In order to pressure the government of Country S to become less repressive, some legislators in Country R want to ban all exports from R to S. Companies in R that manufacture telecommunication equipment such as telephones and fax machines have argued that exports of their products should be exempted from the ban, on the ground that it is impossible for a country to remain repressive when telecommunication equipment is widely available to the population of that country.

Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument given by the manufacturers depends?

(A) The government of S has recently increased the amount of telecommunication equipment it allows to be imported into the country.
(B) The telecommunication equipment that would be imported into S if the exemption were to be granted would not be available solely to top development officials in S.
(C) A majority of the members of R’s legislature do not favor exempting telecommunication equipment from the ban on exports to Country S.
(D) Of all exports that could be sent to Country S, telecommunication equipment would be the most effective in helping citizens of S oppose that country’s repressive government.
(E) Without pressure from Country R, the government of S would be able to continue repressing its citizens indefinitely.

B should do the trick.

Conclusion: If telecom eqipment is available to the "population of the country", the govt cannot be repressive. Define population.
If population = Govt officials only; Then the argument of telecom people is in trouble.
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"To dream anything that you want to dream, that is the beauty of the human mind. To do anything that you want to do, that is the strength of the human will. To trust yourself, to test your limits, that is the courage to succeed."

- Bernard Edmonds

I'd like to know why D couldn't be the answer, since it states that telecom equipment is the most effective in helping citizens oppose that government. The manufacturer says that their equipment would be widely available to the population (i.e., referring to the citizens)

D for me
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IE IMBA 2010

B for me.

Telecommunications equipment doesn't necessarily have to be the most effective in helping citizens of S oppose that country’s repressive government.

You have to able to assume every single word in the correct answer choice, and the language in D seems too strong.

OA?

Vow!! Good Question. B is tricky.
I first went for D. But, later came to B.
I think that D is not a mandatory assumption. It says that telecommunication equipment is the most effective to deal with repression. But, there could be other equipment who also deal with repression. We could exempt them too. But, we need to exempt telecommunication equipment because it reaches masses.