Everyone is up in arms about the UAE ports issue. What we really need is for people to sit down, take a deep breath, and take a look at the facts. And please stop listening to soundbites from media people and politicians. Soundbites never convey truth, they merely package up an isolated fact in a wrapper of bias.

Instead, try a dose of fact like this article from CBS News. You need to go and read the whole thing, but here is a sampler to whet your appetite:

"Foreign companies already own most of the maritime infrastructure that sustains American trade…" Thirty per cent of the countries port terminals are operated by companies that are, um, unAmerican.

At the port of Los Angeles, 80 per cent of the terminals are operated by foreign companies. Chinese companies operate more than half the terminals. So why is this suddenly a threat?

In my opinion, we have to evaluate this deal on two key issues. 1. Is this company capable of doing the job? 2. Will this adversely affect the security of the port? If you want to talk about this issue, then deal with those two points, but be honest please. The instinctive Arab-owned company running port=successful terrorist attacks is a racist view.

How? Lets start with aircraft passengers. I'm not a fan of the PC random profiling. Experience has shown that most hijacking attempts have been made by Arabic men, so I have no problem with the security screeners taking a hard look at someone who fits that demographic. Is that racist? I don't think so. A racist approach would be banning all members of that demographic from flying at all. (And we must always keep in mind that it is always possible for attacks to come from a completely unexpected source.)

Expand that to this issue. Is denying a company the opportunity to bid on a project simply because of their nationality racist? Yes. Obviously, there needs to be some serious vetting on this decision. There also needs to be the understanding that what this company will be controlling is not port security but the day to day operations of the port.