More than two hundred years ago – the Americans overthrew the rule of their imperial masters with a shot that was heard around the world. Racially and ethnically – they came from the same stock just a couple of generation ago but within those generations they had grown intellectually apart from their European brethren, a divide that exists until today and a divide that many people still find it difficult to comprehend, hence they lump everything west of Turkey to be the “Western World” (case in point – read this article by Vir Sanghvi over the Arcelor controversy).
This stark difference in ideology has been put into sharp focus by the controversy over a Dubai based company taking over the operations of six key ports in the US and President Bush’s stance over it and a similar controversy that was raging in Europe a few days ago over Lakshmi Mittal’s attempt to takeover Arcelor and the response of the Europeans. French President Chirac and his government responded to that takeover attempt with vitriol and xenophobic comments against the Indians. Mr. Bush on the other hand stood firm on the port deal that essentially hands over the day-to-day operations of six key American ports to a company owned by the Emirates government. He went out of his way to emphasize that there should be no difference in rules whether a port is run by a British company (which was the case until now) or a Middle-Eastern company. In fact, on a day when it would have been politically expedient for him to strike down this deal since there was bi-partisan support on the Capitol Hill for it, Mr. Bush used this opportunity to make a point about lack of bigotry towards the Middle-East in his administration.
Of course, people who have already made up their minds without considering the facts will continue to revile the US and the Americans while turning a blind eye to the true bigots – the mainland Europeans who have given this world three crusades, two world wars, imperialism, colonialism and holocaust and continue in their xenophobic ways right until this day.
This post was also published on desicritics and blogcritics.