When Kaplan (2009) Kaplan, R. D. 2009. The revenge of geography. Foreign Policy, 172(3): 96–105. published “The Revenge of Geography” in Foreign Policy, Karen Hooper sent the article to fellow analysts at the private intelligence firm Stratfor (Strategic Forecasting, Inc.), prompting one of them, Mark Schroeder, to wonder, “[d]id this dude steal from us?” George Friedman, the founder and CEO of Stratfor, reassured his colleagues that “Kaplan is a real smart guy,” and Bayless Parsley, Middle East analyst at Stratfor, specialist among other things in “proofreading, geopolitical analysis” (Parsley 2013a Parsley, B. 2013a. Bayless Parsley www.linkedin.com/pub/bayless-parsley/46/56/340 (last accessed 6 August 2013)), urged them to “read ‘[B]alkan [G]hosts.’ [T]hat's the reason I went to the [B]alkans,” before noting with admiration that “[K]aplan was also writing about the [C]aucasus before anyone knew how to spell it. [E]ither called it ‘[O]nward to [T]atary [sic]’ or ‘[E]astward to [T]atary [sic]’ (Parsley 2013b; cf. Kaplan 2000b Kaplan, R. D. 2000b. Eastward to Tartary: Travels in the Balkans, the Middle East and the Caucasus., New York: Random House. ). Friedman viewed Kaplan's work as symptomatic of a pressing need: “When geopolitics is required, it shows itself in many places” (Parsley 2013b). Kaplan is now chief geopolitical analyst for Stratfor after Friedman identified him for his colleagues as someone he “would trust with my legacy” and who could “mentor the analysts” at Stratfor (Friedman 2012 Friedman, M. 2012. Re: Thoughts on Kaplan and succession plans. Wikileaks Global Intelligence Files, 13 November 2011 http://www.wikileaks.org/gifiles/?viewemailid=401958 (last accessed 6 August 2013)). Cometh the hour, then.