Big Lizards describes the nihilistic malaise infecting Japan, and to a greater extent, Europe, in an excellent post that IMO applies equally to the elites in the U.S. If a nation outsources its national defenses because you don't think that anything is worth fighting for, sooner or later, those who do your fighting for you might change their minds.

James Lileks points to an editorial cartoon that shows that Europe thought Camelot was not such a pretty place after all .