Hidden in Plain Sight

Hmmm. A Chinese national uses US banks to sell nuclear materials to Iran? Better put that story on page A19 in the "local & regional news section:"Indictment Says Banned Materials Sold to Iran:

Prosecutors in New York have charged a Chinese businessman and his company with a conspiracy relating to the sale of sensitive materials to Iran, covert transactions that prosecutors say violatedUnited Nations bans aimed at restraining Tehran’s rocket and nuclear ambitions.

According to an indictment unsealed in Manhattan on Tuesday, the Chinese company sold tungsten, high-strength steels and exotic metals to the Defense Industries Organization, an arm of the Iranian military, from 2006 to 2008, often using shell companies to hide the transactions. Both Defense Industries and the Chinese parent company, the Limmt Economic and Trade Company, are banned by the Treasury Department from doing business in the United States.

The joke's on us, of course. The front-page is for stories about how China is a non-proliferator, US banks are not conduits for fraud, globalization doesn't encourage black market sales of nuclear proliferation, and our own intelligence services have proclaimed that Iran is not seeking nuclear materials. Expect shocked expressions of surprise when Iran unveils its nuclear capability similar to those heard upon the revelation of the AIG bonuses.

We know the truth, and yet it is hidden in plain sight.