Midrange Weekly Aug 16
Your Weekly Round Up On What’s Got The Midrange Staff’s Attention
Midrange Staff @midrangeyvr
Hello friends and welcome back to Midrange Weekly. It wouldn’t be a pandemic summer if we didn’t also toss in some debilitating wild fires. While much of the province is currently on fire, the air quality in the greater Vancouver area was briefly the worst in the world. The iPhone weather app had the air warning up to 11 which is concerning because a) it goes up to 11? and b) looking at the app means your eyes were open which means they were being pelted with difused ash in the air. At least it rained today! How long will we collectively last before we are also upset about that? Moving on, we've got some opinions for you this week.
It’s Over For Afghanistan
The US embassy in Kabul evacuates (AP/Rahmat Gul)
The existential and literal quagmire that his been Afghanistan for a generation has seemed so inexorably, stubbornly locked into place. Call it limbo, call it purgatory, but America and her tangential allied forces’ attempt at nation building seemed like an slavish exercise in futility that never yielded much in the way of forward momentum. Endless billions of dollars were pumped into the nascent Afghan military and police force and yet it always seemed precipitously unstable. Meanwhile attempted armistices with the Taliban would disintegrate into flare ups of skirmishes, which would segue into ceasefires, which would in turn be broken, leading to perpetual delays in any meaningful negotiations on the shape of Afghanistan’s political future. Pundits across the west would orbit around the same talking points for and against America’s ubiquitous occupation; it’s their responsibility to clean up the mess they made (accurate), they have no moral right to wield their draconian power over the Afghans and keep the reigns of manifest destiny from the actual Afghan nationals (also accurate!). America’s presence clearly wasn’t helping, but surely they would bare the responsibility for any potential calamitous developments were they to leave. The circular debate at the heart of this conundrum would seem rote and mundane by now were it not for the real human suffering caused by its lack of resolution every day for decades.
That’s what makes recent developments in Afghanistan so frighteningly disorienting. After several presidential administrations saying they would pull out US forces- either a promise or a threat depending on your ideological and military alignment- Biden actually did it. Begining in late spring all but the bare minimum, to protect embedded embassies, of US ground forces have swiftly withdrawn from Afghanistan. While that part, almost unnervingly quick as it was, was pre planned, what coincided with it was a horrifying blitzkrieg of the nation by a resurgent Taliban. In just a few short weeks nearly half of the nation has fallen out of Afghan government and military protection and into the insurgent Taliban power structure. The breadth of their sweep across the country, the extent and enormity of territory the government gave up so quickly is in many ways a worst-case scenario. The brutal sectarian regimes that defined Afghanistan prior to 9/11 seem well on their way back.
How did this happen so quickly, and with such demoralizing scope? Billions and billions into supporting Afghanistan’s perpetually burgeoning government, modernizing their military, and creating essentially an all new police force, has appeared perplexingly impotent against an enemy whose goals and tactics had been telegraphed for years. What happened? A confluence of reporting from a number of publications and experts on the topic illustrates a picture defined by wishful thinking, corruption, but also more abstract impairments that no amount of money can address and repair. Politico reports many disconcerting facts that for years have been obscured or outright classified regarding the actual state of Afghanistan’s governing presence and the capability of their military. Most strikingly it would seem to be the Afghan forces suffering from a high level of desertion, therefore rather than developing and refining an existing contingent of forces, military leaders are continuingly starting from scratch. From Politico:
“That’s caused huge losses for the Afghan army and they’ve had to start from scratch with a lot of recruits,” said Michael O’Hanlon, a military expert at the Brookings Institution who completed several research trips to assess the progress of the NATO training effort. “Almost every year they are having 20 or 20 percent attrition either from casualties or desertion.”
Desertion can be chalked up to the corrosive effects of corruption at higher ranks, the feeling of abandonment by the Americans, or the inevitability of the shape of things to come at the hands of the Taliban. It’s this factor that seems particularly salient as it relates to what the US watchdog for Afghan Reconstruction referred to as intangible factors such as the will to fight. That will to fight seems, in retrospect so obviously drained from an organization that could never really operate with their own autonomy; always manipulated by the colonial hubris of a foreign actor. You might also feel disillusioned about fighting your countrymen to the death when it seems so largely at the behest of another nation whose ambitions never truly aligned with your own more parochial hopes for your home.
Other factors appear particularly responsible for the current crises, namely a misguided vision for the operational make up of Afghan’s military and grossly unethical misappropriation of funds. In context of the former, Politico reports that US forces put too much effort into rebuilding the Afghan army in its own image, to conduct operations they specialize in- a colossal tactical error. Former senior NATO official in Afghanistan Marc Jacobson admits:
“We failed in trying to make the Afghan army in our own image… We tried to create regiments and brigades when we needed to create an army and police force that was basically Special Forces designed specifically to beat back an insurgency, not to defend the Afghan borders against outside conventional attacks.”
