60th Anniversary of Kalashnikov rifle

by ryan | July 6, 2007 at 08:18 am

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A strange anniversary to acknowledge but no less significant significant in terms of world events. The history of the Kalashnikov rifle is perhaps the history of modern warfare and its current popularity amongst the terrorists of the world speaks to the new battle front where governments confront men in the streets armed simply with a Kalashnikov rifle.

The man who created the Kalashnikov automatic rifle exactly 60 years ago said on Friday his conscience was clear, even though his invention has been used to kill many thousands of people.

Mikhail Kalashnikov was a young tank commander recovering in hospital from injuries sustained in World War Two when he took a child's notebook and sketched out the design that would later become the AK-47.

Sixty years later, the rifle is the weapon of choice for many -- be they Iraqi insurgents, Venezuela's military or African child soldiers in T-shirts and flip-flops. Between 50 and 80 million have been produced and they even feature on the flag of Mozambique.

The effect of the Kalashnikov on world affairs is clear, it was caused the deaths of innumerable people, but the inventor doesn't take the blame rather blames the user.

"Some people say how can you sleep at night, because of your work so many people have died?'" 87-year-old Kalashnikov told reporters at an event at Moscow's Armed Forces Museum to mark his weapon's 60th anniversary.

"I tell them I sleep fine. It is politicians that are to blame because they fail to come to agreement and instead resolve their problems with violence," he said.

"I created the weapon at the time of World War Two, when we had to defeat the most powerful enemy, Fascist Germany ... I created this weapon so it could be used to defend the borders of our country."

But Kalashnikov wasn't motivated by the money.

"People say: 'If you lived in the West you would have been a multi-millionaire by now.'"

"They get hung up on the green stuff, on dollars. But are there not other valuable things in life? Which of the Western weapons makers can say that a bronze statue of them has been built in their home village?"