Russia has displaced the United States as the world's No. 1 arms exporter not just because its weapons are cheaper, but because many of them are very good. According to Russian military commentator Nikita Petrov writing for RIA Novosti, in 2007 Russia earned more than $5.5 billion in weapons exports and has a backlog of orders worth more than $20 billion. Different institutions have different measuring yardsticks for weapons exports and definitions on what they are. However, the U.S. Congressional Research Service estimated Russian arms sales as worth $7.1 billion in its report "Conventional Arms Transfers to Developing Nations, 1998-2005."...