More galling are reports of ghost of soldiers and police. Fake records of personnel who are not actually real, at least not in a jurisdictional or operational capacity, existing only on paper and records so that corrupt bureaucrats can collect their pay. While such egregious levels of self dealing at the expense of one’s own homeland indeed seem reprehensible, I can’t help but once again feel a correlation to the detachment Afghans must feel for the mission of the heart and soul of their country when it was largely orchestrated by foreign powers to begin with. This was never really for them, so while no one would ever approve of their conduct, I can understand why it happened to begin with.
These anecdotes of ghost soldiers and police forces sadly aren’t actually much worse than the real thing when it comes to defending Afghan territory; this is crucial in understanding how the Taliban swept the country with such impunity and speed. Andrew Watkins, senior analyst for Afghanistan at the International Crisis Group explains the huge gulf between the reality of territorial security and the verisimilitude of what’s presented by the Afghan government. Over at Vox, Watkins details how of the 400 districts across Afghanistan all of them have a district administrative center that is usually guarded by a garrison of military or police personal. But that’s often it for the entire district, some of the size of Rhode Island. So while the Afghan leadership can point to a map indicating territorial control over large swaths of the nation, the control within those territories is often consigned and relegated to little more than a handful of soldiers in one building. When the Taliban stormed the nation in recent weeks, they never really had to wrestle kilometres of territory from the government, but simply take a single building in an area. This was in some cases accomplished by little more than showing up and scaring opposing forces off. Thusly, the Afghan government’s control over their own land was always far more skeletal and anaemic than they would have everyone believe. It had less to do with the Taliban seizing territory than it did with it being simply abandoned.
On Saturday The New York Times has reported that more than 15 cities have fallen to the Taliban since May. As of this publication, things have gotten worse- the capital city Kabul has fallen. In the mean time America is trying to get the interpreters that helped US forces out before the Taliban slaughters them. Canada has just announced it’s upping its quota for Afghan refuges by another 20000 in hopes of getting as many people as possible out of the country. International assistance can be altruistic and beneficial- it can look like this. But that it has to happen on the heels of a decades long exercise in colonial arrogance is a tough reality to accept on all parts. Much can be analyzed and critiqued I’m sure about Biden’s decision and method for withdrawal. Keep in mind who is making those critiques however, and how this will be ripe for bad faith posturing on the GOP side. Trump has recently taken to boasting how he would have handled the pull out better, ignoring that he constantly said he wanted to do it even quicker when in office and he signed a moronic armistice with the Taliban during his tenure that got the allies nothing and gave the Taliban time to prepare for their current campaign. But none of that changes the fact that America poured 83 billion into the nation’s military and trillions more into the nation itself. This is what they have to show for it.
On Sunday Biden said, “One more year, or five more years, of US military presence would not have made a difference if the Afghan military cannot or will not hold its own country. And an endless American presence in the middle of another country’s civil conflict was not acceptable to me”. He’s right. Of course on July 8th he also said this would not turn into a fall of Saigon moment where diplomats were being hurriedly airlifted out of the country after expressed orders to destroy all sensitive documents within the embassy. Now that is exactly, precisely what’s happening. The Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has fled the country- it’s over. A generation later the metaphor is finally, unavoidably complete- it is another Vietnam, in spirit, in reality, in totality. With history repeating itself so stubbornly, and so acutely, you’ll forgive me if I’m doubtful any one has learned the right lessons this time around. -Tristan
For the second time witnessing a Taliban takeover of my country. In 96 I was in 3rd grade when they come to Kabul and now 25 years later I'm reporting their historic, tragic, rapid, and unpredictable advance. Nothing has changed & all lives were lost in 2 decades for noting.
— Ahmad Mukhtar (@AhMukhtar) August 14, 2021
Prop 12 Vs Canada
On Tuesday this past week Vox posted an updated feature on Prop 12.
Here’s a quick rundown of what it is about.
From Vox:
In 2018, California voters passed Prop 12, a ballot initiative that is the nation’s — and some say the world’s — strongest law to improve living conditions for farmed animals.
It seems modest on its face: Some of the animals raised for consumption in California must be given additional space. But once fully implemented on January 1, 2022, it will affect nearly a million pigs and 40million egg-laying hens each year.
Currently in the US, most female breeding pigs — or sows — are confined in gestation crates,metal enclosures so small the pigs can’t turn around for virtually their entire lives, while most egg-laying hens are crammed into battery cages that restrict them from even fully opening their wings for 18 months. Under Prop 12, these practices will be illegal. (A part of Prop 12 that covers veal went into effect at the start of 2020.)
But the impact of Prop 12 won’t be restricted to the Golden State. It will also be felt by pork and egg producers across the country who will have to retrofit existing barns and/or build new ones to comply — a costly and complex transition — if they want to continue to sell to California, which consumes about 15 percent of the nation’s pork and 12 percent of the nation’s eggs and veal.
That’s why the law has been under attack from various meat industry trade groups, which have filed three separate lawsuits to overturn it.
The fact that big ag business is fighting this isn’t surprising. When you’re tied to your bottom line by shareholders who only care about maximizing profits, how you get there is negligible and most farmers are tied to brutal contracts with big corporations. Think Tyson or Perdue. Animal welfare for them is an afterthought. We’ve known this for forever. Very little has been done to fix this issue, up until this initiative.
