The League of Geriatric Gentlemen

Saudi Arabia asked Egypt to hold the 2007 Arab summit at the end of the predictably lame Khartoum summit, to which eight Arab leaders failed to show up. (Mubarak had more important things to do: he opened the region's biggest sugar factory in Kafr Al Sheikh.) Since the Saudis didn't give a reason for why they didn't want to host the next summit as planned, one has to wonder whether King Abdullah has any intention of ever attending an Arab League meeting. And with all the talk about the need for a Gulf security organization, within a few years the Arab League may very well be consigned to the dustbin of history. Michael Young has thoughts of a chronicle of Arab death foretold.