From a blog….

Although American intelligence and government sources are maintaining a strictly observed silence, the same does not apply to the Russians and so it is that we learn the real story of the MV Iran Deyanat. She was an enormous floating dirty bomb, intended to detonate after exiting the Suez Canal at the eastern end of the Mediterranean and in proximity to the coastal cities of Israel. The entire cargo of radioactive sand, obtained by Iran from China (the latter buys desperately needed oil from the former) and sealed in containers which, when the charges on the ship are set off after the crew took to the boats, will be blasted high into the air where prevailing winds will push the highly dangerous and radioactive cloud ashore.

I don’t know if I buy this, but the news blackout regarding this ship is starting to make me paranoid.

Edit: This comment makes more sense to me given what has been reported…..

“Radioactive sand?” This sounds like a load of monazite of which China has plenty. Monazite ‘sand’ is a source of rare earth metals, and was probably being shipped to Iran for processing there into F.C.C., fluid cracking catalyst, which is necessary for converting heavy crudes to fluid oil. The load may even have been one of rare earth oxide (REO) concentrates produced from monazite sands. In either case the sand or the concentrates made from it could and most likely would contain radioactive thorium, which is always found associated with the rare earths in monazite. Interestingly enough thorium is now being researched in China, India, Russia, and Norway for use as a nonproliferative nuclear fuel. Perhaps the Iranians were going to extract it also for such research?

The truth is usually boring.

From Abu Muqawama…..

Why was this story not reported from Afghanistan? Because it is well understood by the journalists who cover Afghanistan that reporting on the connection between Karzai and the drug trade is a good way to get you (the Western journalist) thrown out of the country and all your local staff either killed or thrown in prison. For quite some time now, major Western news sources have been struggling to figure out some way to both report the story while at the same time ensuring the safety of their local staffs. (Talk about ethical dilemmas…) The New York Times was the first to find the solution by filing a report that drew primarily upon sources within the DEA and the Department of State but not to a significant degree upon the reporting of its staff in Afghanistan. (Carlotta Gall only ‘contributed reporting’ from Kabul. For her part, she wins Abu Muqawama’s Team Player award for letting this story be filed under James Risen’s byline.)

This story got told because the people at New York Times really wanted it told. But a lot of stories are not told for very reasons that New York Times played games with its bylines. The threat of violence and prospect of losing access to key players has kept a lot of stories from the light of day for a long time.

From Fox News…

A British gardener’s local council has ordered him to remove a 3-foot high barbed wire fence around his property in case thieves hurt themselves on it, the Daily Mail reported Thursday.

Bill Malcolm, 61, installed the wire at his Worcester property after burglars robbed his tool shed and vegetable plots three times in four months, stealing more than $500 worth of hardware.