The traditional assessment was that the Arab Gulf states – Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman – were largely immune to wide scale protests, the differences among them notwithstanding. With their large oil and gas revenues, the states distribute some of their wealth through widespread subsidies of goods and services. Now, however, the fear that as the Arab rage increases the shockwaves will reach these countries, too, is not groundless, if only because some of the incendiary issues – including authoritarian regimes that suppress human rights – are found in the Gulf, and because of the highly infectious nature of the protests, which appear to be far from ebbing.
