The Summit must go on!
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the Emir of Qatar.
No Shows: King of Jordan Abdallah II, President of Yemen Ali abd al-Salah, King of Saudi Arabia Abdallah bin abd al-Aziz, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Sultan of Oman, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, the King of Morocco, and Lebanon.
Shows: Eleven Arab leaders including Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the President of Algeria, the Emir of Qatar, and some other dudes. Eighteen leaders were present at last year’s summit in Riyadh.
Summit Time!
Algerian President Abdalaziz Boutflika and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. One is short; the other is tall!
Double-chin twins! Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem and head of the Arab League Amr Moussa.
Double-chins for everyone! Qaddhafi looks fat!
Assad intimidates Palestinian President Abbas by grabbing his bicep. Hot!
I am calling men fat because this label is normally disproportionately saved for women.
Information and Photos from al-Jazeera and al-Thawra.
Syrian newspaper publishes obscenely long article on the Damascus Summit
Syrian newspaper al-Thawra has unnecessarily published an epic-length article on the Damascus Summit which is scheduled to begin tomorrow. Several Arab governments have sent low-level ministers to the summit in order to express disapproval of Syria’s role in Lebanon’s presidential crisis. Lebanon has boycotted the summit entirely. The article from al-Thawra is just like twenty press releases jumbled together: Peace, blah blah, Israel, Golan, blah blah, Arab ministers, Occupation.
Here is Lebanon’s empty seat at the Summit. (al-Nahar)
Al-Jazeera has an article on Syrian cartoonist Ali Farzat whose work is quite controversial. (Here is his homepage.) The cartoon below depicts his sentiments on Arab summits in general.
But, resistance is futile.
Fighting between Iraqi Security Forces and Jaysh al-Mehdi continues
US Apache helicopters bombed houses in Hilla, Iraq, killing up to 60 civilians and wounding dozens more. The Pentagon said that US troops were providing air support to Iraqi security forces who have been fighting with Jaysh al-Mehdi for the past three days. The most intense fighting has been in Basra and Kut, where hundreds have been killed or injured.
(Democracy Now and al-Tariq ila Karbala)
This woman’s son was killed yesterday in Hilla during the fighting.
Al-Hayat reports that Iraqi PM Nuri al-Maliki refuses to negotiate with militants from Jaysh al-Mehdi. Meanwhile, thousands of supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr are holding demonstrations calling for the resignation of Maliki and for him to have a trial like Saddam Hussein’s.
