Comments on: Sanctions Sought Against Companies Providing Telcom Equipment to Iran http://www.exportlawblog.com/archives/524 Latest News on DDTC, BIS, OFAC, and other export law matters Fri, 10 Feb 2012 10:06:23 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: Clif Burns http://www.exportlawblog.com/archives/524/comment-page-1#comment-43523 Clif Burns Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:30:25 +0000 http://www.exportlawblog.com/?p=524#comment-43523 <blockquote>That interception is an inherent capacity of networking has been true since the first telegraph systems.</blockquote> Which gives me the opportunity to reference one of my favorite scenes in one of my favorite books <i>Le Comte de Monte-Cristo</i>. That scene being the one where Edmond Dantès forcefully takes over a telegraph station in order to send a false signal that leads to the financial ruin of Danglars. People forget that in the early days, there were telegraph operators in relay stations that had the task of retransmitting messages that they received.

That interception is an inherent capacity of networking has been true since the first telegraph systems.

Which gives me the opportunity to reference one of my favorite scenes in one of my favorite books Le Comte de Monte-Cristo. That scene being the one where Edmond Dantès forcefully takes over a telegraph station in order to send a false signal that leads to the financial ruin of Danglars. People forget that in the early days, there were telegraph operators in relay stations that had the task of retransmitting messages that they received.

]]> By: Hillbilly http://www.exportlawblog.com/archives/524/comment-page-1#comment-43511 Hillbilly Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:38:15 +0000 http://www.exportlawblog.com/?p=524#comment-43511 That interception is an inherent capacity of networking has been true since the first telegraph systems. It would take a level of encryption that is already prohibited in order to prevent communications over a network to be immune from the network operator. If we truly want the Mullahs to fall, then the US Government ought to do every thing it can to foster communications and information with and within Iran. Its well worth noting that the only two surviving Communist dictatorships were and are also the objects of the most comprehensive trade embargoes. Trade and travel embargoes protect despots, who always use them to their advantage in order to isolate their population from the outside world, thereby suppressing a major cause of dissatisfaction and dissent. Trade embargoes also cut us off from potential sources of human intelligence: Just last week in an interview on NPR I heard Nick Burns crying that we had no good sources of intelligence in Iran because American business had not been present for 30 years. I wish he had had that epiphany while he was at State. That interception is an inherent capacity of networking has been true since the first telegraph systems. It would take a level of encryption that is already prohibited in order to prevent communications over a network to be immune from the network operator. If we truly want the Mullahs to fall, then the US Government ought to do every thing it can to foster communications and information with and within Iran. Its well worth noting that the only two surviving Communist dictatorships were and are also the objects of the most comprehensive trade embargoes. Trade and travel embargoes protect despots, who always use them to their advantage in order to isolate their population from the outside world, thereby suppressing a major cause of dissatisfaction and dissent. Trade embargoes also cut us off from potential sources of human intelligence: Just last week in an interview on NPR I heard Nick Burns crying that we had no good sources of intelligence in Iran because American business had not been present for 30 years. I wish he had had that epiphany while he was at State.

]]> By: Clif Burns http://www.exportlawblog.com/archives/524/comment-page-1#comment-39039 Clif Burns Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:14:24 +0000 http://www.exportlawblog.com/?p=524#comment-39039 I agree that secondary boycotts are lousy policy. They also arguably violate our WTO obligations. The E.U. raised that claim about certain provisions of Helms-Burton which we resolved by a promise from the Clinton Administration not to enforce them. I agree that secondary boycotts are lousy policy. They also arguably violate our WTO obligations. The E.U. raised that claim about certain provisions of Helms-Burton which we resolved by a promise from the Clinton Administration not to enforce them.

]]> By: Ex-OFAC http://www.exportlawblog.com/archives/524/comment-page-1#comment-39030 Ex-OFAC Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:57:46 +0000 http://www.exportlawblog.com/?p=524#comment-39030 Clif -- Congressional passage of a secondary boycott on companies who have done business with our "enemies" (where no U.S. players or exports are involved) is lousy policy, and certainly does nothing to advance U.S. national security or foreign policy interests toward Iran. Jawboning is one thing, and we should be using our diplomatic might on all fronts, but legislating against foreign sales that may not be so different from what our U.S. companies sell abroad and domestically seems quite shortsighted. Clif — Congressional passage of a secondary boycott on companies who have done business with our “enemies” (where no U.S. players or exports are involved) is lousy policy, and certainly does nothing to advance U.S. national security or foreign policy interests toward Iran. Jawboning is one thing, and we should be using our diplomatic might on all fronts, but legislating against foreign sales that may not be so different from what our U.S. companies sell abroad and domestically seems quite shortsighted.

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