Why Saudi Arabia is doomed

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Saudi Arabia may seem to many of us to be a country with a golden future. A country with enormous reserves of wealth, collected from almost a century of trading in oil and holding a monopoly on the world's hydrocarbon market. BUT... I would argue that the enormous economic power the Saudis built on the hydrocarbon market has doomed their country, as well as those of their neighbors in Qatar or the UAE. The holding of such a monopoly stagnated political development and therefore left these countries in a position of being ill-prepared for a world after oil. To showcase this, I will however take you to a different place first. The Congo
Why Nations Fail by Darren Acemoglu and James Robinson
A world History of Slavery by Milton Meltzer
Conquerors by Roger Crowly
Impromptu no. 4 in A flat major, D. 899
Preludes, Op. 28 - No. 15 'Raindrop'
Ballade no. 1 in G minor, Op. 23
You might be interested in this video too: • The Origins of the Gre...
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[Kraut]

Pinned comment reserved for correcting potential mistakes, adressing critizisms, and other releated points: 1: "How is Iran not impacted by this" - Ironically the sanctions against Iran mean that iran will in the long term be in a better position than the Saudis, because Iran is forced through the sanctions to diversify its economy in advance.

[ዘየደ ሣህለሥላሴ]

Never been this early

[GoldenIP]

Love

[HaZeust]

Hell yeah you made none!

[MS3300]

I SUPPORT THE EU FROM POLAND

[Ahmed Wakering]

i am a mistake

[Finance Head]

As an African, I'm glad people are talking about this dark history of ours. May it be a lesson that evil is not based on race but based on the very nature of human beings and we should all as humanity, not races, learn from the mistakes of our ancestors....

[rizzy]

Anyone and everyone is capable of great evil. Its never been exclusive to one group of people and we need to think that way at all times.

[Zaarker U]

@rizzy Sure, which is why the comment of OP is great... What's your point?...

[Ace Of Swords]

Very true. Kudos.

[Epä Järjestys]

@Zaarker U What is yours?

[David Ryan]

@Epä Järjestys what about you, what's your angle here?

[Alex Rofe]

Perhaps the most disturbing part of this for the Congo is that, after the slave trade, Their wealth was gone Their nations income was gone Their social structure and institutions were broken Their diplomatic importance and influence was gone All that was left was one of the only investments the monarchy made, the guns. That was all they had left.

[Ricky Smith]

the hunger games!

[TheItaliano]

Congo is still sitting on billions of dollars worth of resources. They have things they can utilize in the future, if they manage to solve their problems.

[Emre Kabasakal]

@TheItaliano it is still natural wealth, meaning if they somehow get the equipment to process the gems they will once again be complacent and develop no new industries, plus the extraction of natural resources have a tendency to be carried out by rich foreigners or corrupt officials meaning its likely the people living there wont see a cent of it. I hope they can do it like botswana, but its unlikely

[Der Username]

another example for that is Spain, once the silver stopped coming, the nation collapsed and till today, Spain is economically in a precarious situation with a lack of extensive infrastructure

[Mein Schmerz]

@Emre Kabasakal Botswana is a really nice example. But congo has to many foreign meddling going on. the world knows how to meddle there best and they wont quit it.

[DarksideModerator]

The sad part is the thing that happened to the Kongo didn't stop there. Dahomey is another example of an African state that almost completely morphed into a militant state that structured itself entirely around the slave trade. Even after the abolition of slavery in Europe, these social, economic, military, and political structures persisted, paralyzing the development of multiple African states in the 19th century.

[mattharcla]

But recall Dahomey developed in reaction to the Yoruba Empire, a slave trading state catering to northern Africa and the Islamic slave trade, which was itself the successor of the Mali empires, Islamic slave trading regimes. It not only didn't stop there, it didn't start there.

[Keith Ngwa]

@mattharcla All of Pre-Modern Africa was involved with the slave trade. Slavery is older than civilization itself and almost universal, hunter gatherers and Neanderthals also practiced slavery.

[mattharcla]

@Keith Ngwa Yep.

[Jerome Haymaker]

We make slaves of ourselves with our bad habits.

[The Progressive Cynic]

Dahomey was a militaristic slaving state prior to European contact, but they were constrained by the fact that the Oyo Empire sat on their border and cut them off from expanding their slave raids. When the Oyo collapsed, their slaving dramatically increased, as they didn't have to respect the autonomy of the ex-Oyo tributary groups (like themselves), who could now be targeted.

[TomFynn]

I read a quote somewhere by an Arab oil tycoon who said in effect "My grandpa rode camels, my father rode a car, I ride a Ferrari and my grandson will ride a camel."

[Hamza]

That was the UAE's Shaikh Rashid

[TomFynn]

@Hamza Thanks for the info!

[Stanley Stove]

Ride them all

[enderguardian]

@Hamza makes sense since the UAE is the least oil dependent gulf country (mostly due to dubai)

[Hamza]

@enderguardian still over 50%

[Alex R]

A similar effect was seen in Spain where the vast gold wealth from the new world dincentivized development of its local economy and squandered on pan European religious wars, and led to Spain having an economy backward relative to the rest of Europe until the beginning of the 20th century.

[Watch maker]

It was silver more than gold, but that's a minor point. A bigger one was that "Inflation" wasn't as well understood an idea. Even for a hard, unadulterated commodity currency, sometimes the money printer can, indeed, go brrrrrrr.

[Nick V]

It's still backwards

[dipro001]

Even today. Especially, if you consider the head start it had.

