Jane’s Intelligence Review, via Burmese (Myanmar) news website Irrawaddy, reports that the United Wa State Army (UWSA) rebels in northern Burma have begun manufacturing AK-47s and ammunition for themselves and to sell to their allies in the region.
Burma (From Wikipedia)
Like the Taliban their arms revenue supplements their drug income. Previously they had been purchasing arms from China and then reselling to other rebel groups.
Comment Policy: I reserve the right to remove comments at my discretion. Think of comment threads like a dinner party at someone's house. If you make the party unpleasant for others or me, you won't be invited back. I am happy to tolerate a wide range of viewpoints, even extreme ones, but I'm not going to tolerate nastiness, rudeness, trolling, vitriol, or excessive snarkiness toward the author(s) or other commenters. You may make your case passionately, but civility is expected. Please stay on topic and respect the technical nature of this blog.
Spam Filtering: To avoid spam, comments are filtered using Akismet and then manually approved. Do not be alarmed if you comment does not appear instantly. I do not check the spam folder more than once per day.
Where ever you go, there will be someone making weapons and ammo legally or illegally. It can’t be stop because firearms are simple technology. They are simple mechanical device.
I have seen kids as young as eight assembling weapons. Nothing wrong with that, it builds characters and good working habits.
The whole illegal small arms trade has blown out of portion by Hollywood and the UN. The problem isn’t guns the problem is the lack of leadership in those third world countries. Most deaths came from blade and blunt weapons.
Heavy weapons on the other hand are a different matter.
are the wa related to the karen? or are they another oppressed ethnic group, or are these the oppressors?
Q: I wonder how they manufacture the barrels? Finding decent enough steel to cut on a lathe must be the hardest part.
-g
compare with the so-called “khyber pass copies”. Like what wikipedia says, “The quality of such rifles varies widely, ranging from “as good as a factory-produced example” to “dangerously unsafe”.” Guess it would be the same for these, “North Burma copies”.