July 17,
2008: Serbia, Albania and Bosnia have
become major suppliers of infantry weapons to the governments of Iraq and
Afghanistan. Serbia has been a long time supplier of weapons to Iraq, and the
new government is not too bothered by that long association with Saddam
Hussein. Serbia offers good prices, and a willingness to pay bribes and
kickbacks to the right people, for Cold War surplus AK-47s. machine-guns,
mortars, RPGs and the like. Albania and Bosnia, having large Moslem
populations, play the religious card in their dealings with Afghanistan, and
offer the same range of weapons, and payment options, as the Serbs. Several
hundred thousand infantry weapons, and some larger systems, have been sold in
this way over the past six years.