[Libby Stein Torrez]

Not quite, the spanish empire tried to modernise on the 18th century, and it kinda succeeded, specially in Mexico were manufacturing was overtaking mining as the main economic sector. I always say that had the spanish empire remained together until at least the 20th century it would have had time to reform and industrialize.

[Ria]

Excellent video. Those who are angered by the European slave trade rarely acknowledge the role of Africans in the practice. (My biological father is a West African barrister and is thoroughly of the opinion Africa is still selling its people's future to the highest bidders - China and Russia this century)

[my Plan]

Howard W. French - Born in blackness, Africa, africans and the making of the modern world, 1471 - WW2

[Ria]

@nbafanboy8146 I'd argue they have it worse. My sister in law is Brazilian and South American's are very much expected to go to university, be highly skilled, function just like other citizens of a developed economy but under crazy regimes absolutely corrupt with minimal legal rights and practically zero freedom of speech. Touting BRICS is the salvation of the economy because western $$£ is bad but not fully explaining its simply an excerise to sell China resources at below open market prices and boost Russia's ability to access foreign currency now they've put a match to their energy based economy by effectively ending future gas and oil sales to Europe. (Pipelines already under construction by alternative suppliers and ink dry on billion € deals with Qatar, Algeria etc)

[Mwalimu J]

@my Plan Thank you! Just read review, looked through it, and ordered it. (This is what I like about some KZbin sites: Good conversations, learning place ... even if the video author may not always support it.)

[my Plan]

@Mwalimu J this book widened my horizon about that topic, lots of facts and numbers and new points of view. Very well written, too. Right, you already ordered it ...

[IMPERIAL]

Honestly, I find the most impressive part of this video how you manage to create analogues between centuries; an ancient African Kingdom complacent in its slave wealth and an Arabic Kingdom complacent in its oil wealth. It's an art to make these videos relevant to contemporary forces, and on top of that you manage to communicate the trap of innovation stagnation very well.

[Nathan Seper]

Complacency is the death knell of any society: when the leaders stop caring about threats, they doom themselves.

[Phyzax]

The gulf countries also use slaves!

[T teg egg]

I mean hey, he’s is not saying hur berder Africans bad. Good videos as usual

[Jack]

And the middle east slave weather as well

[keithphw]

In defence of the Saudis and all resource-extractive countries including my own (Australia with it's iron ore), it's difficult to excel in other industries due to 'Dutch disease'. World demand for the resource bids your exchange rate higher relative to others, giving the resource-poor countries an advantage, especially in manufacturing. When the Dutch found north sea oil, their manufacturing industry became uncompetitive due to this problem, hence the name.

[Ed Patel]

Dutch prosperity was not the result of finding oil in the North Sea; it was the result of exploiting the 11th largest natural gas field ever discovered: the Groningen gas field.

[Niels Korpel]

@Ed Patel And, like clockwork, the local population was exploited to some degree, as the resources were more important than their interests. This is a current scandal within our government, albeit less severe in what kind of misdeeds were done, compared to colonisation by a foreign power. I care about the way we play this when it comes to future rare earth metal mines in the north of scandinavia.

[Karl Scher]

Norway found the answer: parking ressource money in a public investment fund under independent management, which invests it in foreign business.

[Massimo]

Most Dutchies, like myself, have never heard of this 'Dutch Disease'. It hasn't affected the people in the Netherlands in any way shape or form. Just thought that you should know, as it seems to be the basis for your argument.

[EuroBonapartiste]

As a history student myself I am always astonished of the depth of your knowledge and your surprising, but striking historical comparisons. This is truly one of the best channels on KZbin. Please keep up the good work and all hail the almighty algorithm.

[Majima Construction Loyal Worker]

i get the massage from the congo past but to say saudi will become the next congo without enough evidence is simply dumb, because saudi owns the entirety of aramco, it owns some of blackrock, vanguard, starbucks, apple,amazon, visa, google, Nintendo, microsoft and uber.. and many more… how could it be the next congo if its this well stabled ? We are not the us as we dont even have debt + more than 40 T$ in resources and investment.

[Alblaka]

It's amazing that the 11 minute build up of a 14 minute video works just that well to convey the point made both in the title, and foreshadowed in that first quote. Artistic excellence.

[GolemRising]

A bit late to the conversation but this really hits harder now that "The Line" and all its ridiculous failings have come out and really shone a light on just how delusional the Saudi government is. Its a tragedy thats rapidly becoming an inevitability.

[Meme Clip Archives]

Whether it will succeed or not, it's even predicted that it would literally deflect rays of sunlight directly to migration bird paths which will kill most of them.

[A A]

What failings have come out? Could you please provide a source?

[GolemRising]

@A A Are you really asking? Or is this feigned ignorance? Do you really not see potential issues with building a road to nowhere through deserts and mountains and then trying to build a city around it while brutalizing natives who happen to live where you are supposedly going to build this nightmare city? If you really don't see why The Line would be an engineering and societal nightmare, there are plenty of videos on KZbin about that topic. I recommend the one by Adam Something.

