Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey signed a mutual defence pact on Friday that would treat any act of aggression on one of the three nations as an attack on all of them, the allies said in a joint statement. However, it did not specify if the agreement would bind them to any particular military action in each other’s defence.
Interesting. Especially as Turkey is a member of NATO.
And Pakistan has nukes.
DB2
As the Iran conflict heats up and Saudi Arabia is receiving missile attacks I suppose defense alliances are not a surprise. Interesting that the major war powers in the area are Iran and Israel.
Implies that the U.S. may not be a reliable defender. Alternatives are a backup.
I would be happier if India was a member of that pact. Of course, Pakistan and India are mortal enemies so that would be impossible. Both are nuclear armed which makes this one of the most dangerous flash points in the world.
This has the potential to make the Israel-Palestinian problem look like a tempest in a teacup.
I often think about how happy people who died in 1913 were. They enjoyed the optimism of the early developments in autos and airplanes but missed the agony of World War 1.
Remember that World War 1 was caused by alliances that pulled in great powers.
Now we have NATO (which includes Turkey) and the new Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan defense deal. If India attacks Pakistan (say, over the contested Kashmir) will Turkey get involved? Would the U.S. get involved if Iran attacked Saudi Arabia and then Turkey attacked Iran which reciprocated?
Gemini says this wouldn’t happen due to limitations in the treaties.
The Mecca agreement among Sunni powers is primarily a way to hem in Shia Iran and the Houthis in Yemen. The closure of the oil shipping choke points by Iran and the Houthis is a direct threat to the world’s Macro economy as well as Saudi Arabia.
Wendy
