Keep it simple, Kalashnikov!

Mikhail Kalashnikov, the inventor of the famous rifle bearing his name will turn 90 next month and thus, perhaps thought that it was suitable time to preach some morality. "I created this weapon primarily to safeguard our fatherland," he decried "criminal" use of his rifle. According to Reuters, in a videotaped address to "a conference of Russian arms traders and designers at a top-secret Soviet-era arms testing facility outside Moscow" he said that it was painful for him to see when criminal elements of all kinds fire from his weapon. Howeer, this excerpt below was my favourite part:

"When a young man, I read somewhere the following: God the Almighty said, 'All that is too complex is unnecessary, and it is simple that is needed'," Kalashnikov, dressed in a general's camouflage uniform, said.

"So this has been my lifetime motto -- I have been creating weapons to defend the borders of my fatherland, to be simple and reliable."

"The arms bearing my name are now in service in 55 nations," Kalashnikov, who is still the chief arms designer for Izhmash, the holding company that makes Kalashnikovs, added with pride.

"In some countries, even newborn children are named 'Kalash'," he said. "This is very pleasing."