[Steve Koski Esq]

To be honest, this is a masterclass in educating, it had me enraptured throughout and got its message across with grim effectiveness

[Jam]

My family and I lived in Saudi Arabia almost continuously for 14 years, my father worked for the Saudi military through a UK and my mother worked for various Saudi Universities. This country was my home for the majority of my childhood and teenage years and the experiences gained there inform my thoughts on Saudi Arabia. I think the most important point in this video is how slavery in the Kongo (present day Northern Angola) created a sort of inevitable collapse of the country, it was just too reliant on slavery, and too reliant on the secondary effects it gave. And Saud’s great oil reservoirs place Saudi Arabia in a similar situation, and that there is no possible way for Saudi Arabia to wean itself from oil, nor for it to remain as the country we know should oil run out. The problem is not just that of hydrocarbons and how it dominates the country’ s economy, it is that for the past 50 years, the entire society has been built around what oil provides and that the country does not seem to realise that it needs to diversify completely from oil in order to be able to provide for itself. At this point the Saudis know that they need something else, Saudi Vision 2030, is their answer to organise the government into pushing less oil reliant industries. If you look at Saudi exports, however, apart from products directly related to oil and oil refinement, the next largest export by a large margin is heavy metals. The largest of these heavy metals is aluminium, the problem with aluminium is that in order to refine aluminium you require petroleum coke, an oil refining by-product and a lot of power, provided by oil generators, and it is a similar case with their steel refinement. Saudi is expanding their industrial capacity but only by utilising what they already make with oil at this time. However, the largest problem with Saudi Arabia and why it will not survive is to do with their current emigration and immigration policies. The reason these are a problem are that Saudi has a work ethic problem in that native born Saudis are given a life from birth that is comfortable and that continues into adulthood. They are given sinecures, government jobs and salaries, while they import manual workers from poor countries, cheap labourers from India, Philippines and specialised jobs mainly from the West. It has worked alright for the past 40-50 years, the problem is that Saudi Arabia is not as financially attractive anymore, the salaries are down, they have introduced taxes and have failed to make the country more hospitable to Westerners to counteract salary decreases. Everyone has heard of the issues with the cheap labour they bring; they are treated like slaves in Qatar, UAE and Saudi, and for the most part this is ignored by these workers because the pay is good, but once the pay is not good these cheap workers will stop arriving and will start leaving. These two problems combined means that Saudi Arabia is going to suffer a massive worker shortage including, perhaps most importantly in the oil fields and security forces. This problem is made worse in that, the Saudis who want to work, who are motivated and educated leave the country for a free society and better prospects. And it is not just the males who are able to leave. Saudi female graduates or those at university, the half who are actually motivated all go to the USA or the UK to finish their education and stay there. It is a massive brain drain that is not even realised outside the country because there are so many westerners masking it. Its why the new Crown Prince, MBS, has tried to reform the laws so much as part of Saudi Vision 2030, especially in regard to women, because they are leaving in their droves, and with them go their bank accounts, the money spent in Saudi Arabia, their children and Saudi’s future.

[Star maker 75]

It almost having a sharia state with a form of Islam that even other traditional Muslims find crazy isn’t a good way to run thing society wise.

[Your Enemy's friend]

They have a chance as long as they have a long-lived and visionary ruler!

[Nathan Seper]

The question is whether they can wean themselves off of oil, which they might not be able to do in time.

[_Eridan_]

Saudi here you are right if only things were easier to fix.....

[Zagreus]

@Star maker 75 Plus a form of islam that sees any other branch or sect as heretical does not make friends with it’s neighbors.

[Win Tan]

This video not only put a great analogue as to why UAE is doomed economically, but also gave me a good history lesson as to how Congo descent into violent conflict that was dubbed "World War Africa". I only learnt about the war but not so much of the background as to why Congo until now still unable to become a functioning country until this video. Until now, Congo is still exploited by richer foreign countries and Congo is still unable to reap the benefits of rich mineral for their own Congolese. I guess that's what happen, when there wasn't anyone who have the will and strength to unite the country and build a true national identity to unite the Congolese.

[Alan Harding]

They had Patrice Lumumba in Congo but course they killed .

[the local bigamist]

@Alan Harding Of course they did. The current empire will take out (or try to) anyone who doesn't dance to the tune of imperialism and neocolonialism.

[S A]

The UAE is in a better position, they’re finally innovating in healthcare, military and technology. I just read that companies/businesses in UAE need to employ a certain amount of Emirati people or they’ll be fined, which will help them in removing the reliance on forge in workers. They’re also getting into a lot of foreign innovation developments that they could bring back to UAE. I personally despise the UAE government for what it did and is doing to Yemen, it is controlling and ruining the country and will make the Yemenis fall 50-60 years backwards in terms of development. I see Saudi as being the one to get in political turmoil as its massive and they’re all condensed into major cities, and they’re already ruining their political and cultural structure that they have been reliant on for the past 100 years.

[Reflx]

@S A You make no sense, you know saudi implemented the nationals employment quota years before the uae ? and they implemented it more strictly and demanded larger amount of saudis. there were so many points you could have praised uae on but you choose the worst one lol.

[DELANO Michael]

Hey kraut, I was rewatching your history of turkey documentary and I have always been really impressed by your ability to tell a story. Although always consistent in your storytelling, what I did notice was the change in quality of the artwork! I just wanted to give you the recognition you deserve because you always keep me interested in the history and politics of our world. :))

[John O Connor]

Brilliant, the analysis of and the comparison to the Portuguese and other single commodity empires is compelling. It's a pity that modern financial society and industry spreads the influence of the Saudi economy far more widely and deeper into the global economy than that of their historical counterparts.

[firmanimad]

For me, you are the best video essayist in the game. Or at least closely tied with Contrapoints (with very different styles). Thanks for your time and effort. I aspire to do the things you are doing right now.

