Bangladesh, May 25 -- There is a pattern to how nations are weakened. It rarely begins with an invasion. It begins with a narrative — carefully constructed, patiently seeded, generously funded. First, you discredit the institution that stands between order and chaos. Then you watch the chaos arrive on schedule.

Bangladesh is living that pattern right now. And the story of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) — its deliberate vilification, its systematic neutering, and the catastrophic security vacuum that followed — is perhaps the most instructive case study in how a country can be hollowed out from within, with its own citizens holding the tools.

Lets begin at the beginning. Not the convenient beginning that certain NGOs ...