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.