[alex carter]

The bit about the Saudis is kind of obvious, but the first part, about the history of the very beginning of the plantation system and the slave trade is fascinating! Thanks for posting this.

[SirFloopy]

I remember hearing from my parents that my grandfather nearly moved his family to Saudi Arabia from the United States in the 1970s, as they were apparently facing a crushing lack of engineers at the time, and would have paid him very well. Apparently my grandmother did her research, learning about all the legal restrictions that would be placed on her and her children, as well as the isolated nature of their daily lives as you allude to at the end of this video. And she put her foot down on what was otherwise pretty much a done deal. I'd always figured she made the right choice, but watching this video, the connections you make between Congolese history and the Saudis' present, and getting more of the larger context for why the country is the way it is... She may have *really* dodged a bullet for her family. Edit: Typo

[marvin19966]

could have worked there for a couple of years and then moved back, you could have been wiping your ass with gold leaf right now bud

[MeowTheRainbowX]

For one of the seminars I had to attend to complete my chemical engineering degree, we had a guest speaker who had done chemical engineering work in multiple countries abroad, one of which was Saudi Arabia. Being a foreign woman, she was given supervision over a bunch of Saudi women who worked there. Apparently, their laws determined that those Muslim women were not allowed to work under a man, but a foreign, non-Muslim woman was. Strangely, the speaker didn’t seem all that disturbed by it. It just came off like a fascinating quirk. I can’t imagine being that comfortable living in such a society, even as the man that I am. I’d feel guilty not only for being so heavily privileged because of my gender but also my white skin. My best friend is Bangladeshi, and her grandfather worked in Saudi Arabia in a respectable position, not as a slave like other Bangladeshis trapped there and in the other Gulf Countries. He made decent money by his standards, but when he left, he was replaced with a white British man who made six times as much as he did. It’s insane that we let a country, which we deal with constantly for our oil, get away with such backwards systems.

[Jengiz Karahan]

Its always very interesting to see a state's balance between modernity and religiosity

[Waddo]

This video emotionally engaged me.... up until 10:43 came and Ssethzeentach's face rolled in and I can't stop laughing.

[Zombie Master]

We all knew that our favorite warlords' past would eventually catch up to him.

[Noah Crowe]

Glad I wasn't alone lmao

[stitch]

Hey hey people

[Lemmon Boy]

“Hey hey people, Sseth here. Today, I’ll be destabilizing Africa…”

[2 Minute Hockey]

interesting omission of German colonialism in the still right after this image created by the Austrian presenter

[Keld L. Petersen]

As always a interesting and well produced video from Kraut 🙂

[Dat_Spartan_ Gamer]

Kraut I just wanna say that the detail of including the Quincy’s hull number really impressed me. You research the small details which shows you and your team care about what you make. Bravo Zulu

[Christos Stockpicker]

Wonderful video! It's obvious that history keeps repeating itself. The strange thing is that people doesn't learn from others people mistakes. But then again they don't learn from their own... Thanks for sharing such an educational story! Greetings🇬🇷

[Em C]

Why “X Country” is doomed could pretty much be a long running series at this point. It also feels like this would apply for most of the OPEC nations. As usual great content.

[DAVE OG fans]

Why Russia is doomed... Coming soon!

[Sun JarTY]

@DAVE OG fans I wouldn't add Russia to that list. As surprising it might sound Russia's economy although mostly reliant on natural resources are quite divers. Moreover, because of the global warming productivity zone is shifting to the north, which includes Siberian planes. That factor sadly makes Russia's economy much more resilient than most of the West's economies except Nordic countries and Canada.

[Arynn]

@Sun JarTY As great as their wealth of resources are, it's significantly less impressive when the management of said resources is piss poor, as is the case in Russia. Scandinavia and Canada have excellent & good management of their resources, respectively, whereas Russia does not due to their economic structure...far-right authoritarian Oligarchy. They are relatively decent at best, entirely inhospitable at worst. Russia is doomed.

[DAVE OG fans]

@Sun JarTY A lot of assumptions there...

[Junior James]

@Arynn Discussion of different management cultures is fascinating to me. In the 1980s, when German and American auto manufacturers were doing collaborations sending Germans to Detroit and sending Americans to (Berlin?), I read a journalist's quote "In terms of management style, Germans appear hard on the Outside but are actually quite soft and humanitarian on the Inside, while American may appear soft and humanitarian on the Outside, they are actually hard, ruthless and more brutal on the Inside.

[Nick Niazian]

Incredible video. Subbed immediately mate. The love of history we share is abundant throughout, and the animatiom/euroballs are brilliant

[D B]

I like the comparisons with Congo and the analogy used. A lot of research clearly went into that and the history can definitely point to something. However, I think Saudi Arabia, like many of the Middle Eastern countries are very aware of the fact that they can't be dependent on revenues from energy, oil, etc. There's still a long way to go, and you can argue that they have been late in diversifying their economies, but I don't think they are doomed at all; they seem to be taking several steps in the right direction. Whether they are all successful is another matter - but I think the headline is a bit misleading. Several countries in Middle East have made 'diversifying the economy' as a main point in their national strategy. I think if you take UAE for example, they are actively building and working on becoming a Finance, as well as Crypto and DeFI, Tourism, Tech and Trade hub. Again, there is a long way to go, but my main point is that these nations have known this for a while - they aren't oblivious to this. Saudi Arabia in particular benefits from a consultancy economy. Several consultants from the big 4 and all sorts have been giving advice to Government, Business and Industries for years. They are more well informed than they appear, its just a matter of execution now. Not easy, but they have the resources to go for it.

