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How many people remember the furor when the Chinese took over the operation of the Panama Canal? Or the one before that when Pres. Carter gave the thing away in the first place. The only change between before and after is who's making the profit. (Of course I'm not sure we've seen the other shoe drop yet. The Chinese tend to take a long term view of stratigic issues. But then again they need the PC much more than we do.) As COL M. alluded - "how secure are our ports now?" Bottom line - It is a physical impossibility to inspect every container entering the US. We've got a couple SMEs here who might be willing to chime in on that one. Between the USCG and Homeland Security everything that can (realistically) be done is being done. Besides, can anybody here honestly imagine a longshoreman's union allowing any management company to hire/place potential terrorists? We need to be worrying about building the HUMINT assets to infiltrate the threat and stop attacks before they get to our shores, not worry about who's making money at echelons above reality. Besides - who cares if they own it? It's just like the Japanese speculating in US real estate. They can own anything they want; they just can't take it home. And when we get tired of playing, we can always figure out how to get it back. My .02 - Peregrino
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