I think the Cold War regulations against technology export should be reviewed and strenghtend, and enforced.
There are two reasons for this.
>>The first is stopping the major adversaries from getting technology, and stretching their technology budget.
Especially against Russia.
While these export regulations don't work perfectly, they do slow down potential adversaries. While the Russians can certaily get any dozen items you name, with thousands of items, there is a considerable work load for their lower level technolgy acquisiton people, which results in bueracracy and delay.
For smaller countries will fewer resources, the delays can be considerable.
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>The second reason is more immediate - there are lots of "dual use" technologies that can be used by very small countries to make or enhance major weapons at a low budget.
Examples would be night vision and infrared devices, high performance GPS, electronic intelligence, etc.
There are many places like Kurdistan, Bolivia, East Timor / Indonesia, North Korea, Burma, Sudan, a bunch of West African nations, etc. that no permanent member of the security council wants to have a blank check for weapons. Includes everyones favorite, Zimbabwe.
By the way, all the regulations are online, so if you have the time, you can see what they are. Most are pretty sensible. |