10-01-2009, 07:55 PM
<a class='bbc_url' href='http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,652043,00.html'>News Link</a>
Quote:It produces the most popular automatic rifles in the world but the company that makes the Kalashnikov, or AK-47, is in trouble. It has had to deal with a slump in arms exports and competition from the makers of copycat versions around the world. Now a shady businessman has filed bankruptcy proceedings against the company.
Even in his old age, Mikhail Kalashnikov still worries about the invention that defined his life. At a conference on the 60th anniversary of the weapon that he invented in 1947 -- the Avtomatni Kalashnikova (Automatic of Kalashnikov) or AK-47 -- the elderly weapons designer, who is still chief designer for the state controlled company that makes the guns, lamented that, "there are counterfeits all around the world now which are plainly not of the same quality as the Russian example."
The legendary Kalashnikov is a Russian export success story. The guns are used by 60 armies worldwide, account for up to 80 percent of all assault rifles and are known as the weapon of choice for terrorist groups and rebel movements. But the Izhmash Arms factory in the central Russian city of Izhevsk, where Kalashnikovs are manufactured, has long been concerned about forgeries.
Quote:Â5 hours ago Mavenu hm. I guess I shouldn't point out that Max Barry's not even from America, but is an Australian?
4 hours ago NationStates Moderators When did actual facts or logic have anything to do with idiot spammers?
Change comes not when some group of radical seizes power, thatââ¬â¢s just a shift at the top. It comes when Mr. And Mrs. Ordinary make a stand. When the cake shop owner and teacher and the bearer boy come together and say, ââ¬ËThey are not afraid,ââ¬â¢ anymore.
Monica Whitlock ââ¬â BBC ââ¬ÅFrom our own Correspondentââ¬Â
Nov 7/05 ââ¬â in reference to actions in Uzbekistan, May 2005.
