Iraq returned to the Arab summit while Syria was absent despite its prevailing presence with its revolution. Sudan is not as it was before the secession of its South and the war drums are heralding a third Sudan. As to the post-revolution Libya which is attending the summit in the absence of Gaddafi, his games, surprises and ruggedness, it is also threatened with secession following friction over federalism after a tribe yearning for the dream of South Sudan threatened to secede. During the summit, there was a seat for the post-Jasmine uprising Tunisia, another for the post-revolution Egypt and a third for Yemen during the transitional phase, which allowed for the emergence of new faces to which the summit institution has not yet become accustomed. And while it is paradoxical that Baghdad is hosting the summit of the Arab leaders for the first time in 22 years in the absence of the Baath dictatorship – more than a year into the Arab Spring – the other paradox is that the Baathist Syria, which is absent at the level of its leadership, is present with more than 9,000 martyrs who fell in the conflict between the authority and the street. As to the third paradox, it is that the announcement of Iraq's return to its Arab surrounding from the conference hall was made by Iraqi (Kurdish) Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari. Even in Iraq, which is hosting the spring's summit, some of the Kurds are still brandishing the card of self-determination and some of the Arabs are still complaining about the new dictatorship and the hegemony of Iran, which is also present in the summit behind the tragedy of the killings in Syria. It is certain at this level that the message of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reached the leaders on the eve of their conference in the capital of Al-Rashid, one which is besieged by the security grip and the repercussions of the Arabs' revolutions, uprisings and sectarian divisions that are being fueled by the conflict of the regional and international powers over the region. Ahmadinejad's message was that Iran, Syria and Lebanon constitute an inseparable trio in the face of the conspiracies weaved by the West and some Arabs under the cover of the spring and its revolutions. And while the leaders in Baghdad are being asked to condemn the Baba Amr massacre and the crimes against humanity in Syria, Ahmadinejad is applauding the performance of the authority in Damascus and its management of the conflict with its oppositionists, even unable to conceal his admiration toward its wisdom. What is certain is that the Iranian president is no longer hesitating to escalate the hostile rhetoric against some Gulf states, as he is using what he perceives as being their role in the “conspiracy” in order to alleviate the pressures on his Syrian ally. True, some of the Arab leaders present at the summit will present complaints in regard to an Iranian blackmail, based on the suspected mobilization of the Bahraini street once again to ensure a swap between truce in Bahrain and the Gulf's relinquishing of the attempts to adopt an alternative legitimacy for the regime in Damascus. But what is also true is that no one can predict the duration of spring's turmoil, the frustrations over the rise of the Islamists, the ways to deal with or control them and the ways to dissipate the doubts surrounding what some are dubbing the hidden Western goal behind the riding of the Muslim Brotherhood horse. The summit of all summits in Baghdad – the first during the era of the Arab revolutions – is being held at the peak of imbalance. And just like it was out of the question during the last couple of decades for the summit institution to use the joint defense agreement to defend the sovereignty of whichever Arab country, it is also out of the question to see the Baghdad Declaration announcing the formation of a rapid intervention army to be dispatched wherever an Arab ruler is committing massacres against his people under the headline of deterring the conspiracies of the terrorists and their aides abroad. This does not mean that the summit institution and conferences lost their purpose during the spring era, after all that was said about the loss of the Arab League's role. However, the situation in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Yemen following the toppling of their leaders and the scenes of the tragedy in Syria, firstly require the redefinition of the Arabs' common denominator and the reiteration of the question surrounding their ability to build pluralistic democratic regimes, which primarily necessitate the non-exploitation of religion to conceal political goals. As to the second requirement, it is the recognition of the elections. Iraq has returned to the Arabs via the summit. The Syrian regime on the other hand has divorced the Arabs and their initiatives while still relying on Russia's, China's and Iran's help. More importantly, the Syrian decision before the Baghdad summit converges with the Russian's political approach through dialogue between the regime of President Bashar al-Assad and its oppositionists. Hence, the expression “step down” has dissipated. But what is certain is that what many among the Arabs are counting on is the regime's inability to pull out the army from the cities and the fast death of Annan's initiative, which would lead everyone back to square one.
