I have to admit that the guest list is pretty impressive for the Middle East conference that begins today in Annapolis — Syria, Saudi Arabia, and 41 other countries.  Prime Minister Olmert apparently said that he was only disappointed that Djibouti couldn’t make it.  But they’re not exactly crucial to this endeavor, so I think we can go on ahead without them.

And President Bush is set to make a speech setting out some real goals, and supposedly to use the full diplomatic force of the US to make some of them actually happen. 

I plan to do a lot of blogging about all this over the next two days, so check back often for your share of snide pessimism.

(I’ll get started on that front by alerting you to the fact that Hamas is having a “counter-conference” in Gaza today.  Less gabbing, more stabbing.  You can see it here.)