[Nawa11]

I'm glad you said that. Many people paint us as oblivious to history and the world around us.

[Dominik Roost]

While this my be true, I do think a big part why it's extra difficult for these countries to diversify thier economies, is the authority implemented and solidified in the past 50 years. Not only did that produce rivaleries and hatred, but also decentralized the people. I believe the key to success in the long run is to emanzipate your people from the gouvernment, so you can access thier potential and ideas better. Even though it's possible, it may be slow to implement, ecspecially since the culture and societal structur is authoritarian since well over a generation.

[1queijocas]

All of these industries are only present because of tax breaks. When oil run out, these companies will leave

[Ragnar Danneskajold]

I am very impressed that you told the story of the part the Africans played in the slave trade- Europeans could not have captured native Sub-Saharan Africans on their own. Slavery in Africa certainly predated Europeans and persisted after they left.

[Udayon Sen]

There's slavery and there's institutionally backed slavery They are not the same

[Ragnar Danneskajold]

@Udayon Sen - what’s your point? Do you think Chattel slavery was a uniquely western institution?

[CountryBall History with Remy]

@Udayon Sen so the institutions of the African states that propagated slavery did not promote slavery? or what is your point?

[Only Fair]

Slavery was everywhere in the past, even if it went by different names. In China slaves were primarily POW or orphans and you couldn't be born a slave because China used to castrate the males. I believe some emperors actually banned slaves which would make it the first to do so, but it never held.

[turtek12]

Excellent video. While the Congo is a striking comparison, there are other extraction-based economies that also show the pattern of breakdown due to lack of internal investment. One can, for example, see the Barbary States and Crimean Khanate as similar slave-extraction economies that faded into insignificance once that market was closed. The American South was on its way to a similar pattern with cotton, and in many respects one can say the US civil war and boll weevil infestation saved them. But the Congo is indeed the best. TL;DR: Successful states invest in their people, and don't coast on commodities.

[WagesOfDestruction]

This problem is called the Resource Trap, but if you think about it, it can apply to anything, e.g. many Pacific Islands' economies went seriously south when COVID hit, and tourist trade went down.

[Flynnstone]

Only Kraut could make a video about Saudi Arabia that entirely proves his point by talking about the Congo for 12 minutes of the 14 minute runtime. Excellent content as always. The history major in me adores your use of historical context to construct arguments about the modern day.

[gustavo hermandio]

thats his signature move now

[Zhuofan Zhang]

This comment made me think. If the video wants to prove SA's future by using Congo as an example, then it needs at least two parts: 1) Why Congo met its fate, and 2) Why SA's case is comparable to Congo's case. As you mentioned, 12 minutes went to showing part 1), and the remaining 2 minutes went to part 2). That felt a bit disproportionate. It's easy to draw out parallel between two entities when each entity is huge and complex as a country. It's also easy to draw dissimilarities between these kind of entities. A concrete argument would have to invest much more time showing that the parallels are more dominant than the differences. This is not saying I disagree with the video, and this is certainly not a critique of how the video is made. I think the video gives a strong argument, but the briefness of part 2 leaves a lot of homework for the casual viewer.

[NetraAmorosi]

@Zhuofan Zhang - The why is pretty obvious with more then enough of the details pointed out. Reliance on one thing and little to no development to any other sector to support the economy when that one thing supporting your economy dries up. As well as the fracturing of society under a cruel and oppressive monarchy. Saudi Arabia is doing the same thing in those regards as to the Congo which is clearly pointed out. The details defer, but they're making the same mistakes more or less.

[Max]

While I agree with you that this is good content from Kraut I disagree with your first point. Personally I feel like the historic analogy was unnecessary and this video would have been better as a standalone on Africans continued lack of success and what African nations can do to fix themselves. Although that would have been a much longer video I think it would have been worth it. Frankly I feel like (at least from an American perspective) the explanation of why the gulf states will fail is a dead horse and can be explained in a long sentence. In contrast the origins of social democracy and Greek problems videos are relatively unexplained and the history in them correlates much better than this video. Again from an American perspective.

[Winterforlife]

True. I was even wondering if there was something wrong with the title.

[Deadly Weapons Guy]

Amazing video 10/10 I love how you make connections between old kingdoms and new countries.

[Spencer Bradley]

Kraut’s masterful ability to use a seemingly unrelated anecdote to springboard into the main subject of his videos went into beast mode for this video.

[R005t3r]

Thank you for the clear explanation of the regional Gulf economies. The viscious wars stemming from the stated future will be on an epic scale.

[Dominik Zwardon]

An excellent opportunity to learn something new 👏 Great video as always. Greetings from Poland 🇵🇱

[Roger Thomson]

Well done Kraut , excellent presentation. I think there are some in Saudi who know disaster is coming. I heard one version supposed to be by a Saudi” my grandfather rode a camel, my father had a Rolls Royce, I have a Volkswagen and my son will ride a camel”

[سلطان الشريف 🇸🇦]

🤣

[Camel]

Despite the focus of this video being on Saudi, i loved the attention given to the kongo to demonstrate how states that lost all relevance centuries ago had a massive impact on the region today, i hope you cover more African countries in the future because i suspect more suffer from this issue.

[Yusuf]

omg hi oomfie

[Camel]

@Yusuf yo northerner

[King Ace]

This video's core claim was delivered on top of a strong foundation.

