Summit fails to address divisions head-on

Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah – who has widely been expected to mediate in the ongoing dispute between Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain – did not have much of a chance to do so as he hosted the 25th summit of the League of Arab States in Kuwait on 25-26 March. One photograph snapped by PR Newswire showed the emir standing between Saudi Crown Prince Salman Bin Abdelaziz and a towering Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani; Sheikh Sabah is loosely holding their hands, and there are broad smiles all round, but the picture does not reveal much apart from the habitual regional niceties.