AIN'T PEACE GRAND? BUT WHERE?

By Schmoel Yitzhak

At this time, in Spring, when my Mother would see an amorous couple in the park, she'd blithely remark, "Ain't love grand!"

It sure looked it from my 20-20 vantage point because even my youthful eyes confirmed precisely what Mom was saying.

Which brings me to a more contemporary political viewpoint. 

Just a little more than a year ago there was an event that some Madison Avenue-oriented huckster labelled "The Arab Spring."

Like any marketing ploy, it was supposed to connote that something absolutely, guaranteed wonderful was happening in the crazy, mixed up world of Arabia/Islam; something that might even lead to -- don't laugh, please -- peace.

For a brief, illusory moment one could almost hear a re-phrasing on my Mom's line to the lyrics, "Ain't peace grand!"

A year later, it sure turned out to be an illusion and all we have to do is gaze at the Arab world and understand how the Arab Spring, 2011, has metamorphosed into the ugly, bloody Arab, Spring right here and now. 

The Egyptians haven't stopped rioting and the Syrians haven't stopped slaughtering. 

In Lebanon, when Nasrallah isn't threatening Israel with his rocket arsenal, there's a mini Civil War emerging among the pro-Assad fanatics and those opposed to Syrians murdering Syrians by the, yes, thousands. 

Meanwhile, the ever-belligerent Turk, Erdogan, cannot stop threatening another assault on Israel's waters. The Turkish leader is roughly equivalent to a child lighting a batch of, TNT thinking that it's merely a minor July 4th firecracker. 

No need to tell you about Iran where nuclear work moves relentlessly ahead amid some of the most sophisticated stalling tactics the world has ever known, and naively accepts. 

At the White House, we get nothing but what the Syrian rebels get -- NOTHING! 

Uncle Sam's version of NOTHING comes in the form of see-through "commitments."

Exhibit A was offered late last month by Wendy Sherman, a senior State Department official, who jetted to Israel to "reaffirm our unshakable commitment to Israel's security."

How many times have we heard this same blather from President Obama who then turns around and invariably undercuts Israeli moves in one way or another.

Sherman, undersecretary of state for political affairs, followed the concluded talks between world powers and Iran over its nuclear program. And like so many previous talks over the years, nothing of substance was accomplished to prevent Iran from following through on its calls for the demise of the Jewish State.

There will be another meeting with the Iranians in Moscow and, guaranteed, it will produce nothing more than more stalling tactics via Tehran while more work continues on the Ayotollahs' nuclear project.

Obama? What is he doing to further his "unshakeable commitment to Israel's security?" 

For the answer all you have to do is examine what Washington has done to stop the Syrian massacres. As Eyal Zisser so aptly noted in Israel Hayom, Assad the butcher has nothing to fear from Obama.

"If Obama can't stop Syria," Zisser asserts, "he has almost no chance against Iran and North Korea."

The "Arab Spring" is proving to  be a parody that would have gotten laughs at Minsky's Burlesque. On the world stage, it receives a pitiful review. Seasoned observers such as Elliott Abrams, a senior fellow for Middle East Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, sees through the "Arab Spring" smoke screen and Washington's abject ineptitude. Why and how is Assad still in power?

"In large part," Abrams concludes, "because Obama has provided no leadership, apparently preferring to watch these massacres rather than taking the risk of acting. 

"He is standing idly by, making speeches from time to time but denying the opposition the assistance it needs."

Bottom Line: The "Arab Spring" has taken a dive into the subterranean world of Arab killing Arab!

Ain't peace grand? But where?