On Aug. 7, the world welcomed yet another defensive alliance onto the map, this one between Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. However, their newly minted Mecca Joint Defense Agreement has been fraught with incohesion from its outset: Turkey cares little about Kashmir, as Pakistan cares little about the Kurds, and Saudi Arabia cares little about who controls the Aegean Sea or Kashmir. Incohesion aside, the alliance elucidates the Middle East's wider trend of multipolarity, which embraces functional transactionalism in which states trade energy, capital, technology and intelligence, while trying novel frameworks to find an indigenous balance of power. As these alignments emerge, it is notable that one major middle power, Egypt, remains aloof. This independent Egyptian strategy will likely point the way to the region's strategic future.