GLOBALIZATION: THE FINAL DEMISE OF NATIONAL SECURITY
PART 2 of 3

 

 

 

Patrick Wood
March 11, 2006
NewsWithViews.com

West Coast Maritime Security

There are two Chinese shipping companies operating in the United States: China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO) and China Shipping Group (CSG).

China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO) is the largest container shipping company in the world, operating more than 540 ships and accounting for four-fifths of China's international fleet. Prior to its first public offering of stock in 2005, COSCO was completely owned by the Peoples Republic of China, where it continues even now as the PRC's merchant marine.

In the U.S., Seattle-based SSA Marine and COSCO have had an exclusive 25-year business relationship: SSA Marine has handled every COSCO container in every port on the West Coast, totaling some 7.7 million containers.

SSA Marine (previously known as Stevedoring Services of America) is a subsidiary of Carrix Corporation, with 2005 revenues easily in excess of $1.2 billion. Carrix is a privately owned multinational corporation whose business revenue is growing at a rate of about 18 percent per year. Carrix also owns Tideworks Technology and Rail Management Service (RMS), the world's largest rail yard operator with 45 facilities in 23 states.

SSA Marine obviously has a preferential relationship with China. In addition to its exclusive relationship with COSCO, it is currently investing $350 million to double the size of its terminal facility at the eastern end of the Panama Canal (operated by Hutchinson Whampoa), serving as a transshipment center for cargo between ships moving up the coast and those moving through the canal.

In 1996, COSCO attempted to lease a huge 130 acre terminal which had been converted from the abandoned Long Beach Naval Station. According to the Heritage Foundation,

This did not hinder COSCO from expanding its facilities in Los Angeles and Oakland.

COSCO also operates an intermodal network (see map) in north America through a subsidiary and with the help of Carrix Corporation. The network facilitates "door-to-door" delivery of goods arriving from China.

The second Chinese shipping company mentioned above is the China Shipping Group (CSG). This company was formed in 1997 and is also owned by the Chinese government. It currently has routes spanning the globe, serviced by 118 modern container vessels. CSG maintains offices in Long Beach, Seattle, Houston, Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, Seacaucus, Savannah and Jacksonville, which roughly parallels the COSCO network described above.

Although COSCO and CSG make ample use of U.S. facilities to further their own goals here, it would be completely unthinkable in China for the U.S. to attempt similar operations on Chinese soil.

Under normal trade operations, the global elite argue that there is no security risk to the United States in allowing Chinese government-owned businesses to maintain and operate shipping and intermodal facilities in the U.S. Such an argument is ludicrous when one considers that China is still a sworn enemy of the United States, and has a long and sordid history of espionage. In the event of an eventual conflict with China, it could immediately bring the U.S. to its knees by closing the Panama Canal and invoking a trade embargo with its vast network of ships. If that were not enough, they will have had ample time to directly deliver any amount of clandestine material (weapons, explosives, nuclear devices) to locations throughout the country.

East Coast Maritime Security

On February 11, 2006, a U.S. Treasury department committee issued its approval for a United Arab Emirates (UAE) company, Dubai Ports World (DP World), to take over the operational management of six major American commercial ports and two U.S. military ports. After minimal investigation, it was later determined that the total count for takeover was 21 ports, split between eastern and gulf cost states. The ports in question were formerly managed by the London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company ("P&O"), which had just been acquired by DP World.

President George Bush and his cabinet members vehemently endorsed and defended the takeover. Most Americans and many of their respective elected officials wondered if the Executive Branch had completely lost its marbles.

The compelling negative aspects of this potential security collapse being reported are that the UAE...

When threatened with legislation to block the takeover by DP World, President Bush pledged to veto any such legislation because the security implications of the deal were "rigorously reviewed" (in a secret, closed-door Treasury Department committee meeting) and that the decision "was final." According to Reuters, Bush told reporters during a Cabinet meeting, "This wouldn't be going forward if we were not certain that our ports would be secure."

