INVENTOR OF THE AK-47 HAUNTED BY HIS CREATION

Mikhail Kalashnikov, the inventor of the Kalashnikov rifle, better known as the AK-47, died at the age of 94 last month, but not without regrets about the impact of the assault rifle that carries his name. In a 2012 letter published in a pro-Kremlin newspaper on Monday, Kalashnikov wrote to the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, expressing anguish and remorse about the impact of his invention.

Here’s an excerpt of the letter from the BBC:

          

"I keep having the same unsolved question: if my rifle claimed people's lives, then can it be that I... a Christian and an Orthodox believer, was to blame for their deaths?" he asked. "The longer I live," he continued, "the more this question drills itself into my brain and the more I wonder why the Lord allowed man to have the devilish desires of envy, greed and aggression."

Kalashnikov had long refused to take responsibility for the deaths caused by his rifles, of which there are more than 100 million worldwide. The AK-47’s popularity grew because it is relatively easy and inexpensive to produce and maintain. According to the BBC, the soul-searching letter is typed on Kalashnikov’s personal stationary and written with a “wavering hand” signed "a slave of God, the designer Mikhail Kalashnikov." It’s unclear, however, exactly how much of the letter Kalashnikov wrote himself, the BBC notes. Kalashnikov’s daughter told the Russian paper that published the letter she believed a priest may have assisted in the writing of the letter.

ORIGINAL STORY AT SLATE.COM>

VIOLENCE: A CONTAGIOUS DISEASE?

Physician Gary Slutkin spent a decade fighting tuberculosis, cholera and AIDS epidemics in Africa. When he returned to the United States, he thought he'd escape brutal epidemic deaths. But then he began to look more carefully at gun violence, noting that its spread followed the patterns of infectious diseases. A mind-flipping look at a problem that too many communities have accepted as a given. We've reversed the impact of so many diseases, says Slutkin, and we can do the same with violence. (Filmed at TEDMED.)

Could our culture have misdiagnosed violence? As the director of the initiative Cure Violence, Gary Slutkin approaches gunfire on neighborhood streets as a contagious disease, looking to science and public health for strategies to stop it.

Collateral Damage, the Media, and 'The War You Don't See'

During World War One, 10% of all casualties were civilians.
During World War Two, the number of civilian deaths rose to 50%.
During the Vietnam War, 70% of all casualties were civilians.
In the war in Iraq, civilians account for up to 90% of all deaths.

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The War You Don’t See by John Pilger.

Watch the trailer for the film:

AMERICA: WE CREATE OUR OWN TERRORISTS

 Michael Hastings, in his hard-hitting new book, "The Operators," discusses "politically correct imperialism," why the military is obsessed with its legacy, and why we're stuck in post-9/11 thinking.

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[Excerpt]

But one quote that stuck with me summed up the essential flaws in the thinking, the safe haven flaw, if you will: “Marja must be controlled in order to eventually control Kandahar. Kandahar must be controlled to control Afghanistan. Afghanistan must be controlled to control Pakistan. Pakistan must be controlled to prevent Saudi Arabia terrorists from getting on a flight at J.F.K. Airport in Jamaica, Queens.”

Did that revelation all come to you at the same time? Or how were you able to put that together and make it so crystal clear?

 MH: Well, to me this was apparent in Iraq, but it's also apparent in Afghanistan: that nothing that we're doing on a daily basis -- by "we" I mean NATO and U.S. forces -- has anything to do with preventing another September 11. I mean, 99 percent of the people we killed over these past 10 years would never have posed a threat to the United States. I mean, that's a devastating indictment of our endeavors -- it's devastating.

 MH: In 2008, after my first trip to Afghanistan, I came back and did a story for GQ, and my editor said something -- and it's a line I've stolen from him – he said we're stuck in post-9/11 thinking. There was this whole period of time where you could be accused of pre-9/11 thinking, but what's happened is we're stuck in post-9/11 thinking. And these misconceptions that I think took hold quite early have become institutionalized. And institutionalized in a way that is meant to shut down debate.

 Because you may say, well, we should get out of Afghanistan, and then the answer is, well, what about the terrorist safe havens? Grover Norquist actually made the argument that there's a reason why there's not a robust debate from the other side about Afghanistan – it's because they know how flimsy their argument is.

And we haven't even gotten to the fact that by being in these places – and with the trauma that we're inflicting on these societies while we're there – that's the way you create terrorists, it's not the way you defeat terrorists.

READ THE ENTIRE INTERVIEW HERE>

CALVIN ON VIOLENCE

Calvin: "Dad, how does killing one another solve the world’s problems?"

Dad: [No answer]

Calvin: "I think grownups just act like they know what they’re talking about."