“Peace be upon you, Mr. President,” the host of this celebration said warmly. President Kamal Ismail Salaam was the fourth elected Egyptian president since the Nasserite revolution in 1952. Tall, slender, and energetic, appearing more Italian than African, Salaam was the minister of finance under former president Muhammad Hosni Mubarak and leader of the National Democratic Party upon Mubarak’s retirement from politics. Like Mubarak, Salaam was a military veteran, serving as the commander in chief of the Egyptian Air Defense Force Command.

“Es salaem alekum! Peace upon you, brother!” Zuwayy said loudly so the whole room could hear, spreading his hands far apart as if to embrace his host even from across the room. He stepped quickly across the richly carpeted floor toward his host. Walking the requisite three paces behind him was the Libyan Secretary of Arab Unity—the closest Libya came to a foreign minister—Juma Mahmud Hijazi.

Two of President Zuwayy’s bodyguards quickly stepped up to President Salaam and stared at his hands and those of the others around him, looking for drawn weapons. It was a little irritating, but Salaam let the feeling go. The hall here at the Al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo, Egypt, was filled with dignitaries, diplomats, and celebrities from all over the world, here to celebrate the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday. There was a lot of security in the place already— two Egyptian soldiers inside and outside every doorway, along with a dozen Presidential Guard snipers watching from catwalks overhead—but Zuwayy was the only one to bring his own bodyguards into the great hall.

Salaam clasped Zuwayy’s shoulders and embraced him in a traditional Arab greeting. “Ahlan wa sahlan. Tashar- rafna! Hello and welcome. We are pleased and grateful by your presence, Mr. President.” This was the first time meeting the new leader of neighboring Libya, and it was about what he expected, given Zuwayy’s reputation. Zuwayy’s lips turned tense and hard, and his hands disappeared per- turbedly inside the billowing cuffs of his ornate silk robes.

Zuwayy’s Minister of Arab Unity looked positively horrified. “Pardon me, Mr. President,” Secretary Hijazi said in a low but stem voice, “but my lord prefers to be addressed as ‘His Royal Highness’ or as ‘King Idris the Second.’ I am sure my office made the proper notifications to your office in a timely manner. And touching his highness without his permission is absolutely forbidden.”

“Of course,” Salaam replied. “Yes, I was so notified.” He bowed to Zuwayy. “My apologies, Highness.”