How does this reconcile with Bush's post-9-11 "War on Terror" declaration? Is this some Machiavellian dialectic that pits opposite and mutually exclusive concepts against each other?

The August Review's credo is to "Follow the Money, follow the power." With that in mind, the mystery is more easily unraveled.

The proposed DP World management of U.S. ports was approved by CFIUS (Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States), which is organized under the Department of the Treasury. CFIUS administers Section 5021 of the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 (the "Exon-Florio" provision) which gives the President power to block a foreign acquisition of a U.S. corporation if he finds:

The CFIUS committee membership is hardly made up of second-rate government staffers. Its twelve members include:

John W. Snow was appointed Secretary of the Treasury by President Bush on January 13, 2003. It is not insignificant that he was previously CEO of CSX Corporation, a global shipping and intermodal company.

On December 9, 2004, DP World issued a press release stating that it acquired CSX World Terminals (a major subsidiary of CSX Corporation) and other related interests for $1.15 billion.[3]

David Sanborn, appointed to head the Maritime Administration, worked for John Snow while at CSX. Sanborn became a DP World employee as a result of its acquisition of CSX World Terminals.

Snow claimed he had no knowledge of the CSX sale, and that he heard about it in the newspapers like everybody else. Bush claims he had no knowledge of the DP World takeover of P&O, even though over half of his Cabinet sit on the committee that approved it. In light of the complicated tryst between Treasury, DP World, CSX, and David Sanborn, it is not too likely that anyone was in the dark about the pending DP World takeover of 21 U.S. ports.

United Arab Emirates: Home of Dubai Ports World

One place in the world where it can be said "the buck stops here" is in the UAE. Put another way, if the world was a money funnel into which the global elite pour their billions of quarterly profits, then the bottom of that funnel empties out on the UAE and a few other countries who are members of the powerful Gulf Cooperation Council.

The GCC was founded by Saudi Arabia in 1981. Other members of the GCC include Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar.

Most Americans cannot fathom the economic prosperity in the GCC countries in the mid-east because of the constant barrage of news on war-torn Iraq and Afghanistan. In recent years, the massive infusion of fresh capital from all over the world is funding the building of cities out of the desert sand. Huge construction cranes are seen in every direction, each one building the next latest and greatest skyscraper. [Note: See Additional Resources below for more images of the UAE and Dubai.]

The corporate interests of virtually every global elite are heavily represented throughout the GCC. Huge deals are sealed in closed meetings. Secrecy is a standard business practice. Regulations of any kind are minimal. Restraint is unnecessary.

These cities are being built with the latest technology and materials. They are "wired" with the latest Internet and computer technology. It's becoming a destination of choice for regional corporate headquarters.

If you are an "anybody" in the global corporate world, you lust to have your own suite of offices and supporting condominiums. This is a place where money meets ambition, greed and avarice. For part 3 click below.

Click here for part -----> 1, 3,

Footnotes:

1, Seeking Reciprocity in Maritime Trade with China, Wortzel (Heritage Foundation, March 19, 2001)
2, Office of International Affairs, U.S. Department of Treasury
3, Acquisition of CSX World Terminals, DP World web site

• Dick Cheney, Vice President of the United States
• Lynne V. Cheney, Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, wife of Dick Cheney
• Robert Zoellick, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State
• Paul Wolfowitz, President of the World Bank
• Paula J. Dobriansky, U.S. Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs
• William J. McDonough, Chairman of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board; former chairman of the New York Federal Reserve
• William H. Webster, vice-chairman of Homeland Security Advisory Council
• Richard N. Perle, foreign policy advisor to President
• George Bush George H.W. Bush, President George Bush's father
• Catherine Bertini, Under-Secretary-General for Management, United Nations, New York, NY
• Paul Volker, Chairman of the Oil-for-Food investigation at the United Nations
  

• Special pictures of UAE
• Map of UAE and Persian Gulf
• Images of Abu Dhabi, largest city in UAE
• Images of Dubai, home of DP World

� 2006 Patrick Wood - All Rights Reserved