Britain's Burka Blues: "I'd Like to Thank Boris Johnson"

by Denis MacEoin • September 3, 2018 at 5:00 am

"As a Muslim woman, I'd like to thank Boris Johnson for calling out the niqab" — Title of an article by Dr. Qanta Ahmed in The Spectator.
"[T]his is a point that we Muslims seem to be unable to get across to non-Muslims – there is no basis in Islam for the niqab.... That's why Muslim nations are themselves regulating and banning the niqab and burqa..." — Dr. Qanta Ahmed, The Conversation, January 2017.
Some observers feel that it is especially painful to see Western feminists marching and wearing black face masks in order to protect Muslim women's right to wear them, but failing to support the rights of other Muslim women who plead not to be forced into them.
We are expected to feel guilty if we dare to question what some Muslim women themselves question: if shariah law is really the most wholesome lifestyle for many women.

To many, female Islamic clothing, from hijabs to niqabs and burqas, represents the powerful oppression of women's rights. They look as if they could be symbols of the undue pressures on women to conform to a patriarchal, deeply misogynistic code and the punishments that can be and often are inflicted on women for even a slight avoidance of the rules. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)

On August 5, Britain's former Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, published an article in The Daily Telegraph. Entitled "Denmark has got it wrong. Yes, the burka is oppressive and ridiculous – but that's still no reason to ban it", the article created a furore both within and outside his own Tory party, and for more than one reason.

Johnson is currently the strongest candidate to replace Theresa May as Prime Minister, given her increasing weakness as a leader, largely due to the problems surrounding Brexit and her inability to create a suitable deal for it. This is relevant to the furore. Johnson is an ambitious politician who is given to making controversial comments.

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Turkey Creating New Tensions with Greece and the US

by Lawrence A. Franklin • September 3, 2018 at 4:00 am

Relations between Washington and Ankara have already deteriorated significantly under Erdogan -- as dramatically emphasized by America's absolutely correct refusal to turn over to Erdogan the man he says is behind Turkey's 2016 coup attempt, Fethullah Gülen, a Muslim cleric who exiled himself to Pennsylvania almost 20 years ago, as well as by the escalating imbroglio over detained U.S. pastor Andrew Brunson, who is apparently being held as a hostage to force the U.S. to extradite Gülen back to Turkey.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Wess Mitchell recently called Greece, "an anchor of stability in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Western Balkans."
Under President Trump, the signs keep growing that the U.S. is more and more likely to see things Greece's way.

During his state visit to Greece in 2017, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a forceful request that Greece agree to re-negotiate the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne. Pictured: Erdogan and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in Athens on December 7, 2017. (Photo by Milos Bicanski/Getty Images)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's June 24 re-election seems to be leading to heightened tensions between Turkey and Greece. Furthermore, in an eventual confrontation between these two NATO member states, Turkey's reported interest in purchasing air-defense missiles and fighter jets from Russia, underscored by Turkey's continued detention of American Christian Pastor Andrew Brunson and the U.S. imposition of sanctions on Turkish officials (as well as Turkish counter-sanctions), may well cause Washington to favor Greece.

In addition, prior to June 24, the Turkish parliament, and the Turkish people by referendum, awarded the presidency with nearly authoritarian power. Erdogan may now use these powers to strengthen even further his control of Turkey's domestic political order --- and to become more aggressive internationally as a result.

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