A story yesterday in Business Week, A Mideast Valley of Peace discussed how the development of a $3 billion canal from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea is gaining some traction. There is both Arab and Israeli support for the idea which would bring industry, tourism, and most importantly water through desalination plants to a very thirsty location.

According to the report the ambitious project is being energized by 60-year-old billionaire Itzhak Tshuva, who was born into a poor family of 11 who crammed into a single room after immigrating to Israel from Libya in the 1940s. He went on to build a global real estate empire that includes New York's Plaza Hotel, as well as a recently announced $8 billion luxury hotel, retail, residential, and casino complex on the Las Vegas Strip.

Equally important, the project is getting a warm reception in parts of the Arab world. This so-called Valley of Peace is part of a 520-kilometer (323-mile) corridor being proposed by Israeli President Shimon Peres for regional economic development. Peres says he has received letters of support from both Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Jordan's King Abdullah II. And according to Israeli press reports, Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal -- known for his investments in Western icons such as Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) -- recently told Tshuva that he will support the project through Jordan.

A few months ago, I started wondering about eBay's chief executive, Meg Whitman. It occurred to me that her tenure was growing old, and I speculated about whether she might step down in the next 12-18 months.

Today, I'm even more concerned about eBay's management team. The company has been rapidly losing all the bright stars who shone in my investing galaxy when I first decided to buy eBay back in 2000. Forbes has an illuminating look at the brain drain at PayPal, recently capped off by news that Jeff Jordan would be stepping down "for family reasons." Jordan, an executive that I met a few years before he took over as CEO of PayPal, is a charismatic, slick, management consultant type: in short, exactly the sort of person Meg has always preferred. As she said in her statement regarding his departure, Jordan is a friend.

Jeff Jordan's not the only friend Meg Whitman has lost. Maynard Webb, her longtime friend and eBay COO, retires next month, as I noted earlier. It's hard to say whether the other PayPal execs mentioned in the Forbes article had time to become friendly with Meg, but it's certain that their departure can't be a good thing. Instead of infusing life into eBay, they're out setting trends and making news at companies like YouTube (Chad Hurley), Slide (Max Levchin) and LinkedIn (Reid Hoffman), or directing oodles of money at hedge funds and venture capital firms.