Moon of Alabama Brecht quote
Back to Main

May 12, 2008
More Annals of Reporting

Smuggling to Iran rife in dangerous Gulf waters

KHASAB, Oman (Reuters) – Smugglers pile boxes high on their speedboats, covering them with tarpaulin before zipping off into the sunset on the short but dangerous journey across the strategic Strait of Hormuz from Oman to Iran.

The last time I checked the sun sets in the west.

Khasab, Oman lies south of Iran. Its harbour is shielded from the western gulf by some miles of headland.

So how much are we to believe from the rest of the report?

Posted by b on May 12, 2008 at 06:05 UTC | Permalink
Comments

Burmans Die Because Not Free, Rich
“If Cyclone Nargis had struck not Rangoon, but Melbourne or Tokyo, it is unlikely more than a few dozen people, if that, would have died. And that’s because we are free, and rich – as free people tend to be with capitalism. Even Bangkok would have survived this far, far easier.”
By all means, call Helicopter Ben. We have a $100M’s bombing run planned for Rangoon.

Posted by: Thatll Servum | May 12 2008 6:51 utc | 1

Ah that explains what happened in New Orleans I guess? the locals were all so free and rich under capitalism that they hardly noticed the hurricane, that’s why they didn’t need the government to provide any emergency drinking-water or food or evacuation vehicles let alone shelter. Also explains why the military was sent in not to save them but to shoot at them …. ’cause it wanted to enhance their hurricane-experience??

Posted by: parvati_roma | May 12 2008 7:29 utc | 2

Aw, gee-whiz, b — don’t they have mirages down there where it is so hot?
Also, things are so fugged up in the Muddled East that maybe — I’m saying just maybe — the sun is confused or maybe even had to take a detour while setting to avoid roadblocks or even IEDs!
All snark side, as usual, a good catch…

Posted by: Chuck Cliff | May 12 2008 10:15 utc | 3

Must be the same sunset that John Wayne watched at the end of “the Green Berets”.

Posted by: PetervE | May 12 2008 14:23 utc | 4

You have one too many “n”s in the title.

Posted by: IntelVet | May 12 2008 14:28 utc | 5

Well, it depends on whether you’re looking at a map or not on this one.
If you’re travelling from al-Khasab to Qeshm ( ie the Iranian Free Trade Zone, which begs the question of how much of this may actually be “real” smuggling ), depending on which part of the island you’re heading towards you’re going in an arc from due North to North West. If you’re heading towards the mainland around Bandar-e-Lengeh then you’re travelling West to West-North-West.
FWIW, the article doesn’t strike me as being remotely implausible in terms of its substance – although the headline “dangerous” is somewhat overwrought. It would be nice if the report actually quantified how “dangerous” it was by exploring the death/detention rates of the speedboat jockeys.
Then again, it’s hard to get that worked up when the smuggling involves nappies, fags and tea.

Posted by: dan | May 12 2008 14:42 utc | 6

@dan – I don’t have much quib with the article itself. But it was reporting from the ground in Khasab and there is no way the reporter could have seen the ships zipping into the sunset. (Unless he was on boat himself and miles out from the harbour.)
It makes a nice opening graph for the piece and maybe the editor slipped it in. Simply found it funny …

Posted by: b | May 12 2008 16:54 utc | 7

Heh.
I suppose the only thing that the article illuminates is the S-o-H incident of a couple of months ago when “Iranian” speedboats were supposed to have dumped “boxes” in the vicinity of a US naval ship – perhaps they were actually spooked Omani smugglers dumping tea instead!

Posted by: dan | May 12 2008 17:10 utc | 8

The link from Digital inspiration suggests that on Google blogs now surpass newspapers and magazines in readership (or ‘interest’) – see link for details, not terribly clear – anyway it is a trend, and is set to continue, one supposes.
Shows that ppl are turning away from the MSM, with all their resources and power. In a way it quite amazing, because blogs don’t, on the whole, furnish hard news (what was said in the Senate, how many deaths in China, Obama’s relation to pastor Wright, etc.) but discuss or question the MSM news – they take off from that base, those ‘facts.’
Exceptions exist, naturally, but they tend to be limited to ‘local’ or ‘individual’ or to those who use available sources, data freely available on the internet, which can easily be shut down or manipulated.
The big press agencies (Reuters, etc.) triage and create the news, often just as ‘spokesmen’, reporting what Gvmts. and the powerful tell them to, or what they think is suitable or will ‘sell’ or is ‘vital’ or ‘interesting’ which much of the time amounts to the same thing – works thru self-adjustment, self-censorship, fitting in, etc.
Interesting times.
link

Posted by: Tangerine | May 13 2008 14:19 utc | 9

Back to Main