The clash of civilizations wears the mask of the battle of the sexes. Reading atrocity stories about the Taliban's treatment of women on the front pages, and Ayaan Hirsi Ali's reminiscences of growing up a Muslim girl in the back, it's hard not to think of the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan as the expeditionary force of the Women's Movement.

Given this ambiance, it's surprising to hear a well-informed speaker tell the European Parliament that Turkish women are "some of the most militant, and spearhead the effort to Islamicize Turkey today." Hmm. Why would women spearhead the resurrection of a theocratic state that, whatever it may do for men, only rolls things back to the Dark Ages for women? Why would the sophisticated women of Turkey, who can become prime ministers if they like (and have), spearhead a system that doesn't let their Saudi sisters drive a car? It sounds counterintuitive.

All the same, one doesn't dismiss an observation made by Efraim Halevy, former head of the Mossad, Israel's sage intelligence agency (call it sagency to save a syllable.) Halevy, who headed Mossad between 1998 and 2002, is a scholarly spook whose memoir, Man In The Shadows, tells fascinating tales about his region without telling any tales out of school....

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • Women • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Faiths • Islam

Registered members must log in to comment.