A Muslim defense pact unites Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan this Friday in Jeddah, with a clause copied from NATO's Article 5. Three Muslim American allies built their own alliance, and Washington is not in it. The rich one wants protection, the bellicose one wants expansion, and the poor one sells the only export it has left.
The NATO summit in Ankara revealed the West's uncomfortable secret: everyone knows Turkey is unreliable, yet Trump and Europe still courted Erdogan for two days. Trump offered to lift S-400 sanctions and mulled F-35 sales, alarming Israel and Greece, while Europe chased energy routes and migration control through Turkish territory.
The new military headquarters of Egypt, called the Octagon, is now the largest military complex on Earth, bigger than the U.S. Pentagon and the size of Lisbon. While Sisi celebrates the fortress, poor Egyptians ask why, and Coptic Christians still wait for protection from persecution amid Turkey drills, Russian missiles, and Israel's cold peace.
