Not actually a Canadian police officer in Afstan

The start of a post by Terry Glavin that brings a lot of things together:

The Afghan Election: At History's Crossroads Stands A Single Canadian Traffic Cop

Momentous shifts in the course of human history can sometimes come down to some small drama unfolding in a far-off corner of the world. In this way, the weight of historical forces end up turning on chance events, luck, and the actions of lone individuals.

Grant Kippen is the head of Afghanistan's Electoral Complaints Commission, and whether he likes it or not, his name is about to go down in the annals of Afghan history. As the Times put it just yesterday, "the country’s future now lies largely in his hands." ..

Update: A bit more:

Elsewhere, Damian Brooks looks back on the way the Afghanistan "debate" in Canada has been confounded by mediocrity, adolescent partisanship and bloodymindedness, and wonders how it might have been...