American and British Media Hypocrisy Is Eagerly at Work in Blaming Newly Deceased Mikhail Kalashnikov for the Deaths His Rifle Caused — Conveniently Forgetting Our Unparalleled Role in Dispensing Destruction around the World

© 2013 Peter Free

 

23 December 2013

 

 

There is nothing quite like hypocritical nitwits to arouse the contempt of thoughtful people

 

Mikhail Kalashnikov died today.  Designer of the AK-47 assault rifle.  Arguably the most reliable and least expensive weapon of its type ever made.

 

Predictably self-righteous news writers focused on “Comrade” Kalashnikov’s refusal to be blamed for inventing a weapon to keep his then Soviet homeland free from outside aggressors, just after it survived the never before equaled blood bath that World War II’s Eastern Front represented.

 

Representative were these two blurbs, the first from ABC News:

 

 

Mikhail Kalashnikov started out wanting to make farm equipment, but the harvest he reaped was one of blood as the designer of the AK-47 assault rifle, the world's most popular firearm.

 

It was the carnage of World War II, when Nazi Germany overran much of the Soviet Union, which altered his course and made his name as well-known for bloodshed as Smith, Wesson and Colt. The distinctive shape of the gun, often called "a Kalashnikov," appeared on revolutionary flags and adorns memorabilia.

 

"I sleep well. It's the politicians who are to blame for failing to come to an agreement and resorting to violence," he told The Associated Press in 2007.

 

The AK-47 — "Avtomat Kalashnikov" and the year it went into production — is the world's most popular firearm, favored by guerrillas, terrorists and the soldiers of many armies. An estimated 100 million guns are spread worldwide.

 

© 2013 Jim Heintz, Rifle Designer Mikhail Kalashnikov Dead at 94, ABC News (23 December 2013)

 

The BBC couldn’t resist the same idiotic theme:

 

 

In 1938, [Mikhail Kalashnikov] was called up by the Red Army and his design skills were used to improve the effectiveness of weapons and equipment used by Soviet tank regiments.

 

He designed the machine gun after being asked by a fellow soldier why the Russians could not come up with a gun that would match the ones used by the Germans.

 

Work on the AK47 was completed in 1947, and two years later the gun was adopted by the Soviet army.

 

Kalashnikov continued working into his late 80s as chief designer at the Izhevsk firm that first built the AK-47.

 

He received many state honours, including the Order of Lenin and the Hero of Socialist Labour.

 

Kalashnikov refused to accept responsibility for the many people killed by his weapon, blaming the policies of other countries that acquired it.

 

However, pride in his invention was tempered with sadness at its use by criminals and child soldiers.

 

"It is painful for me to see when criminal elements of all kinds fire from my weapon," Kalashnikov said in 2008.

 

© 2013 Jonathan Marcus, AK47 assault rifle designer Kalashnikov dies at 94, BBC News (23 December 2013)

 

 

Mikhail Kalashnikov’s patriotic perspective

 

Americans and Brits both arguably owe their survival as free nations to the Soviet Union’s defense of itself during World War II.

 

In the Battle of Stalingrad, alone, the Soviets lost very nearly three times more people than the United States did in the entirety of World War II.

 

On the Eastern Front, from 22 June 1941 through 05 May 1945, the Soviet Union, by itself, wrapped up most of Hitler’s might.  And the United States, as a matter of policy, left that Communist power to swing in the wind.  Thirty million people died.

 

 

In 2013, don’t lecture Mikhail Kalashnikov for his contribution to his people

 

Especially when the United States is the world’s largest weapons exporter and equally one of its most feared imperialists.

 

America is the nation that firebombed Germany and Japan and remains the only nation to use nuclear weapons to extinguish about two hundred thousand people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

 

The disproportion between what Kalashnikov did in designing a weapon to defend his people and what the United States did and continues to do (think drones) makes implied criticism of the AK designer morally ludicrous.

 

 

The moral? — If you are going criticize, get the facts and moral perspective correct

 

The West weakens its moral standing with the hypocrisy it spews at nearly every turn.