The title of this post might be a bit over the top, but I couldn't resist.  It was a big day for fans of the Atlantic Monthly columnist, world traveller extraordinaire , and now member of the prestigious Pentagon think tank, the Defense Policy Board, Robert D. Kaplan.

I recall having asked him a question recently through the Foreign Affairs website that focused on his coverstory a couple of months back.  It was an excellent experience and his response was thoughtful.

Kaplan is always a provocative writer who has travelled many of the globe's hot spots from the Balkans and Central Asia to the Middle East. 

His recent post in the Atlantic on the recent end to the Sri Lankan insurgency by the Tamil Tigers, is a fascinating read.  He clearly outlines how to win a counterinsurgency campaign, though not without extreme bloodshed. 

However, what really caught my eye was his interview over at the Michael Totten blog (a fellow world traveller and reporter).

This interview is a virtual tour du force of geopolitics.  It zeroes in on the Sri Lanka campaign, but also takes in Russia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and, of course China.

It are the comments on China that are most interesting.  He articulates just how cold-blooded the Chinese version of "realism" really is, especially how they gave arms to Sri Lanka as well as diplomatic cover at the United Nations while the government of that country crushed the Tamil Tiger insurgency irrespective of civilian casualties and the brutal shut down of journalistic dissent.  In return for all this, China gets a deep water port in a strategically vital area where they can house some of their expanding blue water navy.

While I do not necessarily agree with everything Kaplan writes, these conversations are important.  They force American policymakers and strategists to examine what the world will look like after our focus on Iraq and Afghanistan shifts to what is becoming the most critical area on the planet, East Asia.