AMB. Chas Freeman : New Middle East Alliance a Threat to Israel

Chas Freeman considers that the new agreement signed in Mecca between Turkey, Pakistan and Saudia Arabia shows that in the absence of any security from the erratic United States, they have to make their own arrangements. It is an agreement among Sunni majority Muslim countries to balance against both Israeli power and Shia Muslim power in the Gulf region. I am not sure what this agreement really means. Yemenis have been seriously attacking Saudi Arabia in the last few days. Does this mean Pakistan and Turkey will somehow defend Saudi Arabia from attacks by Yemen? Apparently not. Iran has said that it does not have a problem with the agreement. They do not see it as a Sunni alliance against Shia Muslims. They are all Muslims and Mecca is holy to both sects. They see it as a Muslim alliance against US and Israeli aggression in the region. I think the Sunni-Shia conflict is exaggerated by Western analysts. In a country like Egypt, it is like the relationship between Protestants and Catholics in the West, with Sunni and Shia mosques on opposite street corners and plenty of intermarriage. They have coexisted for centuries.