Is Pakistan, the only Muslim-majority nuclear armed nation, offering its nuclear shield to Saudi Arabia? If it is, is it going to make the same offer to other Islamic powers? From Ted Snider at antiwar.com:
On September 17, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, visited Saudi Arabia. Something bigger than expected happened.
“Building on the historic partnership extending for nearly eight decades,” Sharif and Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia, signed the Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement.” Unlike many defense pacts, this one seems to be a full-blown alliance, clearly stating “that any aggression against either country shall be considered an aggression against both.”
The regional and international orders will be shaken up by this defense agreement. It is significant for three reasons. It raises the crucial question of whether Saudi Arabia just won a place under the Pakistani nuclear umbrella. It raises questions about the growing possibility of a pan-Islamic security architecture. And it highlights the ever emerging multipolar world.
In a practical sense, there may be little that is new about Saudi Arabia pocketing protection from Pakistan’s nuclear weapons. Pakistan’s 1998 nuclear test landed it in international isolation. As a member of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty, Saudi Arabia opposed the test, but they offered Pakistan financial support anyway. To help counter U.S. imposed sanctions, Saudi Arabia offered $3.4 billion worth of assistance.
