4 ms·

This is a big banner ad for the US State Department that says in 100 point font, we are too stupid to figure out ways to actually effectively constrain our enem

This is a big banner ad for the US State Department that says in 100 point font, we are too stupid to figure out ways to actually effectively constrain our enemies, so we will settle for symbolic gestures that will screw American commercial interests, and accomplish nothing. Stupidity of the highest order. Xeon chips can be sourced by using an intermediary that orders them for some other "legitimate" use. E.g., you go find some company in Germany that makes servers for data centers, and order X amount of Xeon servers from them through an intermediary. There is no way to stop your adversaries from getting commodities that go into the general flow of commerce. The fact that the US State Department does this indicates that they don't understand the way the world works, more than anything else.

13 12y ago
Both parties affected know that. Lots of things in the world are simply symbolic.
joshuapants 12y ago
> Xeon chips can be sourced by using an intermediary That was my first thought, there's nothing stopping them from getting them from a middleman. I guess it would drive up the cost of acquiring them.
transfire 12y ago
> constrain our enemies Well there is problem el numero uno, seeing everyone as an enemy.
- undersuit 12y ago
  Whitelists are always easier if you're OK with false positives.
- cmelbye 12y ago
  They are now actively sponsoring attacks against private corporations that (indirectly) assist Chinese citizens in circumventing blanket information censorship imposed by the government. I'm not a fan of making enemies either, but that sure doesn't sound friendly to me.
anigbrowl 12y ago
Yes, but watching whose order books suddenly expand in proportion to the size of the blocked channels provides intelligence about who those intermediaries might be, which is likely the real purpose.
- fnordfnordfnord 12y ago
  Huh? Wouldn't it have been simpler just to have Intel give the information? Blocking US interests from selling the components to the Chinese super folks won't stop some other Chinese supplier from shifting them over there. It's not as though we're going to stop selling (or manufacturing) Xeons outside the continental US.
  - anigbrowl 12y ago
    That's not what I meant. If you block the supercomputer center from buying Xeons directly, then seeing who else places orders to take up the slack for the project tells you something valuable about who has relationships with the Chinese defense establishment. It's not that we care about controlling access to Xeons, which are easy enough to buy, but that we'd like to understand Chinese defense procurement supply chains to a greater degree than we do.
walshemj 12y ago
ah no I recall receiving kit (a 300mb drive) back in the late 70's that came with a whole wodge of paperwork promising all sorts of penalties if we resold it to a number of other named states. The same would apply today reselling things on the banned list to unapproved states.

13 12y ago

Both parties affected know that. Lots of things in the world are simply symbolic.

joshuapants 12y ago

> Xeon chips can be sourced by using an intermediary That was my first thought, there's nothing stopping them from getting them from a middleman. I guess it would drive up the cost of acquiring them.

transfire 12y ago

> constrain our enemies Well there is problem el numero uno, seeing everyone as an enemy.

undersuit 12y ago
Whitelists are always easier if you're OK with false positives.
cmelbye 12y ago
They are now actively sponsoring attacks against private corporations that (indirectly) assist Chinese citizens in circumventing blanket information censorship imposed by the government. I'm not a fan of making enemies either, but that sure doesn't sound friendly to me.

anigbrowl 12y ago

Yes, but watching whose order books suddenly expand in proportion to the size of the blocked channels provides intelligence about who those intermediaries might be, which is likely the real purpose.

fnordfnordfnord 12y ago
Huh? Wouldn't it have been simpler just to have Intel give the information? Blocking US interests from selling the components to the Chinese super folks won't stop some other Chinese supplier from shifting them over there. It's not as though we're going to stop selling (or manufacturing) Xeons outside the continental US.
- anigbrowl 12y ago
  That's not what I meant. If you block the supercomputer center from buying Xeons directly, then seeing who else places orders to take up the slack for the project tells you something valuable about who has relationships with the Chinese defense establishment. It's not that we care about controlling access to Xeons, which are easy enough to buy, but that we'd like to understand Chinese defense procurement supply chains to a greater degree than we do.

walshemj 12y ago

ah no I recall receiving kit (a 300mb drive) back in the late 70's that came with a whole wodge of paperwork promising all sorts of penalties if we resold it to a number of other named states. The same would apply today reselling things on the banned list to unapproved states.