Creating a Global Ports Empire

[ProSense]

Snip...

Creating a Global Ports Empire
Because of the role of Sukuk Bond financing and the significant impact of ports for the potential of economic jihad we are discussing the acquisition of P&O. On November 29, 2005, Dubai, the upstart sheikdom of the United Arab Emirates, agreed to purchase the storied British shipping company, Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation, for £3.3 billion ($5.7 billion), strengthens Dubai’s position as a center of commerce and transport. P&O, as it is known, got its start in the 1830s carrying mail among Portugal, Spain and England, but it later expanded to ferry passengers and goods throughout the British Empire. The company now has operations in one hundred global ports, as well as a passenger ferry service in Europe and a real estate portfolio. Citigroup and Rothschild advised P&O.

more...

http://www.canadafreepress.com/2006/jonsson022506.htm

Really long article. I passed over it initially because it goes into a lot of detail to argue the clash of civilizations, but then I noticed Citigroup.


Kingdom Holding Company (Saudi-owned) is the largest investor in Citigroup:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2477869&mesg_id=2477869

[Armstead]

1. Ironic -- Our Empire Builders are making the US a colony

It's colonialism in reverse.

The US is rapidly descending to the status of a colony, through outsourcing of our economy and selling of our vital assets and the mindless support of corporate "fre trade."

What's so ironic is that this is being done voluntarily by the same arrogent CONservative idiots who think they are building an American Empire.

Instead what they are doing is supporting a reverse form of colonialism, in which we will be a wholly owned subsidiary of China, Arab Oil Monarchies and other foreign interests.

Catch 22.

[The2ndWheel]

7. This is where the disconnect starts

Too many people still think in terms of nations. No wonder globalization continues to win, we're all a step behind.

It's not reverse colonialism, it's just colonialism. Instead of a kingdom, or a nation-state, it's now global corporations. Although corporations don't see borders, so it might not be any kind of colonialism.

[Armstead]

10. We must defend nations because that is what civil power relies on

Nations are far from perfect, and nationalism is a real problem when carried to extremes.

But they are also the check-and-balance against the forces of raw economic power.

If the US is to be able to continue to have laws and policies and protetions based in the public interest, a sovergn government is required. That should not be made irrelevant to the forces of corporate colonialism, whether domestic, foreign or trans-national.

[The2ndWheel]

11. I agree with you

I'm just saying we're all a step behind because that's just not the reality(in my mind anyway). It may take a some time, and a loss or two will be thrown in there every now and then, but corporations span the globe. They are making nations irrelevant. When they write the laws, own the jobs, and people have to feed their family, it's only rational to do what's been done so far.

There is no America anymore. China doesn't exist either. There is no American economy. The ports deal, Wal-Mart, IT, call centers, etc, all make for an Earth economy. The borders are still on maps for control, but that's about it.

Corporations have access to billions of people. You could fight that in a more effective way if you could get billions of people to agree, and not have to feed their families everyday. That's where the corporation has it's biggest advantage. They have one color, no children, don't need food, air, or water. Human beings though, we can be divided by the many shades of humanity, different religions, sex, age, and any other variable you can think of. We can be made to do things with threats to our children's health, or starvation. Sure, it would make sense to fight against the person/corporations(same thing, by law) that would do that to your child, but your kid needs that food today.

[Armstead]

12. It's not a force of nature -- That's a key, IMO

Unlike earthquakes or weather, Corporations are a human created instition and therefore are subject to human control.

The ONLY reason they have become so powerful today is because people were sold a giant CON Jobsuppoted by both conservative Republicans and Coprporate Democrats over the last 30 years.

It was not that long ago that they were more restrained and controllable. In my younger days they were more subject to accountability and there were restraints on the extent of their power.

Yes, they were powerful back then too, but it was held in check beyond certain limits. The public also had a value system that kept them under control.

The current problem really is an artificial creation since about 1975. It was caused by a deliberate "attitude adjustment" that was designed to deceive average people into believing that they should change their value system and economic principles.

That led to idiotic assumptions like "Let us pay you less so you can be better off by making us more competative." And the real gem "Let us become monopolies to preserve competition." And, to the point here: "Let America give up your power so America will be stronger."

For a bizarre combination of reasons, enough people fell for this CON job that they voluntarily rermoved thye restraints on corporate power.

What is needed -- and IMO very possible -- is to puish for an attitude adjustment in the opposite direction, so that then public once again demands a greater degree of restrainy and acountability -- and asserts the importance of humanistic, non-economic values to counterbalance the harshness of unrestraiuned market supremacy.

