ONE boasts(拥有（值得自豪的东西）) NATO’s second-largest army and a booming(蓬勃发展的，兴旺的) defence sector. Another is the Muslim world’s only nuclear power. And the third is the world’s eighth-biggest arms spender. No wonder that Turkey, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia made a splash on August 7th when they signed a defence pact, especially after officials said it included a mutual-defence clause similar to NATO’s Article 5.(难怪土耳其、巴基斯坦和沙特阿拉伯在8月7日签署防务协议时引起轰动，尤其是在官员表示该协议包含类似北约第五条的共同防御条款之后。) “Any armed attack against any one of the three states shall be regarded as an attack against them all,” said Pakistan’s foreign ministry.
一个拥有北约第二大军队和蓬勃发展的国防工业。另一个是穆斯林世界唯一的核大国。第三个则是全球第八大武器消费国。难怪土耳其、巴基斯坦和沙特阿拉伯在8月7日签署防务协议时引起轰动，尤其是在官员表示该协议包含类似北约第五条的共同防御条款之后。巴基斯坦外交部表示：“对三国中任何一国的武装攻击都将被视为对全体三国的攻击。”
The three powers stress that other regional powers are welcome to join the pact, batting away(驳斥，拒绝（建议等）) suggestions of a Sunni military bloc(集团，阵营) in the making. But the religious symbolism was laid on thick(刻意渲染，过分强调) at the signing, attended by Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, and their host, Muhammad bin Salman, the Saudi crown prince (pictured(图中所示，照片中的)). Instead of Riyadh, the Saudi capital, the ceremony took place in Mecca(麦加：伊斯兰教圣城), Islam’s holiest city. Afterwards, the three leaders prayed at the city’s Grand Mosque.
这三个大国强调欢迎其他地区大国加入该协议，并驳斥了有关正在形成逊尼派军事集团的说法。但在签署仪式上，宗教象征意义被刻意渲染，土耳其总统雷杰普·塔伊普·埃尔多安、巴基斯坦总理谢赫巴兹·谢里夫以及东道主沙特王储穆罕默德·本·萨勒曼（如图）出席。仪式没有在沙特首都利雅得举行，而是在伊斯兰圣城麦加举行。随后，三位领导人在该市的大清真寺祈祷。
One purpose of the deal is to act as a counterweight(制衡力量，平衡物) to Israeli influence. The rapid succession of Israeli military operations in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and Iran, the attack that killed Hamas negotiators in Qatar, and a sense that Israel’s appetite for regional dominance is not yet sated, have set off alarms across the Middle East.(以色列在加沙、黎巴嫩、叙利亚和伊朗的军事行动接连不断，在卡塔尔杀害哈马斯谈判代表的袭击，以及以色列对地区主导地位的胃口尚未满足的感觉，在整个中东地区拉响了警报。) Such concerns are most acute in Turkey, which some Israeli politicians and officials have described as a threat on a par with(与...同等，与...相当) Iran.
该协议的目的之一是制衡以色列的影响力。以色列在加沙、黎巴嫩、叙利亚和伊朗的军事行动接连不断，在卡塔尔杀害哈马斯谈判代表的袭击，以及以色列对地区主导地位的胃口尚未满足的感觉，在整个中东地区拉响了警报。这种担忧在土耳其最为严重，一些以色列政治家和官员将土耳其描述为与伊朗同等级别的威胁。