LOL! "Hefty and depressing,but illuminating" eh?

Sounds like a 'beer-belly'! LOL!
Thanks ,I will check out the website!

Thanks, Grassroots.
I have read "The Great War for Civilization". It is a hefty and depressing work, but illuminating. I just bought Ilan Pappe's last couple of books and Patrick Seale's book on the Assads. There are lots of great books out there. If only I had a few weeks to lie around and read.
Since you seem to like a lively writing style, Grassroots, I think you might enjoy Pepe Escobar's book, "Globalistan:How the Globalized World is Dissolving into Liquid War", a kind of rollicking traversal of US Imperialism in the Middle East and Southwest Asia. If you want a preliminary taste of his writing, you can find him at Asia Times, http://www.atimes.com where he has a regular column.
Peace . . .

jbello, If you haven't already,you should also read,
'The Great War For Civilisation',by Rober Fisk. Fantastic book!
It covers,in depth,the modern day history and discord in the Mosaic of the Middle East.And the frustrations of,as you say,seeing good leaders,'taken out' too early.

I have great respect for what Nasser achieved and TRIED FURTHER to achieve.
He tried SO hard to keep EVERYONE happy,which was no easy task.
But,being human,there are only SO MANY 'balls' a juggler can keep in the air, before ONE drops,or someone 'drops' the performer!!
All because of a few(comparably) very self-centered,jealous,and bitter people out in the crowd who have no face,OR POWER,in a harmonious cordial society!
Nasser cleared a lot of ground for Anwar Sadat's building bricks to come.

As for the interference of the western powers?
I believe that our western powers should NOT BE INTERFERING in the infrastructures of Middle East Nations,EXCEPT IF FORMALLY AND CORDIALLY INVITED TO DO SO,BY A CONSENSUS.
We should not be doing to others what we would not tolerate OTHERS DOING TO US! It's the greatest HYPOCRISY for a "Democracy" to impose a dictatorial mandate on others,and to ASSUME arrogantly that OUR SYSTEM(God Help it) is a'Garden of Eden' political 'paradise'. YEH RIGHT!

S'truth! Right now,our American legislators,ARE THE LAST PEOPLE WHO SHOULD BE STANDING AND SINGING THE PRAISES OF "DEMOCRACY,HUMAN RIGHTS & FREEDOM"!! FaLaLaLaLaaaah!
We should be apologising to others for our LACK,and ABUSE of it!!
And doing every thing we can,National and Globally,to put it back!
'You break it-you pay for it-THEN LEAVE'!

BUT,depending on the 'special agendas' of the 'powers that be', maintaining local/National discord/unrest,within the Middle East,is a way of inflicting a WEAKNESS,a handicap,that stops/delays/'hamstrings' INTERNATIONAL UNITY amongst Arab Nations(if they could EVER put their ancient tribal grievances aside),which if it ever came to fruition would be very powerful against,OR WITH,the West,but at the same time would leave the door open,SHOULD THE DESERT WINDS TURN,for mightier destruction,weaponry and a loss of life that NO-ONE,of any soulful humanity,would WANT TO SEE OR EXPERIENCE!
I was taught NEVER to steal,and NEVER invade the privacy of others,and show respect.
I am ashamed to say,that the present international reputation of America,is one of UNCOUTH EGOTISTICAL ARROGANCE! Starting with the PRESIDENT!!!

How to make enemies of friends in ONE EASY LESSON! LOL! LOL!

-allow a "Liberation" to become an illegal occupation,by BLINDLY following your CEO(and very suspicious)Commander-in-Chief,(not to mention his 'entourage')
-Get the directions right BEFORE you hit the road,so as not to land on the WRONG 'doorstep' and scare the occupants.
-Americans! LEARN TO WAIT and be INVITED IN,instead of arrogantly bursting in and leaving our muddy bootprints,and chewing-gum all over the FLOOR of the host' house!
-and learn to LISTEN,so that you will know when we have 'OVERSTAYED OUR WELCOME'!

