About this episode Tune into 'Power Moves' for your daily, incisive briefing on the diplomatic maneuvers reshaping our world. We cut through the headlines to uncover the true shifts in global alliances, foreign policy, defense pacts, and trade negotiations, revealing what truly impacts the balance of power. Get the inside story from a seasoned perspective, equipping you with a deeper understanding of today's complex international landscape.
0:00 pakistan saudi arabia and turkey just signed a mutual defense pact an attack on one is now an attack on all and for one brief terrifying moment it looked like it came with a nuclear guarantee in our last episode on global power moves we talked about the new alliances forming under the surface this one just broke through here's0:26 what else is shifting the map the us state department is now preparing a formal request to russia they wanna know what happened with a suspected pneumonic plague leak in siberia this isn't just a health concern it's a diplomatic probe into a biological event inside a rival power and it ratchets up the tension between washington and moscow meanwhile0:49 the european union just adopted its twentieth and twenty first sanctions packages against russia's war economy they're going after everything energy revenues trade crypto military industries even the drones being built with foreign parts the goal is simple starve the machine make it impossible for moscow to keep funding the war in ukraine as old rivalries harden new alliances are1:14 being cemented secretary of state marco rubio was just in athens meeting with the greek prime minister this isn't a courtesy call it's the us deepening its strategic dialogue shoring up its flank in the eastern mediterranean every handshake matters right now and it's not just military the us and its asian partners have now committed over $10,000,000,000 to finance1:40 and stockpile critical minerals this is the new battlefield securing the materials for chips for batteries for everything that powers a modern economy and a modern military it's diplomacy and industrial policy fused into one back home the costs of these global maneuvers are starting to land on your receipt those tariffs from the trump administration are still in place2:06 and the burden is shifting economic analysis shows that by october you were bearing 55% of the cost the projection for mid twenty twenty seven 67% but let's go back to that new alliance in the middle east the makkah joint defense agreement this changes the entire calculus of the region for decades the story was sunni versus shia saudi2:33 arabia versus iran but this pact brings together three major non arab and arab sunni powers turkiye pakistan and saudi arabia these are not traditional friends they've been rivals for influence now they've signed a document that says your enemy is my enemy the text is explicit an armed attack against any one member of the alliance shall be regarded3:03 as an attack against them all that's nato language it's a red line drawn in the sand so why now the simple answer is shared threats for saudi arabia the primary threat is and has always been iran for turkey the bigger concern is often israel the pact is meant to be a bulwark against both but here's where it3:30 gets complicated and dangerous the nuclear question shortly after the deal was announced pakistan's defense minister kwaja asif made a stunning statement he said pakistan's nuclear capabilities will absolutely be available under this pact he was in effect extending a nuclear umbrella over saudi arabia a promise to counter any nuclear threat say from iran with pakistan's4:00 own arsenal then he walked it back the statement was retracted officials sent out clarifications the nuclear commitment became ambiguous a question mark hanging over the entire agreement so what happened pakistan blinked they made a promise they weren't ready to keep or one that their own military and foreign policy establishment couldn't stomach extending a nuclear guarantee is the4:30 single most serious commitment a nation can make it puts your own cities at risk for an ally islamabad looked into that abyss and pulled back4:42 this is the central weakness of the new pact an alliance is only as strong as its members' shared interests and here the interests diverge turkey is looking west toward israel and the mediterranean saudi arabia is looking east toward iran and the gulf and pakistan the nuclear power holding the entire thing together is now unsure of what it's5:11 willing to promise this isn't an alliance it's a bet and the house is divided on who to bet against5:21 the era of stable blocks is over we are now in a world of fast forming fragile alliances where a single promise made or broken can redraw the map overnight
