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DevoidHT t1_j6j3tbg wrote

Reply to comment by Yelmel in Millions of computer chips from Dutch manufacturers wound up in Russia: Report by the01crow

The most glaring issue of free market economies. If you sell to one person, you’re selling to everyone. There’s always someone that is willing to skirt sanctions to make a quick buck.

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Flatus_Diabolic t1_j6k9olg wrote

Greed isn't always the reason.

Iran, NK, Russia, and lots of other heavily sanctioned countries just create front companies overseas to buy the goods they need.

I knew a guy worked for a company waaaay back in the day that sold a couple of supercomputers to a Western European company that did meteorological simulation.

A few months later, the feds were crawling all over them because those computers had inexplicably ended up in totally different country and were being used for nuclear weapons research.

I guess, maybe in the excitement to make a big sale, someone didn't do their due diligence as well as they should have, but this front company wasn't exactly a couple of post office boxes and an empty building somewhere, either.

It had all the relevant legal paperwork and finances to say they were legit, everything checked out, so why not sell to them?

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killerhurtalot t1_j6l7l06 wrote

Sounds like greed to me. That's just a feature of capitalism...

When you have the resources of nation states, you can easily make shell companies to buy whatever you want.

Just look at how the US bought most of the titanium used for the SR71 blackbird from Russia lol.

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Yelmel t1_j6j7ie6 wrote

Well, yes apparently on this sanctions regime, but you see very effective solutions out there. Take NAFTA import duty-free terms and conditions (I'm a career functionary) as an example.

You have a penalties associated with breaches of the trade rules, and the income from the penalties are respendable revenue to bolster the auditing programs. So catching these guys is not just a slap on the wrist, it's a slap on the wrist, a hit to the pocket, and a guarantee that they'll be back for more. Those assholes wanting to risk making a quick buck end up paying the enforcement cost. Ask a Canadian or American about cross-border purchasing. If they do it, they know the rules, and they follow them.

We should not throw our hands in the air and give up.

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moknine1189 t1_j6jy3sb wrote

Glad I read til the last sentence, exactly my sentiment. Thanks for the laugh.

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