Then all we need after,is for the Arabian peoples to humbly agree to differ---CORDIALLY,and permanently,over tea and sweets!
Oh! If ONLY!
Toss out all the garbage 'leadership' by VOTE! And bring in a mutually unifying 'entity'.
Hey! We could try GOD(besides the humble human politicians)!
We ALREADY SHARE GOD MUTUALLY.
What else do WE NEED? lol!

Ah! HOPE springs ETERNAL!
Time for tea!
Peace,Salaam,Shalom!

I have just finished reading, "Nasser, the Last Arab". When you see what Arab leaders are up against, it is amazing some leaders can accomplish what the do. It is interesting to follow his decision making process as he dances around an external situation in constant motion. It appears that he really was unable to grasp the process to stabilize and democratize Egypt, but he was a positive influence in so far as he worked hard to keep everyone talking in the Middle East, and created the basis for Sadat's eventual peace with Israel. He managed to have the Aswan Dam built, and unlike Jordan, Egypt got the Sinai back through the peace process with Israel.

But the underlying manipulation by western powers, and the different stances toward Arab Unity taken by the different, in some cases very unstable, governments in the Middle East seems like a minefield to navigate. When I say that western powers contribute greatly to lack of Arab Unity, I don't want to say the control the objectives of the various leaders, though they certainly add some spin. Nor am I saying that Nasser was capable of more than he accomplished, which was substantial. What they do is make it very difficult for any true leader to emerge, as they see that this is not in their interest. It is hard to get 'organized' when there is a sniper on the sidelines taking out any successful 'organizer' that comes to their attention.

Poverty is a big issue for the people, but some of the ruling families are so rich they practically throw their money away on toys and weapons and fancy infrastructure that the general population does not have access to. For them, poverty is a nuisance.

I think the biggest problem with Arab Unity is western intervention. You may say that they should have better values, but there are so many problems, and they are coming, in many cases, from such different places that it is pretty easy for countries with virtually unlimited resources, the capability of overwhelming force and a penchant for intrigue and manipulation, to keep them distrusting one another and vying for resources.

Many of the worst leaders remain in power only through our support. We have consistently worked to corrupt the democracy in Pakistan to our purposes, and continue to threaten Iran which has, in many ways, the most democratic government in the area and their pupils in Lebanon, Iraq and Palestine, who would like to emulate them.

We provide billions of dollars in weapons, but a pittance in food, medicine and technology for sanitation and clean water. American and multinational corporations find ways to use the poverty of the people for their own advantage and steal resources from people who are powerless to block them. We drive people out of places we want to control and condemn the countries that provide refuge to them.

Heaven help us when the manage to get together in spite of us. Let's hope they are right when they tell us Islam teaches forgiveness and love.

thats true poverty coulg be first issue rather than iran saudia arabia and egypt ,,,,,politics where they strrugling bcoz iran nuclear issue still there,,,iraq war,,,,,palastine,,,,,,,same time they talking about unity aswell,,

some how OIC becoming front line news to this world,,,,,,lol

but politics where they gonna strrugle for their own traditions,,,,,,but iran and saudis always close to eachother,,,,,,,,bcoz american still playing with iran in iraq war and iran nuclear issue,,,,,,,why i am happy,,,,,

atleast american have some diffrent views about present politics around the globe,,,,,,,bcoz war about one man never be the solution for anything,,,,,

And what an extravagant waste of money,when SO MANY in the Arab world un-necessarily live in ENFORCED POVERTY!

You're right...but there were better times when Nasser managed to unite Egypt, Syria and Iraq for a short while and when the Saudis supported by the rest of the arab world almost brought the US on its knees with the oil embaro. This is the worst Arab Summit in high level representation, according to Arab media.

Arab Disunity assumes that unity existed at some point in time. Can anyone identify when unity last existed between Arab countries?

You are absolutely right, nine Arab couintries are not sending high level representation and Seniora has blamed Syria for all Lebanon's problems. The failure of the summit has been orchastrated by the Saudis and Hariri.