Commentary: A new ‘NATO of the East’? Why the Mecca pact isn’t quite what it seems

KAMLOOPS, Canada: Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan have signed the Mecca Joint Defence Pact, a new collective defence arrangement that connects the Middle East with South Asia. Its central promise is striking: An armed attack against any one of the three countries will be treated as an attack against them all. This language has prompted comparisons with NATO, whose members make a similar commitment under Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty. By bringing together a major global oil producer (Saudi Arabia), a NATO member with an expanding defence industry (Türkiye) and a nuclear-armed state (Pakistan), this agreement has the…