North Korea’s sanctions evasion points way for Russians to bypass the west

Aaron Arnold, a counter-proliferation expert who has served both in the US government and on the UN panel monitoring North Korean sanctions violations, noted Iran’s unhappy experience of attempting a “bartering system with China that was basically oil for goods”. “Iran soon found itself awash in Chinese goods that it neither needed nor wanted,” said Arnold. “Displacing economic activity to China may alleviate some sectors, but not the economy in its entirety.”