The Middle Eastern Cold War Between MBS and MBZ Isn’t Cold Anymore

• Become a proxy

• Be dragged into Yemen militarily

• Reduce foreign policy to Gulf binaries

The correct posture is principled alignment without operational entanglement.

What Pakistan Should Do (and Not Do)

Your take?

— Zorays Khalid (@zorayskhalid) December 30, 2025

Do:

• Support Saudi Arabia’s right to defend its national security

• Advocate Yemen’s unity and political settlement

• Offer mediation, not muscle

• Keep diplomatic channels open with all Gulf partners

• Reaffirm that Pakistan’s defense agreements are defensive, not expeditionary

Do Not:

• Pick camps publicly in a way that forecloses diplomacy

• Participate in proxy conflicts

• Fear UAE’s US $ 3 Billion parked

• Allow Pakistani territory, manpower, or credibility to be used indirectly

Defence cooperation is not subcontracted warfare.

This Is Not the End — But It Is the End of Illusions

Saudi–UAE tensions did not begin in Yemen:

• OPEC disputes (2021)

• Sudan’s RSF backing

• Somaliland recognition

• Competing visions of Gulf order

But Yemen is where abstraction ended.

This is the first time Saudi Arabia:

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