Despite plant closures and mass COVID-19 infections in its workforce, Tyson, the biggest meat producer in the U.S., ended the 2020 fiscal year with net revenues of $43.2 billion, a nearly 2% increase from 2019. — Fortune
The humorous (if that’s the right word) part of this issue lay more with the fact that such a law needed enacting in the first place. Why things got so bad should be of more concern than anything. But that’s neither here nor there as you can’t change the past. All you can do is alter what’s in front of you. Californians voted in favour of decency and humane treatment towards the animals they eat. This law should be respected.
Now with all of this on tip of mind, I’m caused to wonder the obvious: Where do us Canadians stand on this issue?
First let’s begin with egg laying hens. Here’s what Prop 12 outlines for them.
From CDFA:
Two deadlines are outlined in Proposition 12 with the first requiring egg-laying hens to be housed with a minimum of 144 square inches per hen and calves raised for veal housed with a minimum of forty-three square feet per calf by January 1, 2020.
To be clear, that’s 144 square inches per hen.
Now here’s the law in Canada.
From BC SPCA:
Eighty-four per cent of Canadian egg-laying hens spend their entire lives in cages. Around 66 per cent of caged birds are housed in conventional “battery” cages, while the remaining 18 per cent are housed in “enriched” slightly larger cages. On average, each hen is given less space than a standard sheet of printed paper. It is legal to confine hens to these cages for their entire lives.
Around 66 per cent of egg-laying hens in Canada are confined to small, cramped cages called “battery” cages. There are four to eight hens housed per cage, with each hen receiving as little as 432 square centimeters (67 square inches) of space, which is less than a standard size piece of notebook paper. Hens are restricted from engaging in many natural behaviours due to limited space, and as a result, conventional cages have begun to be phased out in Canada.
To be clear that’s 67 square inches per hen.
Let that sink in. Massive difference with Prop 12. Ah but even with this vast difference between the two, there’s a kicker here with Prop 12. A second deadline. Here’s what has to happen when it phases in.
The second deadline of requirements goes into effect January 1, 2022 for egg-laying hens to be housed cage-free and breeding pigs raised with twenty-four square feet per pig.
This means by January, all egg laying hens in California have to be cage free. This also applies to any egg brought in from outside the state that wants to be sold there. They too have to be cage free. This is monumental.
Now for breeding pigs, or sows. Here’s what Prop 12 outlines.
From CDFA:
The second deadline of requirements goes into effect January 1, 2022 for egg-laying hens to be housed cage-free and breeding pigs raised with twenty-four square feet per pig.
To be clear that’s 24 square feet per pig.
Now here’s the law in Canada.
From BC SPCA:
Individual stalls measure approximately 60 cm wide by 213 cm long (2 ft x 7 ft) and have metal side bars and slatted concrete or metal floors.
To be clear that’s 14 square feet per pig. A full ten square feet smaller.
Animal welfare is on tip of mind for a lot of us when we read numbers like these. But they’re often just that — numbers. Something read with minimal comprehension of what it actually entails. I mean, if you’ve never been to a breeding warehouse or seen these environments up close, how are you supposed to empathize? You can’t and this is why change is so slow. There’s no pressure to do so. I had to look up these numbers as I had zero clue what the standards were here in Canada and I write about food and culture. In what world would anyone expect the average Canadian to care or know of these practices? It’s impossible.
That said, now that I have, I’m appalled at what I’ve found. Prop 12 goes way further with their new regulations. It’s any wonder why there’s be so much push back. Changes like these require massive investment, which undoubtedly will be passed on to the consumer. Governments need to step in and help farmers transition to better practices. It’s the only way things will change. It’s why things haven’t yet so far. We’re lagging behind here in Canada presently and Prop 12 shows just how badly. With enough talk, hopefully this is only temporary. We are better than this. I’m sure you agree as well. -Jamie
Things From The Internet We Liked
Blending In At The Billionaire Party
We’re never not going to hype up twitter comedian Kylie Brakeman. One of her recent clips shows her a little out of her league as far as social gatherings go but really just doing a bang up job fitting it. More or less.
trying to fit in at a billionaire party pic.twitter.com/lfk08sMXlq
— kylie brakeman (@deadeyebrakeman) August 9, 2021
Maybe The Best Worst Seinfeld Impersonation Ever
Between this and his Al Pacino, Seth Myers is nailing it with his impressions lately. A lot is going on in this clip, covering Governor Cuomo’s resent resignation announcement; skip to the roughly 1:40 mark where Myer’s basically ad-libs a scene from Seinfeld and oh wow could this ever be in the show.
So We’re Just Naming Bands After Days Of The Week Now?
Try not to spend too much time dwelling on why a band would choose to call themselves Wednesday. Instead focus on their rad as hell track Handsome Man that somehow manages to combine early 90s grunge with a whole lot of bright eyed optimism. Find the track on their new album Twin Plagues.