Posturing over Ports more hypocrisy

David Corn at Tom Paine.com writes

Furthermore, these critics are overlooking a not-so-easy-to-exploit reason for questioning the transaction.

The UAE is an autocracy that affords its residents few, if any, guaranteed rights. Human Rights Watch reports that the UAE

does not hold elections for any public office, and political participation is limited to the ruling family in each emirate. The government has not signed most international human rights and labor rights treaties. Migrant workers, comprising nearly 90 percent of the workforce in the private sector, are particularly vulnerable to serious human rights violations.

If it is the United States' mission and obligation to spread democracy and freedom across the globe, as George W. Bush insists, should it be doing significant business with autocrats? Just last Friday, Bush defended the war in Iraq by saying, "Our freedom agenda is based on a clear premise: the security of our nation depends on the advance of liberty in other nations." Dubai Ports World is controlled by a government that does not allow its people to govern themselves. What message does Washington send if it opens its arms to corporate entities run by such rulers?