Where'd all the old swords go?

[Chuck In Oregon]

A friend of mine in Baku forwarded the following Washington Post link to me. He wanted me to know the latest goings-on in Baku, especially the continuing saga of the oppressive Aliyev regime. It's a good article and a long, interesting video essay as well.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...r=emailarticle

However, what first caught my eye was the riot trooper who is beating a citizen with what looks to me like a 19th century scabbarded sword. I've seen riot and security police of all sorts in Georgia. Not one time have I ever seen a security official with a sword that was other than decorative. Not the guy in this picture, however. He looks like someone who knows how to use the flat side of a sword, and probably the sharp side, too.

So, just in case you were wondering where all those swords went, at least some are still in use today.

Chuck

[Nack]

That is a neat sword. It'd be nice to see up close, but not in the hands of angry Azerbeiani (sp?) policeman.

At any rate, I've never seen a Soviet sword in person. And come to think of it, I haven't seen many swords in general lately either. There are bayonets and daggers a-plenty, but the longer cutlery is not around (except for repro third reich swords it seems). Perhaps they all have been bought up by the trendy gaucho restaurants I see advertised in the Delta Skymall magazine...

[Art]

Doesn't look like a sword but rather more like a long truncheon. the "blade" is actually a piece of hardened leather, or sometimes a heavy duty steel spring covered in leather. The object of using these is that that they won't break bones but it's like getting punched in the face, arm, or whatever as fast as the wielder can swing. Very persuasive.