[BlenderBanana]

Doublethink I'm positive your use of "resources" was an involuntary reflex.

[Kevin Cronk]

The only 3 countries I can think of in Africa which would've been basically unaffected by this are Ethiopia, which remained an independent empire busy keeping said empire from breaking apart (btw it's current borders are close to the largest the country has ever been, they have a lot of national myth making to try to make a single identity, but really it's got almost no true unifying forces. It's taken a ton of work for its entire modern history to keep most of the country together), Egypt, which was an important vassal state of a foreign power the entire time the slave trade was happening, and South Africa which is the same reason as Egypt. This also includes countries which broke off from one of those 3, like Eritrea and the micrstates surrounded by South Africa, I forgot their names.

[Laura Jarrell]

Kraut, you are a brilliant teacher. Showing how history, maybe not repeats, but rhymes! 👍🌊💙💙💙🌊🥰✌

[Salman Ahmad Abbasi]

This is the most impressive historical comparison i have ever seen. This channel is so underrated.

[Jacey]

Awesome to see my two favorite youtubers collaborating, you and Sseth are truely gifts.

[Ostentatiousnessness]

I can see the parallels with Roman society during the transition from the Republic to the Empire: The Emperors needed to get their heirs experience with governing and ruling for when they took over, and they also needed to reward loyal (and powerful) supporters so young men were accelerated up the Cursus Honourum into posts that normally men had to work their whole lives for. As men far more experience and qualified but who weren’t as key to the Emperor staying in power kept getting passed over for high office almost all men of skill or merit withdrew from Roman political society and busied themselves with philosophy and private pursuits as staying in the political sphere gained them nothing and ran the risk of running them afoul of powerful and temperamental young men who had never proved themselves capable and so were always looking for slights to attack. The single biggest consequence of this was that the men who were running the Empire eventually were lazy and corrupt and the old Roman Virtues had decayed to the point that no one was willing to hold themselves to them if it meant that an enemy could get one over on them. This also meant the the people in power in Rome were more focused on maintaining favour with the Emperor and so spent so much of their time and energy fighting their political rivals rather than ensuring the survival of the Empire. And when the repeated hammer blows of the Huns and then the Germans fell on the Empire the only men left in power were too weak and inept to defend it and the Western half of the Empire shattered into a multitude of warring states and petty kingdoms.

[Franz Schlottbohm]

great analogy, love it. How true, the most simple explanations are the most to the core.

[Jarli477]

Glad to see you include a picture of Moguto M'bike, a truly inspiring story of how one boy fled the TSCA in Gamboma to follow his creative dreams!

[Mythperson]

The fact that 75% of this video has nothing to do with Saudi Arabia yet it all relates is the magic I love about this channel, thank you again my sir

[The Emir of Jaffa]

I had to keep looking back title to make sure I'm watching the right video..lol

[Hitarth Thanki]

I honestly feel like all of your video essays should be standalone podcast episodes. the soundtrack is quite complete on its own, and this is an almost perfect length for a podcast episode.

[Natieboi]

This video almost shed a tear to my eye, it was so well written, animated and told, thank you so much for making this video! I just have a suggestion, can you make a video doing Iran? That would be really cool thank you

[Ben Rush]

This video got me thinking about how similar Saudi Arabia’s economy is to the former economy of Nauru, an island state in the Pacific. As Nauru is an island that attracts birds on their migration paths to rest and feed, it resultantly became covered in guano, which is rich in phosphate, a crucial aspect in diammonium and monoammonium fertilisers. Though the British, Aussies and Kiwis ran a joint company than controlled guano mining on the island for much of the 20th century, the Nauruans eventually bought full control over the mining and sale rights in 1970 themselves. With a small population and large guano reserves, the Nauruans became unbelievably wealthy, and their economy skyrocketed during the 70s and 80s. Nauru became so rich that it was momentarily the wealthiest country in the world in terms of GDP per capita. However, it’s economy was entirely dependant, top to bottom, on the phosphate mining industry. The Nauruans, and consequently the Nauruan government, were extremely irresponsible with their financial blessings. Many regular Nauruans would often book week-long flights to Paris for opulent shopping tours, most of the populace developed a ridiculously unhealthy diet, and mine operators would often import luxury high-performance cars onto the island to drive, despite there only being a single road on the entire island that never exceeded 50kph. In fact, many old high-end American and European cars from the 80s lie abandoned and heavily rusting on the roadside in Nauru even today, as it was often the case that when the car ran out of fuel, the owner simply pulled over and left it by the side of the road. After all, the island was only 21 square kilometres in size. They could easily walk back home, and most were so rich that they could just order another car anytime they wished without too much worry. However, by the 90s, the guano reserves on Nauru had almost entirely run out. The economy, which revolved completely around the phosphate mining sector, collapsed, and the trust fund that the Nauruans placed much of their money into had failed to yield any significant returns. Nauru became an impoverished Pacific Island, to the point that it temporarily turned itself into a money laundering hub for many global companies in order to try and maintain its crumbling economy. To this day, Nauru is a geological hellscape. 90% of the island, which used to house lush tropical bushes and trees, has been turned into an apocalyptic environmental landscape as a result of excessive phosphate mining, covered in jagged coral peaks that can reach as tall as 7 meters in length. Nauru’s economy is but a shell of it’s former self, and the island gains most of its revenue from Australia by acting as a detention centre for Australian refugees and immigrants. Nauruans remain the most obese populace on the planet, with an average of 70% of its entire population considered overweight. Although Nauru isn’t entirely identical to the Congo Kings or Saudi Arabia, notably in that it never tried to use military force to bully its Pacific neighbours into its sphere of influence, I think it’s another great example of the vulnerability of command-and-control economies, how a resource considered a blessing to have can conversely become a curse, and how it can destroy the economic, technological and political development of a nation to the point of no return.

