Originally Posted by MontyB

But if these parts are dual use there is very little that can be done about it, it would be a pretty hard world if we decided Iranians can't take family photos or buy washing machines on the off chance that they bolt them into drones or reprogram them for missiles.

I don't think it is correct to say ( as did George ) that Russia was relegated to beg equipment from NK and Iran .
There is no proof that Russia received equipment from NK.
There is no proof that Russia was begging .
The Iranian equipment is not inferior: a big part of it has western parts .
Russia is also buying ( and SELLING ) war material from/to Turkey .Turkish exports to Russia have doubled in one year .
Russia bought ( still is buying ?) war material from Spain, France, Germany, Italy ,....Belgium is now importing more (financially ) from Russia .
For all these countries ,the Ukrainian war is an ideal occasion to do business and to make money ,as it always was and as it always will be .
There is a lot of hypocrisy in the claims that we (=the average citizen,wounded by covid and inflation ) should give a big part of his remaining money for free to Ukraine .

Originally Posted by MontyB

But if these parts are dual use there is very little that can be done about it, it would be a pretty hard world if we decided Iranians can't take family photos or buy washing machines on the off chance that they bolt them into drones or reprogram them for missiles.

During the time of sanctions on Iraq, X Boxes were banned from being sent there. Apparently in the 90s the X Box had more computing power than the Mainframes that sent Apollo to the Moon!

Originally Posted by George

During the time of sanctions on Iraq, X Boxes were banned from being sent there. Apparently in the 90s the X Box had more computing power than the Mainframes that sent Apollo to the Moon!

Hehe I think most cellphones have more power these days.
But yes there are a huge number of military/civilian items out there (diesel and fertiliser spring to mind), they can't all be banned.