THE MUFTIC FORUM

Winter Park, CO 80482
ph: 303 810 0809
feliciamuftic@mufticforum.com

Home

The Muftic Forum is an outlet for sharing thoughts about politics in America. Felicia Muftic , the editor, is a columnist with the Sky Hi Daily News, Grand County, Colorado. The Muftic Forum Blog, The Muftic Forum Facebook page, and The Muftic Forum Twitter site are all companions of sites of the Muftic Forum. The blog site is now serving as the archive for more recent columns. (www.mufticforumblog.blogspot.com )

Muftic Forum Blog can be accessed at www.mufticforumblog.blogspot.com

Columns in Spanish, en Espanol ... www.mufticforumespanol.blogspot.com

Posted on the Blog as well:

Saturday, September 15, 2012

How is it I am writing about the Middle East?

A good part of my life has been first hand interface with the conflicts of the West and the Muslim World in Bosnia. It has also been a focus of my academic studies since 1959. (see my biographical background)Much of what happened in the 1990's in Bosnia and the aftermath of that conflict has some translation to current events in the Middle East since the Arab Spring. Shortly after the end of fighting in Bosnia and the demise of any governing regime and law and order, jihadist elements tried to move into that region. NATO and the western European civil arm, the OSCE, moved in to hunt down the extremist inflow into the region and to try to establish democracy with education and gentle nudging.
The motivation was that Bosnia was in danger of becoming a portal for extremist Muslim terrorists to enter Europe. Another factor that also kept the lid on the terrorist infiltration was that the Bosnian Muslims were an extension of the Turkish traditions and experience and that the modernizing, secular movement led by Turkish reformer Kemal Ataturk, had also taken root there. While the terrorists may have found a portal in the post conflict chaos, they could not put down roots among the general Muslim population of Bosnia because Bosnian Muslims were more oriented to the West and the Ataturk reformation.

How Bosnia does parallel the recent events in North Africa is that there is and will be an attempt of the radical elements of Islam to try to thwart democracy and moderate Islamists there. That drama is being played out without a NATO or OSCE to put a brake on the influence of anti democratic Islamists.
In Cairo the more radical forces battling more moderate Muslims for power are centering around the radical Salafist movements and these appear to be the ones fostering violence against the US Embassy. It is an internal battle between the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists for control of Egypt that characterizes much of the events there erupting after the Muslim world became aware of the insulting and hateful film paid for and sponsored by very anti Muslims in the US.

For the events in North Africa and some solid analysis, I rely heavily on hard news reports and analysis in the New York Times and the Washington Post. I especially respect David Ignatius of the Washington Post. His background and experience give him special insight to the Arab and Iranian world. I also listen keenly to CNN reports and their reporters who seem to be
closely connected with the grassroots in the counties finding their way in the post Arab Spring .

The current controversy regarding which candidate for president has the greatest understanding of the women's votes, go to the blog in April 2012. A personal note based on my own experiences is there in full. However, here is an excerpt:

There was a time in my career where I was fired for being pregnant. It was in the early 1960’s. I had set out to be a “career woman”, working in public relations in media and Wall Street, but I found that at that point, it was no option. I had no choice. When I graduated from college in 1960, I was the oddball, a woman who wanted to work for the joy of feeling that I was a whole human being, educated and able. In those days of lower living costs, and married to a physician, I became a professional volunteer. Even then, we could afford “help”. I did not work full time until all three children were in school.

I had watched my mother married to my telephone company executive father who was a stay at home mom, who also had “help”. My brother was handicapped and even if she had wanted to work, she could not, in any case. It was not until his medical bills (pre Medicaid) overwhelmed salary and savings that she went to work, and she was in her ‘50’s . She had no choice.

On the other hand, I do have cousins in the military who raised their family on military officer’s pay and she homeschooled her brood of six children, a choice for which I have nothing but respect. I would not have had the patience, and I fault myself for that.

Where all are missing the point is that women should have the choice and be respected for it if they want to work or must work or if they want to stay home. Reality is that it also means women must be able to control their reproductive lives and when they enter the workforce, get paid fairly. From that standpoint, Obama gets it. Romney does not."

Web Hosting by Yahoo!

Winter Park, CO 80482
ph: 303 810 0809
feliciamuftic@mufticforum.com

THE MUFTIC FORUM

Home

Saturday, September 15, 2012

How is it I am writing about the Middle East?

BLOG ACCESS