A Turning Point: The Gulf Reorders Itself, and Pakistan Moves to the Centre
For eighty years, the security of the Middle East ran through Washington. Gulf monarchies bought American arms and hosted American bases, and in return they assumed the guarantee would hold when it counted. Today that assumption is being retired. What is taking its place is a regional order built by the region’s own powers,…
A Sacred Red Line: The Makkah Joint Defence Agreement and the Imperative of Collective Deterrence
The security architecture of the Middle East has entered an acutely volatile and unprecedented phase following the latest Houthi aggression directed towards the holiest sanctuary of Islam. On 16 September 2026, coalition air defence systems successfully intercepted an armed unmanned aerial vehicle launched by the Iran-backed militia just prior to its entry into the…
The Indispensable Guardian: Pakistan and the Defence of Muslim Sovereignty in South Asia
In the fractured geopolitical landscape of 2026, a single question has moved from the margins of strategic discourse to its very centre: who speaks for the Muslim world’s sovereign interests when they are threatened by the expansionist ambitions of regional powers? The answer, increasingly, is Pakistan. From the negotiating rooms of Islamabad to the…
The Gulf Slips Away: How the Makkah Pact Ended India’s Decade of Gulf Diplomacy
The formalisation of the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement on 7 August 2026 marks a pivotal structural shift in the security architecture of West Asia and South Asia. Signed in the holy city of Makkah by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the trilateral…
The Makkah Joint Defence Agreement: The Rise of a New Islamic Security Bloc
The formalisation of a trilateral defence agreement between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Republic of Türkiye and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan on 7 August 2026 marks a watershed moment in Middle Eastern and South Asian security architectures. Signed in Jeddah by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime…
Somaliland and the Middle Eastern Divide
The Horn of Africa has rapidly transitioned from a peripheral maritime flank into a primary battleground for Middle Eastern proxy competition. The core of this friction lies in a concerted attempt by specific actors to embed a structural divide within the region by weaponising Somaliland’s separatist ambitions. This strategy of fragmentation threatens to destabilise…
