THE ARAB SPRING FOLLIES

By Schmoel Yitzhak

If there was a legitimate musical comedy stage in the Middle East, some creative writer would do a take-off on Irving Berlin's classic tune, "There's No Business Like Show Business Like No Business I Know."

My rewrite job would go something like this, "There's No Business Like Assad Business Like No Massacre Business I Know."

And the next line -- with apologies to Irving Berlin -- "Everything About It Is Un-Appeling; Everything That Traffic Will Allow."

Seriously, can you believe what's going on in Syria and what the dictatorship is getting away with while Barack Obama wears blinders and murders continue. Meanwhile, Arab League monitors observe with less effectiveness than The Scarecrow in "The Wizard of Oz."

How can Uncle Sam pretend to be the world's moral guardian when America's -- that's you Mister President and your vapid Lady Secretary of State -- top dogs pull in their tails and bark about houses being built in Judea and Samaria as if they are a threat to peace.

Not that Great Britain, France or any of the other impotent European Union stalwarts have done anything whatsoever to put fear in the heart of Assad.

And this is supposed to be a flowering of the Arab Spring? Puh-leeze!

If it is any flower, it would have to be cactus because Libya is messier than it was before the so-called revolution especially now, with al-Quaida playing a significant part in the new regime.

As for the "democratic" Spring's results in Egypt; well, Uncle Barack really messed that one up, didn't he?

Mubarak was as much a friend of Israel as any Arab leader, give or take Jordan's Hussein, and all America's Chief Executive did was pull the chute on Hosni. And you know where that will lead: a militant Islamic leadership inevitably will take over, dissolve the peace treaty with Israel and very likely force Israel to go to war once more.

How about that "Spring" in Baghdad?Now that the president has pulled out his troops the tribal strife already is producing a murderous regime that sadly has Saddam overtones and you can bet that the situation in and out of Baghdad will get worse rather than better by Springtime.

Meanwhile, the Iranians continue developing their atomic capabilities secure in the knowledge that, A. Obama long ago was emasculated, long-distance, by the leaders in Tehran; B. Pro-Democratic forces in Iran will get no tangible support from America; C. Israel will be prevented from staging the necessary pre-emptive attack against the threatening atomic factories.

Really, it's astonishing that the American media possess so few journalists willing to examine Obama's appeasement policies for what they are. Certainly, there's no one in the White House press corps like Israeli columnist Barry Rubin who sees things clearly and sees them whole.

"Obama has rejected America's leadership role," Rubin asserts. "When he asks an aggressive dictator 'pretty please' he's asking for a spit in the face. And that's just what Obama has received from Iran, Venezuela and others. Iran's regime benefits in many ways by seeking nuclear weapons. The Palestinian Authority rulers benefit by not negotiating or compromising with Israel. The Muslim Brotherhood benefits by seeking to seize state power and transform their states into Islamic ones."

But the manner in which Bashar Assad has managed to elude justice for so many months of massacres is absolutely staggering to one's mind; and this in the face the supposedly-effective Arab League "monitors." each of whom might as well be auditioning for a role in "The Invisible Man.,"

So bold is Assad in the face of the monitors that activists claim that 32 people were killed on Friday alone in the strife-torn country. And what does one of the Arab League monitors have to say about that?

"Our goal is to observe...it is not to remove the president, our aim is to return Syria to peace and security."

Perhaps the most ludicrous aspect of it all is that the Arab League "monitors" represent countries with some of the world's worst human rights records.

So, you may ask, what right do they have to judge human rights in Syria?

And to that, I reply -- music, maestro, please! -- "There No Business Like Assad Business Like No Massacre Business I Know!"

Or, should I say, where's Mel Brooks when Assad needs him most?