The Arab League is long past its use-by date - Gulf News: Opinion

I have a package of Sun-Maid (R) California Sun-dried Calimyrna Figs which states "FRESHER IF USED BY NOV 09 1997." Although I'm not sure what is gained by the specificity of the 09, I was reminded of those figs when I read this piece by Amir Taheri. Excerpts:

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"I am a philosopher," the Libyan dictator announced. "And I shouldn't be here among all of you. But now that I am here, I have to call on you to wake up to the emerging realities of a new world."
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"You are all corrupt," Gaddafi told his fellow-Arab leaders. "You are all opposed to reform. Your system of education is designed to produce a million Bin Ladens".

Gaddafi also called for the disbanding of the United Nations' Security Council, which he branded "the Fear Council", and the transfer of its powers to the General Assembly. Unsure about how to respond to Gaddafi's hour-long diatribe most Arab leaders decided to remain silent. The only reaction came from Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak who called on the Libyan leader to pay his country's membership dues to the Arab League.

"Next time you come to lecture us make sure you have paid your fees," Mubarak said, earning a few chuckles from the Arab chiefs present.
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The bizarre nature of the decision was instantly pointed out by both Lebanon and Syria, the two countries most concerned. They wondered how three countries far removed from the Levant and its complex problems would have anything worthwhile to say on the issue. The paralysis of Arab political thought at the highest level was also demonstrated when the summit dealt with the issue of terrorism.

It was clear that almost all the participants recognised terrorism as the number one problem their nations face today. But none were able to abandon the fiction that terrorism could be divided into "good" and "evil". As a result the summit came out with the worn-out cliché about the admissibility of terrorism in the name of "legitimate resistance".

The problem is that all the terrorists fighting against Arab regimes from the Gulf to North Africa claim that they represent legitimate "resistance movements".
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The Algiers Summit, however, shows that the Arab League may be beyond reform. It is difficult to see how emerging Arab democracies like Morocco, Algeria, Iraq, Yemen, and several Gulf states can coordinate their policies with despotic ones like Tunisia, Syria and Sudan.

One idea making the rounds these days is for the Arab states that have chosen the democratic path to form a club of their own alongside the Arab League and as a means of supporting each other in introducing further reform.

Amir Taheri, Iranian author and journalist, is based in Europe.
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Remember, of course, that Iranians are not Arabs.