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Not quite a month since 156 comes news that a Canadian soldier, unnamed at the request of his family, has died in Afghanistan, in "a non-combat related incident".

The "incident" is under investigation. All that the Canadian command in Kandahar will say is that the soldier was not killed by the Taliban.

Next month, the Canadians are at last leaving Afghanistan. All except for a few hundred who will remain on a "training mission", much like the US advisors in Vietnam.

At the same time, the USA will begin its "drawdown" of 10,000 or so of its troops. So the scene shifts -- uneasily -- to Libya. Out of one sandpit, into another.