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Local News & Opinion
01.26 Local Democrats Invited to Brainstorming Session on Sun., Jan. 31 Ref. : Local Newsbriefs Travel
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Video National Health Care Systems In Other Countries 02.03 Drugmaker Got Kickbacks for Nursing Home Patients 01.18 Drugmaker Got Kickbacks for Nursing Home Patients Media Watching
02.04 Err-America 02.03 The Right Gets Itself 'Wired' Ref. : The Daily Howler Legal Matters
01.25 Thinking About Fictions 01.24 US Democracy's End of the Road 01.22 Editorial: U.S. Supreme Court Nails Down the Coffin of Democracy 01.22 Security Fools US Politics, Policy & Culture
02.09 Palin, Psy-Ops & 'Condescending' Libs 02.09 Growing Hunger in America 02.08 The US Government has Lost its Reason for Being 02.08 Thinking About Oracles 02.06 No Direction Home: Pakistan and the Imperial Principle 02.04 Howard Zinn and the State of the Union 02.04 The US Supreme Court: Vanguard of Friendly American Fascism? 02.04 The New War Against Money 02.04 David Brooks Goes After Greedy Geezers 02.02 Obama's Budget Ducks Pentagon Cuts 02.02 Budgets, War and Blind Ambition: The Limited Minds of the American Elite 02.01 Thinking About Definitives 02.01 Remembering Howard Zinn (1922 - 2010) 01.29 American History 101: We Are Devo 01.29 Obama's Outreach to Americans: Empty Rhetoric, Business As Usual 01.28 The Supreme Court's Partisanship 01.27 Freeze Frame: Flopsweat and Farce in the Hollow Halls of Power 01.25 Granny D on Campaign Finance Reform 01.25 S.C. Republican’s Plan: Starve the Poor So They’ll Stop “Breeding” 01.23 It's Time for Kucinich, Conyers, Feingold and Other `Progressives' in Congress to Take a Stand 01.21 Massachusetts' Message of Stupid 01.21 Terrorism Defined: Bill Clinton Lights Our Way to Truth 01.21 How Obama Lost His Way 01.21 Political Earthquake Rocks Massachusetts 01.20 Obama Cuts Deal that Will Reduce Social Security, Medicare and all Entitlements 01.20 Critical Mass: Dem Agenda Opens Right-Wing Doors 01.19 Outsourcing War: The Rise of Private Military Contractors High Crimes?
01.25 The Silence and the Shield: Depraved Indifference to the Atrocities of Power 01.19 Dark as a Dungeon: A Brutal System Stripped Bare Economics & Business Non/Mis/Malfeasance
02.07 AIG-Gate: The World's Greatest Insurance Heist 02.06 The Free Market Fetish 02.04 The Crisis is Not Over 02.03 States Face Worsening Recession with Health Care Funds on the Chopping Block 02.02 Rule by the Rich 01.29 The Battle of the Titans: JPMorgan vs. Goldman Sachs 01.27 State of the Union: Obama’s “Automatic IRA” Plan Could Make Bush’s Wildest Dreams Come True 01.26 Obama, Read Your Reagan on Capital Gains Taxation 01.24 Funding Public Health Care with a Publicly-Owned Bank: How Canada Did It 01.18 Thinking About Accelerants International
02.08 Aafia Siddiqui: Victimized by American Injustic 02.07 Annals of Liberation: Obama Surge Driving Thousands From Their Homes 02.05 Human Rights Abuses in Israel and Occupied Palestine 02.03 Child Slavery in Haiti 01.30 Blood is His Argument: Tony Blair's Gentle Cuddling at Iraq "Inquiry" 01.28 Obama Ignores Key Afghan Warning 01.27 Haiti's Earthquake: Natural or Engineered 01.26 Helping Haiti’s Elders 01.26 Focus on Israel: Harvesting Haitian Organs 01.25 Focus on Haiti: Washington's Militarized Takeover 01.22 The Lessons of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions 01.18 Disaster Capitalism Headed to Haiti We are a non-profit Internet-only newspaper publication founded in 1973. Your donation is essential to our survival.
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COMMENTARY:Bush Approves Sale of US Military Parts Suppliers to UAE GovernmentDubai International Capital LLC (which is owned by the UAE) lists both the Carlyle Group and Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) as co-investments.
Outgoing White House Press Secretary Scott "Scottie" McClellan announced Friday that George W. Bush approved the sale of 9 US defense-related production plants to Dubai International Capital, owned by the government of the United Arab Emirates, in a $1.24 billion takeover of the British firm Doncasters Group Ltd. Among the plants sold is the sole supplier of turbine fan parts for the US military's Abrams tank fans.
Since "...the plants make turbine blades for tanks and aircraft, the deal was reviewed by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., which sent it on to Bush for a decision, a step used only when the potential security risks or political considerations are particularly acute," according to CBS' Market Watch. "...One official who was briefed on the Doncasters transaction said there would be provisions in the agreement protecting American military secrets. But it was unclear whether that would satisfy Congressional objections." "The committee almost never met, and when it deliberated it was usually at a fairly low bureaucratic level," Richard Perle said. Perle, who has worked for the Reagan, Clinton and both Bush administrations added, "I think it's a bit of a joke." "The formal CFIUS review is not the most important element in the approval process. CFIUS does not require unanimity among all the agencies involved, but a disputed decision to approve a sale would be escalated to the cabinet level or to the President for appeal....In 1993, Congress amended Exon-Florio to require foreign, government-controlled companies to obtain CFIUS approval before acquiring U.S. companies when the foreign purchaser is 'controlled by or acting on behalf of a foreign government' and the acquisition 'could result in control of a person engaged in interstate commerce in the U.S. that could affect the national security of the United States." Established in 2004, Dubai International Capital LLC. [DIC] is a Dubai-based international investment company owned by the government of the United Arab Emirates that primarily focuses on private equity. The deal was originally announced by DIC. Dubai International Capital LLC lists both the Carlyle Group and Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) as co-investments. George H.W. Bush (41), former U.S. President, was a Senior Advisor to the Carlyle Asia Advisory Board from April 1998 to October 2003, almost two years after his son took office. Among its various military projects, the Carlyle Group is, through its various investments, a major contractor for the US Missile Defense System, which has been expedited by the Bush Administration prior to its being fully tested. The system is the single costliest defense budget item for the current budget year. George W. Bush (43) was on the board of directors from 1990-1992 of a Carlyle investment gone bad (Caterair), which was later sold at a loss. Then as Governor of Texas, Bush appointed several persons to the board of Texas teachers' pension funds, which later decided to invest $100 million dollars of public money in the Carlyle Group.
Among the Carlyle Group notables are: current Secretary of the Treasury and chairman of CFIUS John W. Snow; former Secretary of State Colin Powell; and former Secretary of State and 2000 Bush campaign advisor James Baker III. According to Doncasters, "This investment follows a series of strategic, value-driven investments by DIC"--Dubai International Capital – including "a US$1 billion investment in DaimlerChrysler." Chip Yost is a progressive activist who can be read daily on Chip's blog.
Read more: Copyright © 2006 The Baltimore Chronicle.
All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Baltimore Chronicle content is expressly prohibited without their prior written consent. This story was published on May 1, 2006. |
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