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Syria Buys Dell PCs Despite Sanctions
puddingebola writes with a New York Times article about how mundane PC equipment — not just more esoteric and eyebrow-raising network monitoring equipment from Blue Coat — makes its way to Syria: "Large amounts of computer equipment from Dell have been sold to the Syrian government through a Dubai-based distributor despite strict trade sanctions intended to ban the selling of technology to the regime, according to documents obtained by The New York Times. The disclosure of the computer sales is the latest example of how the Syrian government has managed to acquire technology, some of which is used to censor Internet activity and track opponents of the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad."
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10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
Anonymous Coward, I'm disappointed in you.
Dubai is a shining paragon of cooperation between east and west! A city where the venerable traditions of enlightened liberalism and individula rights of the middle east can come together with the honesty and fundamental decency of the west's finest financial services providers. Truly, a model for us all.
where's the news in that? and what the fuck does this even have to do with Dell?
If you work for a big US company, you get to take an education course once a year on US export regulations. Along with the courses on sexual harassment and business ethics. Basically, the US government grants a waiver and lets companies do their own export control. This means that a US company does not need to do paperwork and receive an approval from the US government every time it wants to ship a pencil somewhere in the world. And, yes, the company is also responsible for ensuring that any of their goods do not pass through third parties to countries on the restricted list.
Now if the government decides that the company is not abiding by the restrictions, including business by a third party, the government cancels the waiver. This means that the company needs paperwork and approval for anything shipped anywhere by the company. So your company's business grinds to halt. That is why it matters to Dell.
This also applies to US bribery laws. In the US, it is illegal to bribe government officials. In other parts of the world, bribery is business as usual. So US companies used to hire "consultants" when applying for contracts in foreign countries. The "consultant" received a lump sum of money, and could spend it however needed to close a deal. Including bribery. Now, US law applies to this as well. A US company hiring a "consultant" in this way could be charged with bribery for this now.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
Flood Syria's government with Dell's. After a month, when the first 99% break, the entire government will be online with two Indian technical support technicians who will both try and get *them* to take apart their own machines even though they purchased the "premium" support package.
The regime will fall within weeks. My compliments to the CIA operative who suggested this.
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
Couldn't the Syrians just buy PCs directly from China?