"Tribes With Flags" is part of a phrase attributed to Tahseen Bashir, an Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

ian diplomat (April 1925 - June 11, 2002). Regarding his belief in the centrality of Egypt within the Middle East

Middle East

The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

 he opined: "Egypt is the only nation-state in the Arab world

Arab world

The Arab world refers to Arabic-speaking states, territories and populations in North Africa, Western Asia and elsewhere.The standard definition of the Arab world comprises the 22 states and territories of the Arab League stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Arabian Sea in the...

; the rest are just tribes with flags".

Another version of Mr. Bashir’s ‘flag’ quip is: " 'When the chips are down, there is only one real place in the entire area – Egypt,' a Cairo

Cairo

Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...

diplomat once declared. 'All the rest – forgive me – are tribes with flags.' " Two book title take-offs on this quote are Tribes With Flags: A Dangerous Passage Through the Chaos of the Middle East (Apr. 1990)and Tribes With Flags: A Journey Curtailed (1992), both by Charles Glass.