Foreign & Public Diplomacy

Last week, a minor geopolitical earthquake shook the Middle East. Saudi Arabia and Turkey—two nations that have been openly hostile toward one another for much of the last decade—pledged to go to war in each other’s defense. Along with Pakistan, they signed the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, declaring, NATO-style, that an attack on one would be treated as an attack on all. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have long had close security ties. But Saudi Arabia and Turkey have been bitter regional rivals, clashing over Qatar, Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood, and, most explosively, the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul, which Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan appeared to blame directly on the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.

So what brought them together? U.S. President Donald Trump—or rather the two countries’ diminishing faith in him and his word.

Last week, a minor geopolitical earthquake shook the Middle East. Saudi Arabia and Turkey—two nations that have been openly hostile toward one another for much of the last decade—pledged to go to war in each other’s defense. Along with Pakistan, they signed the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, declaring, NATO-style, that an attack on one would be treated as an attack on all. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have long had close security ties. But Saudi Arabia and Turkey have been bitter regional rivals, clashing over Qatar, Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood, and, most explosively, the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul, which Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan appeared to blame directly on the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.

So what brought them together? U.S. President Donald Trump—or rather the two countries’ diminishing faith in him and his word.

The Iran war has been a master class in how to squander credibility. Recall that Saudi Arabia and Qatar both received security commitments from Trump only last year. But Trump’s word is as solid with his counterparts abroad as it was with his bankers in New York. He has........

© Foreign Policy