The Wired Blog has an interesting article about new Chinese weapons that could seriously aid insurgents against traditional security forces–something that both the United States and Israel should be worried about, since China has very low standards about who they supply with munitions and technology.

Wired writes:

Portable rocket launchers like the RPG-7 are some of the deadliest, and most common, weapons in the guerrilla arsenal.  The Chinese are now producing a new warheads that’ll make the weapons even more lethal — capable of knocking down a three-story building from 200 meters away.

One of the real dangers of these thermobaric warheads, which explode “in a cloud” rather than from “a point” is that they’re not really a new weapon, just new ammo.  Your old hand-me-down RPG will work just fine.  Simply replace older, less powerful rockets with these new Chinese ones, and you’re good to go.

The WPF 2004 is made by Xinshidai Company, a Chinese arms manufacturer.  The article goes on to say:

In 2006, China was singled out by Amnesty International for being . one of the world’s most secretive and irresponsible arms exporters.   The group claimed that Chinese weapons fueled conflict in a number of countries including the the Sudan and Burma.  And, of course, they have supplied a heap of arms to Iran.

Jane’s Magazine reports that:

Operational experience has shown that traditional RPG-7 anti-armour rockets are not optimised for urban or counter insurgency-type missions and, therefore, an increasing number of countries are now fielding thermobaric (fuel air explosive) weapons of various types.

It hardly seems likely that the Chinese are unaware of the damage this will cause, leading me to assume that their sole purpose in allowing these arms to be sold is to increase instability across the globe–and especially in places where America is heavily involved, or our allies.  Of course, even in places where America shamefully has not gone, like the Darfur, China has their hands dirty.  Undoubtedly these missiles will end up in the hands of various Islamic terrorist groups around the globe–perhaps through Iranian intermediaries or other governments such as Syria or Sudan.

Just something else to look forward to in the ongoing war on terror, which in so many ways proves to be just more strategic maneuvering against the governments of China and Russia.

Kain's major subjects of focus at NeoConstant are international strategy; support of Israel; the failure of the international community to stop genocide; the spread of American power and democracy; historical analysis; and current events both domestically and abroad. He writes here, Newsvine and his blog, IndiePundit.