American Racism

An attempt by US congressmen to block a Dubai-based company from running American ports smacks of racism

How odd would it be, if an American family decides to stop eating at a fast food joint because the Burger flipper is Saudi? If most of the Sept 11 highjackers where Saudis, the logic would go, wouldn’t the flipper in question be tempted to poison their Burgers?

American congressmen today are behaving just like that hypothetical family.

In a nutshell, a British company P&O, which used to run six American ports, was bought up by another company, DP World, which runs ports all over the world. The company is one of the world’s largest ports operators and is expected to run the American ports more efficiently than their predecessors. But there’s a problem: DP World is based in Dubai, which is –horrors!- an Arab city.

Never mind Dubai is one of the world’s fastest growing economies and best managed cities with the lowest crime rate in the world. Never mind that all the ports DP World runs are certified by the International Security Port System. Never mind that DP World has satisfied all the necessary regulatory approvals for the deal to be passed. All that matters to the American congressmen, who want to block the deal, is that two of the September 11 highjackers come from the United Arab Emirates.

Politicians from both sides of the spectrum are joining this nonsense. Of course, they are entitled to scrutinize the deal before approving it, but it is very telling that they are making a public fuss out of it, to get cheap political support from security-obsessed constituencies.