US Foreign Policy Invigorated at the Expense of Gaza (Ramzy Baroud)

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Ramzy Baroud -- World News Trust

June 30, 2011 -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has made a series of stern and fiery statements recently, giving the impression that war is somehow upon us once again. Oddly, Clinton’s sudden reappearance into the Middle East diplomacy scene was triggered by the brave attempts of peace activists to break the siege on Gaza.

In recent months, as Arab nations settled old scores with their insufferable dictators, U.S. foreign policy started taking a backseat. Attempts at swaying Arab revolts teetered between bashful diplomatic efforts to sustain U.S. interests -- as was the case with Yemen -- and military intervention, as in Libya, which is still being marketed to the U.S. public as a humanitarian intervention, as opposed to the war it actually is.

The indecisiveness and double-standards on display are hardly new.

The U.S. stance during the Tunisian popular revolution ranged between complete lack of interest (when the protests began brewing in December 2010), to sudden enthusiasm for freedom and democracy (when the revolts led to the Jan. 14 ousting of longtime President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

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