On Sun, 20 Feb 2022 22:14:49 +0000, Phil Kitching
<xxxxxx@btinternet.com> wrote:

>I’m currently unhappy with the people writing training courses at work.
>They have a tendency to set questions based on their own unique English
>dictionary. (Their other trick is to write something vague and only accept
>their interpretation.)

In recent years - perhaps recent decades - this sort of "Humpty-Dumpty"
(bonus points for recognizing the reference) abuse of language (and
thought) has spread west from the former Soviet Union. It now pretty much
pervades society from top to bottom.

>I doubt you’re interested in that, but their latest definition is
>“embargo”, which the internet seems to agree is a restriction on trade and
>they think is a complete ban on all trade.

It's a bit more nuanced than either of those definitions, but closer to the
the "restriction" definition than to the "complete ban" definition.

Generally, when an "embargo" is imposed on trade with an entity, the entity
imposing the embargo is defining what trade it will permit (or not) between
the imposing entity and the target entity, for whatever reasons seem good
to the imposing entity. Thus, the Sylean Federation may embargo trade in
weapons or other military technology with the Chanestin Kingdom, but may
have nothing to say about trade in foodstuffs, grav vehicles of 1G thrust
or less, or computers of computer/1 capability or less. It may also require
that sales of embargoed goods to purchasers other than the Chanestin
Kingdom not be sold on _to_ the Chanestins (under pain of being placed
under similar embargo), but otherwise says nothing about other entities
selling their own goods or technology to the Chanestins.

The embargo may in fact be a complete ban on trade, as the United States
vs. Castro's Cuba. That didn't stop (e.g.) Canada from trading with Cuba.

"Secondary Embargoes" are also a thing, though currently banned by
"international law" (don't get me started on that misnomer). An example of
a secondary embargo was when the Arab states would refuse to do business
with any company that did business with the State of Israel.

"Blockades" are somewhat different, and are generally considered an act of
war against the targetted entity by the imposing entity. In a blockade, the
imposing entity is not only not trading with the targetted entity (a
complete embargo), but is also preventing _by force_ the targetted entity
from trading with _any_ other entity.

>Strange then that it takes the UK government 310 pages to define what is
>included in an arms embargo (the UK doesn’t actually have any embargoes on
>all trade).

This isn't strange at all, given the correct definition of "embargo"; what
the three-hundred-odd pages appear to be doing is not defining _embargo_,
but defining _arms_ for the purpose of declaring an "arms embargo".

>Naturally, as I was perusing this list (it’s the internet, of course
>looking up the word “embargo” involves following links), I wondered if
>someone else might be interested in a list of things the governments might
>not want ethical merchants freely transporting between places.
>
>https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1052560/uk-strategic-export-control-lists.pdf

I suspect that this document doesn't tell the whole story, any more than
the equivalent US documents do. Export control can be a complicated
subject, where some regulations may apply to exports of some but not all
goods to one entity but not another, or different regulations may apply to
different goods or entities under different circumstances. For the United
States, you can find the surface evidence of the rabbit warren at
https://research.ncsu.edu/administration/compliance/research-compliance/export-controls/export-controlled-items/
and https://www.bis.doc.gov/index.php - it doesn't take more than a couple
of clicks from either to realize that it's not a trivial subject...

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