#SaudiArabia's Summitry Reveals Hollow Arab Unity - Bloomberg

Saudi Arabia's Summitry Reveals Hollow Arab Unity - Bloomberg:

It was meant to be a demonstration of Saudi Arabia’s enormous convening authority in the Islamic world: in a 48-hour period last week, King Salman Bin Abdulaziz hosted a summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and emergency meetings of the Arab League, and the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Instead, the gatherings in Mecca demonstrated the utter futility of these organizations. The Islamic world is more divided than ever, along fault-lines old and new, and the grandees who answered King Salman’s summons could scarcely be bothered to discuss any of the problems, much less offer solutions.

Some of this was predictable. The OIC and Arab League have been pointless for decades. They have rarely addressed themselves to the problems of the Muslim world, such as the persecution of Uighurs in China or Rohingyas in Burma—or of its Arab subset, such as the civil wars in Syria, Yemen and Libya. They serve no meaningful purpose other than to make statements, usually against Israel for its treatment of Palestinians.