Aikido anyone? More ports snort

The Japanese martial art of aikido has always fascinated me in its attempt to use the energy of the opponent to defeat him. On reflection, the choice of an United Arab Emirates company for taking over “significant operations” at six US ports may contain elements of that. The UAE folks have now officially been co-opted.

Of course, if this was the strategy, Bush, who claims not to have known about the contract while it was being negotiated, cannot take credit for it. But some others can. From the AP:

The disclosure of the negotiated conditions came as the White House acknowledged that Bush was unaware of the pending sale until the deal had been already approved by his administration.