NO HOLIDAY IN THE MIDEAST – AT 10:39 A.M. ET:  We commemorate (not celebrate) Memorial Day here, but there is no holiday in the Mideast.  The "Arab Spring" is turning into a very bad farce.  From Fox:

A Yemeni medical official says soldiers loyal to Yemen's president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, have stormed a protest camp in the southern city of Taiz and fired on the crowds indiscriminately, killing at least 20.

After the attack on the anti-government protesters, residents say Yemen's air force launched an offensive against Al Qaeda and Islamic militants who overran the city of Zinjibar. Residents also told Reuters that Zinjibar was being shelled with artillery.

Hospital sources told Reuters that at least 120 were wounded in the Taiz attack.

The crowds gathered to demand the release of a fellow protester who was arrested Saturday, Reuters reports.

Security forces first tried to clear the square in Taiz with water cannons, tear gas and sound bombs, sending thousands rushing for shelter.

At last report, Al Qaeda was still in control of Zinjibar, the first town in the Mideast it has taken outright.  The death of bin Laden has not stopped the Al Qaeda crazies.  Their movement is built on an ideology, not a person.

From the Israeli prime minister:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Monday that Egypt's new military government was having a "hard time" controlling the rise of international terror organizations in the Sinai Peninsula.

"Egypt is having a hard time realizing its sovereignty in Sinai," Netanyahu said during a meeting of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. "International terror organizations are stirring in Sinai and their presence is increasing due to Sinai's connection to Gaza."

And the quote of the day belongs to columnist Ben Stein, who tells it like it is, unlike some journalists who are career-invested in boosting the "Arab Spring":

Now, I am going to tell you the truth about the so-called "Arab Spring," and about the Middle East generally right now.

First, the "Arab Spring" as a force for democracy, human rights and peace in Egypt seems to me to be a fraud.

The dictator and his entourage who were kicked out in Egypt were pro-West, a bit restrained on Israel, open to free enterprise, and resistant to Iranian-sponsored terror.

Egypt is now rapidly becoming anti-Israel, pro-Iran, pro the Iranian-sponsored terrorist group Hamas, and very far from being pro-human rights. They are arresting businessmen right and left in Egypt just for the crime of being successful. They have arrested Mubarak's sons, and have said they plan to try Mubarak.

The most potent of the political forces in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood, hates the United States, loathes Israel, condemns the killing of bin Laden (whom they praised as a martyr), and have been wedded to terror for their entire existence.

COMMENT:  And what does our president have to say about all this?  Well, just about everything and anything.  He's made so many contradictory remarks that you can pick any of them out of a hat.  But I do hope he has someone on his staff who knows what's actually happening on the ground in Egypt and elsewhere, and cares.

May 30, 2011