I've been a huge Robert Kaplan fan for the better part of 15 years. I own many of his books, and the ones I don't own I've checked out of my local library. In fact, one of his books, Warrior Politics (Why Leadership Requires a Pagan Ethos), enjoys a permanent place on my night table where I'll sometimes read half a randomly selected chapter before sleep. (Shh - don't tell my youth soccer club.) His article "The Coming Anarchy", written originally in 1994 has proven to be the most prescient writing of it's kind, and elements of the article continue to ring true to this day.

So when Kaplan opines on a subject, I pay close attention. His piece in today's Wall Street Journal is one of those don't-miss editorials that surfaces now and again, as he riffs on heroes and victims, love and respect, pity and debasement, and the media's role in the crumbling of the nation-state.