And so it has come to pass, that 1273 years after Charles (the hammer) Martel stopped the Arabs in Poitiers, France, they finally made it to Baltimore. Hordes of Allah worshippers are soon to land in six, or is it ten of the largest ports in the United States. Too bad Tom (the hammer) DeLay is on his way to jail. We could have used him.
The desert tribes have played our game well. In just a couple of generations they went from being mere Bedouins roaming endlessly in the most inhospitable deserts of the world to the most modern managers of Globalization. Thanks to our corporate greed and our thirst for oil, the ruling families of the Emirates have transformed their feuding kingdoms in a financial powerhouse. Emirates is one of the best run and most modern airline in the world. They built the best hotels, and even luxury man made island. The most famous is in the shape of a palm tree. All the units are sold. But do not worry, you can enjoy the eternal sun and the guaranteed 100 degrees of Dubai in one of their properties built on an island in the shape of the world map.
Their geography is a few dunes. Their history is barely 50 years old. They do not waste their time with such frivolities as free speech nor democracy. Everybody loves "the Ruler". Phillipino women are imported for ten years and work 24/7. Expats who use their services are instructed to turn them in if they complain......
It turns out that for a mere matter of money "por un pogna di dollar di piu" as Clint Eastwood used to say, we turned over the overall management of six of the largest ports in the US to P&O, a venerable British shipping company. I used to enjoy their ferry trips across the Channel. The day to day activity was , and will be ensured by US longshoremen, the US Coastguard, and , God Forbid the very able Mr Chertoff at Homeland Security.
So what has changed? Nothing. Financiers in Dubai have acquired P&O. Instead of the profit being accounted in some quaint office on London Docklands, it will be tallied under an air-conditionned tent by a Bedouin , as he watches a bunch of 7 year old camel jockeys win a race while his four wives go shopping in their Suburban.
But , hey, our oil profits are being pocketed by close relatives of Mr Ben Laden. The same family that bailed out the former Governor of Texas with his Arbusto company. The very same Saudi Royal family that owns 7 % of the US overall assets, happily amputates, flogs, stones and otherwise hangs sinners downtown beautiful Riyad. I know, I was there.
So are the Emirati any worse than the "great british" (Bush dixit)? Did not a few Great British blow up buses, and subway in London? Nobody winced at P&O then.
Either we play the market forces card and accept globalization, or we play the fear mongering card and agitate the image of the Saracen. We have bought their land and their Royal families a long time ago. Let them buy a couple of ports.
By the way, Bush threatened a veto at first, then claimed he was not informed. Why do they keep waking up the poor man?
We will have to make up our minds soon . Are we going to accept globalization and the XXIst century, or are we going full force into the umpteenth chapter of the Crusades?
The Baltimore Sun will have to watch its caricatures.
Oh, by the way, do you think W knows the Chinese own the Panama canal? Let's not tell him just now.
3 comments:
Hilarious and serious at the same time.
You should have this published as a kind of Art Buchwald column.
aha
Oh, and by the way, you're conclusion is totally erroneous. Globalization is not occurring, it has occurred. The problem with selling the ports to the Arabs is that we have nothing left to sell. We are in so much debt that infrastructure is all we really have left. Now, knowing as we do the UAE's integrity as regards to smuggling nuclear parts and PEOPLE (that's right, people), do you really think this is a good idea? Or do you just go to bed everynight dreaming of a date with Tom Friedman.
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