George W eats his shorts

There is something immensely satisfying, in watching George W become the victim of his own cynical rhetoric. Satisfying, but saddening as well.
We refer, of course, to the sale of British-owned P&O Ports to Dubai Ports World; a sale which would give the United Arab Emirates-owned company management of the ports in Baltimore, New York, Newark-Port Elizabeth, Philadelphia, Miami and New Orleans.

It is ingenuous for US law makers to claim security implications in what is nothing more nor less than an investment proposal by a ‘friendly’ Arab ally. But then this is politics of the lowest common denominator, as played by the president.
Policy in the US has been driven, under this administration, by extreme simplification. The US constituency seems to have quite happily absorbed the simple approach, ie, there are Arabs are mainly Muslim, some Muslims commit terrorist acts, so all Arabs are terrorists.
This ignores many realities, but then that it George W’s MO, don’t spoil a good policy with the truth. We are seeing something of the same game being played out by George W’s obsequious ally and Australian PM, John Howard.
The satisfaction, I guess, is in seeing these greedy, grasping administrations being denied the big money deals their policies were meant to capture. The Middle East is both immensely poor and immensely rich. But tapping in to those riches has become problematic.
The sooner we see the back of this kind of world leadership, the better off we will all be, and as my old Granny used to say; all this will pass. Not too soon for me.