Also this written a couple of years back:
The oil rush will prove somewhat similar to the Klondike gold rush. Whole
cities in the Gulf, construed with little concern for energy conservation and
local environmental conditions, could become ghost towns with the expiry of
oil. Meanwhile however, much has changed since the first oil boom. With the
current oil boom as well, the international interest in regional oil has
intensified, the regional open conflicts have increased and many of the
national authoritarian regimes further concentrated power with sons following
in the footsteps of their fathers. Oil rents, it may be recalled, have already
lead to a sort idle and lethargic mode of existence and did not only lower
productivity, they also revamped old ways of life deepening parasitic mores
with the spiritual fatalism attendant on it, all too self evident in the rise
of Salafi Islam. The institutional setup reflected the rising tide of
patriarchy further divorcing the broader public from
participation in the way national decisions affecting their lives are made.
The Arab people hold now less control over their own destiny.
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