"Three men stood in [[Mecca]] today, prayed facing the holy city, and signed a [[mutual-defense pact]] with an [[Article 5]]-style clause — an attack on one is an attack on all. [[Saudi Arabia]]. [[Turkey]]. [[Pakistan]]. A [[nuclear power]] is now [[treaty]]-bound to a country it has never [[trust]]ed and a [[monarchy]] hedging every direction at once. And here is the part that should stop you: there were no [[leak]]s. Not from [[Istanbul]], not from [[Islamabad]], not from [[Riyadh]]. On the exact same day, in the exact same region, [[Iran]] and [[Oman]] are finishing a separate deal that hands [[Tehran]] effective control over one-fifth of the world’s [[oil]] supply — and [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]] isn’t in the room for either one." | "Three men stood in [[Mecca]] today, prayed facing the holy city, and signed a [[mutual-defense pact]] with an [[Article 5]]-style clause — an attack on one is an attack on all. [[Saudi Arabia]]. [[Turkey]]. [[Pakistan]]. A [[nuclear power]] is now [[treaty]]-bound to a country it has never [[trust]]ed and a [[monarchy]] hedging every direction at once. And here is the part that should stop you: there were no [[leak]]s. Not from [[Istanbul]], not from [[Islamabad]], not from [[Riyadh]]. On the exact same day, in the exact same region, [[Iran]] and [[Oman]] are finishing a separate deal that hands [[Tehran]] effective control over one-fifth of the world’s [[oil]] supply — and [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]] isn’t in the room for either one." |