The reported Saudi-American nuclear cooperation agreement (if it lasts Trump’s mood swings) represents a geopolitical inflexion point that exposes the fundamental contradictions at the heart of the current international order — the fragility of strategic partnerships, and the hollow nature of values-based foreign policy in an age of competitive great power interests.

On its surface, the deal is straightforward: The United States extends civilian nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia as part of a broader package aimed at normalising Israeli-Saudi relations, consolidating American influence in the Gulf, and offsetting Iranian regional reach. The optics are managed. The Saudis frame it as energy security for a hydrocarbon-dependent economy transitioning toward Vision 2030. The Americans frame it as non-proliferation-compliant, insisting that enrichment and reprocessing restrictions will be embedded in any agreement. Yet the subtext is unmistakable, and it is alarming: This is a pathway toward a nuclear-armed Saudi Arabia, and everyone at the table knows it.

The first casualty of this arrangement is any coherent American non-proliferation........

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