[bored panda]

That was a very intresting read thank you for sharing it 👍

[Isaiah Smith]

@bored panda In summary, don't put all of your eggs in one basket.

[Guinness]

Sounds like Easter island, or the world in general

[Guinness]

@Isaiah Smith no, don’t siht in your own back yard

[Lazykabang]

Reminds me of the original lorax movie (the one that came out in 1972)

[P. Giraud]

I swear to God, your channel is the most underrated on KZbin. Excellent and fascinating content as always !

[Mardas Man]

Thank you for this video, I enjoyed it thoroughly. However I felt like you forgot to mention one extremely important fact in the discussion about the Gulf state economy: Exploitation of foreign labor from developing countries (which is a bit of similarity to the Portuguese/Congolese slave trade). Once the money isn't there anymore to import cheap labor, the domestic economy can't survive, as locals don't want to work under those conditions.

[Politics with Paint]

Wow, the story of the Kongo is a sad and haunting tale for the Gulf states to hopefully learn from.

[Nathan Seper]

The great lesson of history is that no one learns from history.

[BlenderBanana]

They wont, as long as they have "Allahs blessing".

[Nathan Seper]

@BlenderBanana Yep.

[_Eridan_]

@BlenderBanana shut

[_Eridan_]

@Nathan Seper no

[Bong Chambers]

Another fantastic video Kraut, looking forward to the next.

[Bruce 359]

When I brought up the topic of authoritarianism and wealth inequality in Arab oil states a friend said to me that lavish expressions of wealth (palaces, cars, gold, etc) were part of their “culture” and to be “admired”. How little he knew of history, politics or anything involving humans really.

[Brahkolee]

You know it’s a good Kraut video when most of the video has seemingly nothing to do with the title, until suddenly it does.

[Ra Friction]

man, i was watching this and wondering why it sounded so familiar and then i saw that it is based in part on 'why nations fail' - such a great book!

[a normal monkey]

Kraut is the one of the few creators that can explain something by explaning sonething completly diffrent

[Krombopulos Michael]

I remember listening to a podcast a few years ago about what it's like to work in Saudi Arabia that aligns with what this video said. They spoke to a young guy who went to university and wanted to start his own business, but to friends and family he was treated like he was crazy. He said that Saudi Arabia, anyone with prospects like him was supposed to get a very cushy government job where he would only have to even turn up for work one or two days a week if he felt like it and get paid handsomely for doing it. Trying to actually be productive and start a business was treated as a risky venture that was almost certainly going to hurt financially. Its like how parents in the west might react if their child says they're going to try to make it as a professional poet.

[Astolfo Fan Sunny]

Or to be an online entertainer. It was an art degree or whatever was risky in the past. But for Saudi Arabia I definitely can see why making your own business can be seen as just so impractical that it makes it look like you lost your mind a bit. As the willingness to work is very much hampered by the easy government jobs that it doesn't really make sense on why taking the risk of your financial future is worth it at all. So it's understandable to me, but definitely is a problem for the Saudi's as a country fate in the future.

[sai sameer]

Sounds a lot like India lol. There are literally people with phds trying to get a job as a gardener in the public sector. Despite this, majority of Indians are in the private sector because getting a government job is near impossible without the right connections. A lot of young people really just waste their 20s in vain trying to get government jobs instead of getting a regular job and gaining experience.

[TheMasterpieceArtist]

they probably told him he was crazy because he doesnt have an income to support his business and would be in debt and get his life ruined if he couldnt make it the first few months with no income to support his business but if you have a good income poeple will support you to start your own business which is what i've already done and i've had all the support from everyone i know

[shbh0]

Hello, i am saudi so i know from first hand experience that while work ethic here isn’t top class, it is not that bad as u put it i never heard of someone taking 5 days off every week in a government job, quite the opposite government jobs demands u work especially in later years, as for the private business sector, everyone here work a job after college to gather enough funds to start a business, but no one starts one off college immediately and i dont think anyone does that anywhere in the world, i know for certainty im glad my brother opened a business with his friend after 20 years of governmental job and now his business is pretty much a passive income for him since he started with good experience and a big headstart in term of money, but private business are hit or miss and never as certain as government jobs, so unless u can afford to gamble no one will start a business before saving up.

[aeon]

sounds like generalization of a whole country of people based on 3rd hand information.

[RickeyJose]

mind blowing, i knew the slave trade started something like that but never knew exactly how. This video was clear and thought me plenty, thanks!

[Amir Taktouk]

Lovely and interesting video as always. But I don't think that the situation is as bad as your video is pointing it out to be. Although Saudi Arabia is heavily reliant on its oil to thrive, the country is currently aiming to be top 10 at everything in the world (Internet, infrastructure, wealth, knowledge, alimentation/food, renewable energy etc), (also known as 2030 vision) and they have pretty much reached that goal in so domains. The country's economical progress and projects are (for the most part) headed in the right direction. The difference between the Congo relying too much on slave trade in the past and Saudi Arabia relying too much on oil at the moment, is that Congo was losing alot of its manpower and the wealth that were getting from that trade was doing more harm than good, it didn't improve the economy in a global way for the people of Congo, but in the case of Saudi Arabia, suppose all the oil ran out, the progress that they've managed to make using all that wealth to significantly improve the country's living conditions is still there, the investments will greatly pay off eventually, Saudi Arabia won't return to being a nomadic place with nomadic people relying on camels with basic ways of life.

