Submitted by Mohammed, Mar 30, 2007 11:49

"The camel went into labor, and gave birth to a mouse" A very popular Arab saying.

The Arab Summit in Riyadh is over. It was no different from any other Summit of the past twenty some years. What is more, Iraq downgraded it by sending its amiable but ceremonial president instead of the policy-making prime minister. Qadhafi of Libya did not show up, thus robbing it of any possible offbeat path, any diversion from the usual caca de boca.

Looking through the Arab media of various countries, each medium (usually state-owned, state-controlled, state-paid, or state-bullied) claimed that its own leader was pivotal in the success of the summit in achieving nothing. Normally these summits achieve nothing quite effortlessly, but this time they had to work for it.

One solid result was that the Saudi Stock Market Index lost all its gains of the past year on the same day that the Summit adjourned.

Cheers

Mohammed

http://www.infidelus.blogspot.com

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