What the heck is up with Ted Koppel

Just what the heck is up with Ted Koppel? Today, he has a column in the NY Times (behind subscription wall) seeming to call for replacing the military with private mercenaries, a la Blackwater et al. As an example, he suggests the likes of Exxon-Mobil might hire a private army to protect their interests in Nigeria:

It could have the merit of stabilizing oil prices, thereby serving the American national interest, without even tapping into the federal budget. Meanwhile, oil companies could protect some of their more vulnerable overseas interests without the need to embroil Congress in the tiresome question of whether Americans should be militarily engaged in a sovereign third world nation.

John Avarosis, over at Americablog, thinks it's all a snark, but I've read the piece several times now and get more astonished every time. It sounds pretty serious to me.

The idea is so cockamaimie when you look at what a great job all the various private militias are doing in Iraq, it seems it almost has to be a snark, but I don't find any hint of snarkiness in the piece itself.

So, I ask again, what the heck is up with Ted Koppel?