British company is the fourth largest ports company in the world and its sale would affect commercial U.S. port operations in New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia.

DP World said it won approval from a secretive U.S. government panel, the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which considers security risks of foreign companies buying or investing in American industry.

The State Department describes the UAE as a vital partner in the fight against terrorism. But the UAE was an important operational and financial base for the hijackers who carried out the 9/11 attacks , the FBI concluded.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) urged the administration to consider the sale carefully.

"America's busiest ports are vital to our economy and to the international economy, and that is why they remain top terrorist targets," Schumer said.

Mr.Magnetichead wrote:Dirty bombs are of no threat outside of the damage done by the initial explosion.

In order for you to be exposed to a high enough dose of radiation to die you would have to be within 100 yards of the explosion and you would have to stand perfectly still for 10 years.

Freakaloin wrote:see bilderberg group...

Firm Sues to Block Foreign Port Takeover
The Associated Press

Saturday 18 February 2006

Washington - A company at the Port of Miami has sued to block the takeover of shipping operations there by a state-owned business in the United Arab Emirates. It is the first American courtroom effort to capsize a $6.8 billion sale already embroiled in a national debate over security risks at six major U.S. ports affected by the deal.

The Miami company, a subsidiary of Eller & Company Inc., presently is a business partner with London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co., which Dubai Ports World purchased last week. In a lawsuit in Florida circuit court, the Miami subsidiary said that under the sale it will become an "involuntary partner" with Dubai's government and it may seek more than $10 million in damages.

The Miami subsidiary, Continental Stevedoring & Terminals Inc., said the sale to Dubai was prohibited under its partnership agreement with the British firm and "may endanger the national security of the United States." It asked a judge to block the takeover and said it does not believe the company, Florida or the U.S. government can ensure Dubai Ports World's compliance with American security rules.

dmmh wrote:so out of proportion if you ask me
if there is any country as western as it can get, it would be the UAE
besides, terrorists having support from terrorist cells inside a certain country doesnt indicate the entire country is rotten or whatever

Massive Quasars wrote:I was going to rebut your reply earlier, but now I see that the company is state-owned (in part, or in whole), and that may be more problematic. I wouldn't have had serious reservations with a wholly private company taking over, given the proper research took place before a deal was struck.

The additional risk may be relatively insignificant, but perhaps that's sufficient to make this a deal killer.

R00k wrote:Looney Toons was always so good at boiling complex issues down to the point where you could see both sides of a story and somehow throw a good laugh in it to boot.

Whatever happened to good cartoons?