Thread: Dubai Presses on with Port Deal

Dubai presses on with port takeover
Thu Mar 9, 2006 8:28 AM ET

By Dayan Candappa
DUBAI (Reuters) - Dubai Ports is pressing ahead with a takeover that gives it control of six major U.S. ports despite a Congress committee vote to block the deal, sources familiar with the deal said on Thursday.

Government and company officials in the United Arab Emirates declined comment on Wednesday's vote by U.S. lawmakers to block the deal on the grounds that handing the ports over to a Gulf Arab state-owned firm would threaten U.S. national security.

But the sources said the vote had not taken Dubai Ports any closer to relinquishing the six ports at the center of a political firestorm.

"The vote in the House of Representatives has not change anything in that respect. We are not at that point," one Dubai-based source said.

Analysts said the political furor was bound to provoke businesses in the world's biggest oil exporting region, which is an increasingly important source of financing for the huge U.S. current account deficit.

"It's American double standards. Do you think that businesses and governments here won't react and even retaliate?" said Wadah Al Taha of the National Bank of Abu Dhabi.

He said the issue was likely to feature prominently in trade talks later this month between the United States and the UAE, a federation of seven emirates that includes Dubai.

The Dubai Ports row has reinforced fears in the Middle East that investments in the United States have become politically risky for Arabs and Muslims. Some Arabs say the U.S. opposition to the deal smacks of racism.

SECURITY FEARS

Some U.S. politicians say the UAE has in the past been sympathetic to Islamist militants, noting that two of the September 11 hijackers came from that country.

President George W. Bush, however, says the UAE is a staunch ally in the U.S. war on terrorism and he has vowed to veto any legislation that would block the ports deal. Continued ...



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"It's American double standards. Do you think that businesses and governments here won't react and even retaliate?" said Wadah Al Taha of the National Bank of Abu Dhabi

Oh. Very interesting. They're threatening US ?
Excuse me, how does the government retaliate ?
That statement should bring the entire discussion to a halt.