Drudge Retort: The Other Side of the News
Wednesday, August 19, 2026

The Mecca Agreement and regional pipeline bypasses confirm that Middle Eastern self-reliance, as a multinational region, is no longer theoretical. In January, CENTCOM aligned with a 17-nation Middle East Air Defense, Combined Defense Operations Cell at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. Seven months later, on August 7th in Mecca, three of the region's largest militaries turned that coordination into commitment: Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan signed the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, declaring that an armed attack on any one member is an attack on all. It combines Saudi financial resources, Turkey's defense industry, and Pakistan's nuclear capability, anchored by a permanent secretariat in Saudi Arabia. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan cited NATO's collective defense clause as a technical parallel; the founders have said they don't intend to stay at three.

More

Comments

Admin's note: Participants in this discussion must follow the site's moderation policy. Profanity will be filtered. Abusive conduct is not allowed.

"Saudi financial resources, Turkey's defense industry, and Pakistan's nuclear capability" -- something many of us pointed out a few weeks ago as the anchor behind this alliance.

The unreliability of the US as an ally or friend is now a permanent fixture in the geo-sphere, thanks to its unwavering economic and military support to Pariah nation Israel, a Rogue state which has callously liquidated 75,000 human beings in the Gaza Strip (per The Lancet UK), allows Israeli terrorists to kill Palestinians and seize their property in the West Bank, and displaced one million people in Lebanon (per the UN).

Of this culpability there is no doubt to anyone on the planet.

"But, hey! In 2024 we got the gosh-darned 140 Israeli hostages released! To heck with ten million progressives, pacifists, antiwar veterans, pro-Palestine volunteers, and Samaritans trying to feed the starving Gazans and stop the Israeli Death Forces (IDF) from slaughtering them with American taxpayer money!"


Palestinian death count in Gaza under the 2024 Democratic Party on Tuesday 5 Nov 2024: ~43,000 souls.

"FUNNY"

#1 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2026-08-19 04:51 PM | Reply

The unreliability of the US as an ally or friend is now a permanent fixture

In related news ... the US national debt hits $40.047 trillion

#2 | Posted by oneironaut at 2026-08-19 05:38 PM | Reply

Thank a pedophile, you drooling imbecile.

#3 | Posted by LegallyYourDead at 2026-08-19 05:44 PM | Reply

The following HTML tags are allowed in comments: a href, b, i, p, br, ul, ol, li and blockquote. Others will be stripped out. Participants in this discussion must follow the site's moderation policy. Profanity will be filtered. Abusive conduct is not allowed.

Anyone can join this site and make comments. To post this comment, you must sign it with your Drudge Retort username. If you can't remember your username or password, use the lost password form to request it.
Username:
Password:

Home | Breaking News | Comments | User Blogs | Stats | Back Page | RSS Feed | RSS Spec | DMCA Compliance | Privacy

Drudge Retort