Wow, who'd have thought that employees wouldn't want to accept a transfer that locks them into a one-way move to another country? A country where IBM, a company that lays off workers in every market condition, will not be beholden to WARN-style laws? A country where the prevailing pay rate for the position would make returning to America incredibly (or impossibly) costly without people here to put you up until you get back on your feet? Yeah, I can see why few people would take up such a "great" opportunity.

NPR Has a story about how hard it was to recreate moon rover tires. In short, if it wasn't for an old engineer breaking regulations and keeping one in his closet at home, NASA would have had to start over from zero.

You're probably familiar with the more-expensive and higher-grade fuel that's readily available in the first world. To quote Wikipedia:

1-K Kerosene is more easily available in bulk than lamp oil in most countries and is typically much cheaper. However, kerosene contains more impurities such as sulfur and aromatic hydrocarbons than lamp oil. Kerosene obtained from filling stations is more likely to be contaminated with water than kerosene obtained in prepackaged containers. The odors produced by burning kerosene in wick lamps can be quite objectionable indoors.

This is more likely what's being used in countries mentioned in the article.