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In this mailing:
- Douglas Murray: The EU's
Dangerous New Confidence Game
- Burak Bekdil: Turkey and US:
Conflict Contained, Not Resolved
by Douglas Murray • November 20,
2018 at 5:00 am
- The first problem of
the European Court of Human Rights decision against Elisabeth
Sabaditsch-Wolff is that it means that, at least in cases of
blasphemy, truth is not a defence.
- Such a judgement
hands over the decision on what is or is not allowed to be
said not to a European or national court, but to whoever can
claim, plausibly or otherwise, that another individual has
risked "the peace."
- There have been
similar mobster tricks tried for some years now. They all run
on the old claim, "I'm not mad with you myself; I'm just
holding my friend back here."
The first
problem of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) decision
against Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff is that it means that, at least
in cases of blasphemy, truth is not a defence. Pictured: The
courtroom of the ECHR in Strasbourg. (Image source: Adrian
Grycuk/Wikimedia Commons)
At the start of this decade, a minor story occurred
that set the scene for the years that have followed. In 2010, a
Saudi lawyer named Faisal Yamani wrote to the Danish newspapers
that had published cartoons of Islam's prophet, Mohammed. Claiming
to act on behalf of 95,000 descendants of Mohammed, the Saudi
lawyer said that the cartoons were defamatory and that legal
proceedings would thereby begin.
However, everything about the supposed legal claim
reeked. How had Mr Yamani located all these descendants? How had he
come up with exactly 95,000 of them? And how could you claim that a
statement about somebody who died 1,400 years ago was
"defamatory"? Legally, one cannot "defame" the
dead.
by Burak Bekdil • November 20,
2018 at 4:00 am
- Turkish President
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that Turkey will not abide by the
renewed U.S. sanctions on Iran's oil and shipping industries,
claiming that they are "steps aimed at unbalancing the
world."
- U.S. President
Donald Trump, in the same speech in which he hailed Erdoğan as
a "friend and a tough, smart man," ruled out the
possibility of Gülen's extradition.
- The future actually
looks potentially gloomier as the future of Syria shapes up
and Erdoğan might well switch back to more radical anti-Western
rhetoric ahead of critical local elections in March.
Although
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has recently toned down his
anti-American rhetoric, things have not come up roses in
U.S.-Turkey relations. Pictured: U.S. President Donald Trump and
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan deliver statements at the
the White House, on May 16, 2017. (Photo by Michael
Reynolds-Pool/Getty Images)
Only three months ago Turkey and its NATO ally the
United States had too many issues about which to disagree: They had
major divergences over Syria; they had different views on Turkey's
plans to deploy the Russian-made S-400 air defense system on NATO
soil; they had mutual sanctions on top government officials due to
Turkey's refusal to free Andrew Brunson, an American evangelical
Christian pastor living in Turkey who faced bogus charges of
terrorism and espionage; they had a potential U.S. decision to
block delivery to Turkey of arms systems, including the F-35
stealth fighter; they had potential U.S. sanctions on a Turkish
public bank; the U.S. had doubled tariffs on Turkish steel and aluminium;
a Turkish boycott on U.S. electronics; major differences over
Syrian Kurds; and Turkey's persistent demands for the extradition
of Fethullah Gülen, a Muslim cleric who is Turkish President Recep
Tayyip Erdoğan's political nemesis, living in self-exile in
Pennsylvania.
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