YOU CAN RUN, BUT YOU CAN'T HIDE:

Summit's Collapse Leaves Arab Leaders in Disarray (NEIL MacFARQUHAR, 3/29/04, NY Times)

Arab governments were in disarray on Sunday after the Arab League summit meeting, set to grapple with vital regional issues like democratic reform, Arab-Israeli bloodshed and the American occupation of Iraq, was abruptly called off just before it was to open Monday.

The exact reason is a matter of some dispute, but all sides viewed the meeting's collapse — even as some heads of state were on their way — as an embarrassment. It was a stark public admission that the commitment to change voiced by Arab leaders risks becoming just more words.

The Arab League is infamous for its fractious gatherings, but even its most experienced bureaucrats described the cancellation as extraordinary. Some commentators thought the collapse inevitable from the start. The very idea of reform remains too divisive, and many nations' governments have yet to decide how to deal themselves with issues like elections.

With so many regimes reforming so quickly, instability has been introduced as a principle in Arab affairs--hard for leaders to act in concert when that's the case.

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 29, 2004 9:26 AM