stirling and UAE ports

stirling newberry:

"The dubai ports deal shows that there is a fundamental contradiction – for 25 years the average American has been willing to trade wages and autonomy to keep on trucking, because they did not see themselves as losing autonomy that they could not bear to lose. The ports deal shows that, increasingly, they are going to be paying with autonomy they care about, and can see.

The ports deal is, then, the first moment of dawning consciousness that either the populations of the west make hard choices, or they will be working for monarches and dictators who own the companies that employ them, and the mortgages on their houses.

It's time to decide whether temporary prosperity or permanent liberty is more important – because the oil for paper deal is running out of room. Soon it will not just be companies that operate ports, but larger and larger companies that will be owned from Riyadh, Dubai, Kuwait City and other addresses where dictators reside.

The screaming yowling sounds you hear, then, are the sounds of greedy people desperate to cash out while the cashing out is good. The reason they hurl slander such as "racism" and "Marxism" against their opponents is because the stakes are so high, and it is, of course, immoral to stand between a greedy maniac and his chance to cash out."

read the rest for full context

I suspect stirling is onto something here, at least at a macro level. I also suspect that there is something going on at a micro level (direct blackmail/bribery) that we can't see - hence Blinky's 'I will veto'.

btw - stirling is apparently unwell. good luck and good health, stirling.