The Mecca Pact: Alliance or Illusion?
The Mecca Joint Defence Agreement, signed by Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Türkiye, faces what many see as its first real test. Does it signal lost faith in the US as regional security guarantor? Many expected China to fill a US vacuum, so why has the pact gone regional instead? Do members now inherit each other's security challenges and rivalries? And what should India learn, or is it too soon?