President George W. Bush's popularity had sunk not because of Hurricane Katrina or that of Iraq war, but the approval of the sale of management rights at six US port facilities to Dubai Ports World (DP World), a company backed by the government of the UAE of Dubai. This has sent Bush's approval rating in the poll down from 42% to 34%, and indeed continued to fall. When Americans were told that US ports were being "sold" to Arab Muslims, who they had come to know as enemy, they were alarmed. Amidst this frenzies, Congress threatened to block the entire sale, and DP World relented, eventually selling operations at the ports to the American International Group in December 2006. This only reveals that the world is not flat. This sleight of hand draws upon an old perception of Arabs, particularly Gulf Arabs, as the "other" of international business culture.
