I don't think we've fully grappled with the insidious and deeply destructive impact the last 7 years have had on the social fabric of Gulf countries. The rise of hyper-nationalism (and of Mohammad bin Salman) has had traumatic and mostly* invisible effects
I say "mostly invisible" knowing full well just how traumatic the visible effects have been - the treatment of activists, dissidents, and a whole lot of others in these countries, or the mass traumatization of Yemen. Yet, yes, I think the invisible is larger than the visible
Some analysts think the rise of Mohammad bin Salman caused this bent; I actually think it was correlation and not causation. Mohammad bin Salman was meant to be a model, and was a symptom/external effect of a deeper cause/agency that is yet to be fully exposed.
People don't trust each other any more. Friends had to give up friends for their own safety. Families split. Parents had to block their children on social media for their own safety. A new generation had to learn to keep silent and be careful what it thinks. Everyone is afraid.
When it comes to trauma and grievance, it's not like each generation carries its own trauma to its grave, and the next generation starts fresh. No, each generation inherits the trauma of their parents, and then pass it on to their children. Everyone and everything becomes worse.
What happens to societies that are packed to the brim with intergenerational trauma? What happens to societies where everyone has a grievance against everyone, where nobody trusts anybody, where everyone is afraid and anxious? What happens when the next national crisis hits?
By 2050 (if we are to survive as a species) we have to be carbon neutral. The oil will stay in the wells, nobody can get wealthy selling it anymore. Climate change will make many of these areas uninhabitable. Demographically, a majority in these countries won't even be citizens.
What happens then?
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