AK-47 versus M-16. There are few more iconic examples of East versus West than these two individual weapons. Both of them are unique and not to be confused with any other rifle. Both of them are reflections of the nations that designed and produced them. The AK series also has the distinction of appearing on the national flags of several nations, and numerous male (and maybe even a few female) children were named "Kalash", in honor of Mikhail Kalashnikov, the designer of the original AK-47 and many other Soviet weapons.
The whole world is full of guns and weapons of every description. Rifles, pistols, shotguns, machine guns, rocket launchers, tanks, artillery, and explosives; you name it, chances are excellent that it is disintegrating something and/or someone, and/or putting holes into someone and/or something as you read these words. Although the U.S. seems to be the greatest villain in the world in this regard, some cursory research reveals that it was the Soviets and their successors that turned the world into a global shooting gallery.
Here are some rough production figures of some of the more common implements of war that are routinely seen in action these days in various parts of the world:
AK-47 and derivatives - 100 million+
M-16 and derivatives - <10 million
PK machine guns and derivatives - 2 million+
M60 machine guns and derivatives - 250,000+
RPG-7 and derivatives - 10,000,000+
M72 LAW, AT4, Carl Gustav - 2,000,000+
T-55, T-62, T-72 tank - 100,000+
M48, M60, M1 tank - 25,000+
So, it's fair to say that the Russians, and to a lesser extent, the Chinese, have armed the world to its teeth. Not counted are the millions of weapons from the WW2 era and before, which are just as deadly, and in some cases, even more so than some modern weapons.
It's not difficult to foresee the day when bank robbers here in the U.S., rather than relying on hoodies, badly-written stickup notes, and bulges in their pockets will graduate to belt-fed machine guns, RPG's and satchel charges to do their dirty work.
The seeming abundance of weapons and explosives in the Middle East isn't surprising. For example, shortly after the U.S. invaded Iraq and "Mission Accomplished" was declared, vast stores of Soviet-era weapons and ammunition were left unsecured at bunkers and ammo dumps that stretched over the horizon, fueling terrorism, insurgency and civil war for many, many years.
Although the U.S. is far behind the Russians in sheer production totals, that is misleading, as the U.S. historically has been reluctant to arm its "allies" with anything that said or implied "Made in USA", relying instead on securing Soviet-style arms from countries like Egypt and Israel and the open market to hide its hand, as if that is possible.
Comments
Which reminds me...what do you call a bouncer at a gay nightclub? A flame-thrower! Hahahahahah
Until you see that, you just don't have a feeling for just how much of that stuff is "out there."
In some of the immediate post-war footage, I also saw what appeared to be a small truck convoy full of what appeared to be Mauser 98-looking rifles, and I thought I'd be seeing them in Big 5 by now, lol.
I had a Marine LCpl in the last war, who tracked down the origins of an RPG round by its serial number.
Those guys are the true experts.
Nah, everyone is too chicken shit to need to be threatened by an actual weapon. All you need to rob a bank nowadays is harsh language. Good article though. Hey Michael got any stats on more modern tanks, like the A1 Abrams or T90s?
All countries should strive to keep all arms out of terrorists' hands!
"War is the terrorism of the rich; terrorism is the war of the poor."
~Leon Uris
So the problem - as is often the case - is how do you define "terrorist," and who does the defining?
After all, to the British in 1777 and later, the Americans were certainly terrorists - weren't they?
Of course, then you run into globalists and their politics; they are by no means opposed to using any kind of criminals(mafia, gangs) or terrorists(Hamas, Isis, Taliban) to achieve their ends, so that they can keep "plausible deniability" in their arsenal of untouchability.
Don't know what could truly stop it, except global surveillance by extremely ethical people intent on stopping as much bloodshed as humanly possible. But there are the deaths-head cults who know that the only way you make REAL money is by killing people - and the usual math is "more dead people - mo' money." Ask Skull and Bones members - oh, wait, they're sworn to secrecy.
I think the U.S. produced about 9500 M1's over the years, while the figures for the T-90 are unknown to me. The Russians aren't churning out tanks and other hardware like their Soviet predecessors any more, and seem to have embraced a "quality over quantity" approach, which is approx. 180 degrees from their previous philosophy.
Most people in conflict countries might be able to buy American made weapons if they had the money, but usually they don't and look for support from other countries. China and Russia have been quite willing to cozy up and supply lots of those entities with arms in order to help them develop a good political relationship with them.
Russia and China's agendas are very different from the US and so are the nature of who they are willing and often quite happy to arm.
Anyone know where I can find a stash of old Teller mines?
How about a Penn minesweeper?
Here is a link to "teller mine for sale." It appears you will have to provide your very own boom materiel.
i'll expect tanks, you know...
I think it was just the NTC/MEFEX/CAX flashbacks . . . .
Nawww...it went much deeper than that, lol.
"About 15 years ago, I would have directed you to Mogadishu or Yemen . . . ."
I'm not sure how you meant that, but I'll consider it a compliment! John, you're a decent gentleman to the core, and I'm always appreciative of your comments and insights. Next to Bill Kamps and Stephen Hunter, you guys are models of sanity and reason here!