"Sightseeing in Oman? You Mustn't Miss the Smugglers," by Otto Pohl, New York Times, 9 July, p. A4.
Nice story on all the smuggling that goes on with Iran, making a lot of Persian Gulf pirates happy. When an authoritarian regime like the one that took over Iran in 1979 comes to power, inevitably there springs up a huge smuggling industry to help the disconnected population gain access to goods they can't otherwise access. Every once in a while Iran actually signs a legitimate trade-opening deal with the outside world that decimates the smugglers' trade, like the one it signed with international cigarette companies in 2002. But by and large the mullahs try their best to regulate the population's access to damn near everything—lest too much connectivity emerge with the corrupt global economy. Meanwhile, the pirates and smugglers thrive.
When you choose to live outside the global economic rule set, you necessarily survive by relying extensively on those who likewise ignore the rules. Pretty simple really: live down with dogs and get up with fleas.
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