[CJCRANE]

9. Yep, Bushco opens up Arabia to free trade=>Arabia buys up America.

"Dubai Dubya" then retires to his condo on a private billionaire's island in the UAE, while the only jobs left in America are pizza delivery boy and bicycle courier.

[ProSense]

2. Dubai consortium in airport bid for India, China, Middle East

Dubai consortium in airport bid for India, China, Middle East

Thu Feb 23, 7:51 AM ET

SINGAPORE (AFP) - A newly-formed Dubai consortium unveiled plans to bid for the development and operation of airports in China, India and the Middle East, a market they estimated to be worth 400 billion US dollars.

The consortium is comprised of DAE Airports and six other top companies in the United Arab Emirates, who sealed a partnership Thursday during Asian Aerospace, the world's third-largest airshow.

A statement said the group would "target the 400 billion US dollar airport development and operations market in the emerging economies, primarily in the Middle East, India and China."

DAE Airports is a subsidiary of Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE), a recently launched holding firm that aims to invest 15 billion dollars in manufacturing and services in the booming aviation sector.

more...

http://www.forbes.com/markets/feeds/afx/2006/02/23/afx2547617.html

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[JDPriestly]

4. The nation that controls the ports controls the seas

And the nation that controls the seas can build an empire. The United Arab Emirates is small, but that can change. Control of our ports is the means to gain control over much, much more. The history of Britain is the history of a small nation that built an empire by controlling the seas. Once the UAE controls many, many ports, it is just a matter of time before it has a sizable navy. It will need a navy to effectively police and control the ports. We spend huge amounts of money per capita on defense and military equipment and we don't control and secure our own ports? How strong are we really? What are we getting for our money? Just a lot of junk parked out in the desert?


British Empire, overseas territories linked to Great Britain in a variety of constitutional relationships, established over a period of three centuries. The establishment of the empire resulted primarily from commercial and political motives and emigration movements (see imperialism); its long endurance resulted from British command of the seas and preeminence in international commerce, and from the flexibility of British rule. At its height in the late 19th and early 20th cent., the empire included territories on all continents, comprising about one quarter of the world's population and area. Probably the outstanding impact of the British Empire has been the dissemination of European ideas, particularly of British political institutions and of English as a lingua franca, throughout a large part of the world.

http://www.answers.com/topic/british-empire

Substitute the words Arabic and United Arab Emirates as appropriate to know what the takeover of our ports would ultimately mean.

[Adelante]

5. Canada Free Press

Have you read any of that Rovian rag? It's a horror. I've been meaning to ask Canadian DUers about it.

[ProSense]

6. I came across it, but I'm more interested in the Citigroup connection. n/t

[Adelante]

8. I understand

I did some looking at the site not long ago. It seems to have started up for the 2004 election. Great swiftboaters, they've been ever since. Kerry, Gore, Murtha, Clark, any Dem at all, really. It's clearly a Rove front. I just wonder what they're doing up there in Canada.

[ProSense]

13. According to NYT, Dubai buying up world/American operations

Amid Ports Furor, Lawmakers Plan for New Security Reviews
By CARL HULSE and HEATHER TIMMONS
Published: March 3, 2006

Snip...

Doncasters is being bought as the Pentagon increasingly depends on foreigners for critical military supplies, even in Iraq, and when the line between domestic and foreign military contractors is increasingly blurring. Multimillion-dollar Pentagon contracts have been given to dozens of countries, among them Israel, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia in the Mideast. Companies in allied countries like England, France and Germany are competing with American contractors for a larger piece of the Pentagon budget, which has exceeded $400 billion in recent years.

The scrutiny of the Dubai transactions is partly product of the aggressive acquisition posture of state-owned companies from the United Arab Emirates. U.A.E. companies have swallowed up more than 40 foreign companies since the beginning of 2005. Several of those acquisitions have United States operations, according to data from Thomson Financial.

Among them are a British shipping services company with operations in more than 20 United States ports and a freight company that flies cargo into eight United States airports.

That Dubai, which is seeking to spin its limited oil resources into the creation of a worldwide shipping and financial center, has already completed transportation-related deals in the United States should be no surprise, some experts say.

"This has been a long-term strategy for Dubai, which is based around turning its domestic and regional operations into international operations," said Simon Williams, a senior economist with Economist Intelligence Unit in London who specializes in the Mideast. "I can't really believe" that the United States will look retroactively at all the Dubai deals, Mr. Williams added.


more...


http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/03/politics/03ports.html?_r=1&oref=slogin