[Cinema Ipswich]

When Emperor Leopold of Belgium's army invaded the Congo, it was not made a colony. The land, its people and everything became his personal possession. It was part of his personal estate. This tyrant killed whole tribes if only one rebelled.

[Joe Miller]

It was made a colony, of Leopold's, just not of Belgium.

[kolkedd]

This is a very good analogy for a very pertinent point. But I would say that in recent years this lesson has not been lost on the leaders in the region. This is why you see massive investments being made into technology, infrastructure, airlines tourism etc. They are trying to rapidly diversify their economies to outrun the end of the oil wealth, but whether it will be fast enough remains to be seen.

[Platypus]

"But you can only see their portraits in Portugal, and some in Brazil" You showed a painting of an emissary to the Dutch which if I recall correctly is on display in Denmark.

[gustavo hermandio]

xD are you serious ? whats the name of the guy ? xD

[fenrirgg]

It was to see if someone was paying attention 🧐

[knightofficer]

I mean I think the point is that the only place you can see a congo king is in a foreign art museum, and pointedly not in the congo

[Kevin Urquia]

Where in Denmark?

[Trynt33]

@fenrirgg Or he made a human flub lol

[Sielent Brat]

I'll add a point - geography. Kongo is, basically, in the middle of nowhere - traveling from point A to point B wouldn't take you anywhere near it wherever these points are. But Saudi Arabia is near of Suez Canal, which is one of the most important trading route of Earth. And I believe that can make quite a difference in the fate of these countries.

[H J]

Untill we develop more efficient planes that will make sea travel like joke. Nothing remain same my friend. Change is the rule of universe

[ShrekTheGreat]

This is why history is important and more teachers, schools and educationsystems should work like this video.

[Leonidas Canterakis]

There are few greater dangers to a country with weak institutions than being handed a source of large readymade wealth.

[Cameron Nunléy]

If anyone's interested in a deep dive on how the Atlantic Trade shaped the formation of the West African and Southwestern African states and empires, I'd recommend a Fistful of Shells, by Toby Green, the book studies how African states emerged and interacted with the growing presence of European traders and empires on Africa's Atlantic shores.

[Pimp Pimp Productions]

Very, very small nitpick Kraut. However, the first European plantation economy was established by the kingdom of Castile in the Canary Islands, which were colonized nearly a century before São Tomé was. This colony also employed slave labor to manufacture its crops, similarly to the New World colonies in the Caribbean, Brazil, and Southern US. Also, I would love to hear your thoughts (Video, comment, or otherwise) on the differences between national identities in the New and Old worlds, how those identities formed and how they influence the states of those regions respectively. Thank you for reading this, -An average Kraut Enjoyer

[George]

The Canary Islands Dragon's Blood Tree almost went extinct due to blatant exploitation of them on those Islands.

[olivthree]

Madeira island was probably a couple of years before that, but who's counting

[Pimp Pimp Productions]

@olivthree They we’re known since Roman times but were settled by Europeans after the canaries were

[Miguel Padeiro]

@Pimp Pimp Productions Hard comparing the two when the Canaries were conquered and then settled while the Madeira archipelago was merely settled

[Pimp Pimp Productions]

@Miguel Padeiro Very true

[50043211]

Lovely presentation as always. I wonder how long it will take until the Untergang happens because at this point in time it is set in stone that its only a question of when and not if and if this will happen in isolation or will it be part of a greater or even global upheaval.

[My.Channel.0123]

I liked this a lot but I felt there could have been more of a transition connecting Kongo to Saudi Arabia. It's also worth noting that there was also a very large slave trade across the Sahara to the Arab world that affected millions of Africans but is not generally discussed in the context of imperialism and colonialism.

[James Dearden]

My mother's job at the embassy in Saudi Arabia was ostensibly the systems administrator, but most of the work involved smuggling alcohol into the country. It came in as "furniture", which is still the euphemism used to refer to it. An order would consist of "1 chair plus 10,000 miscellaneous", the latter being various kinds of booze. The Saudis knew exactly what was going on really, they sacked any customs officials who tried to stop the embassy's deliveries. After all, the various princes always loved coming to the embassy's parties.

[Fuzzball]

This guy kraut makes ridiculously good videos, keep up the great work

[Simiso Langa]

This video is a masterclass! What a brilliant parallel was made. Well done sir

[Ravignon]

I've read the Lincoln Republicans argue against corporations existing for a while. A lot of their arguments were that an economy structured around the strategic control of property can devalue labour across the board, and citizens become less empowered by becoming less and less relevant to the functioning of the government's funding requirements. I thought the Saudis were a very extreme example of this, but it's grim to realize the slave trade worked to create a similar state too. In the end, the message is that it's a stupid game that wins you a stupid prize.

[anjetto1]

Many modern socialists argue the same thing

[Ralphie Raccoon]

I'd argue it's hard for someone *not* to have control of property. In capitalism, it's private individuals or corporations. In a monarchy or dictatorship, it's the king/leader or lords/warlords. In socialism or communism, or even many interpretations of anarchism, it's "the people" on paper, but really it's in control of some planning committee made up of government officials, be they a local council or some central government department.

[Jinx Dragon]

Winning the Resource lottery is something all nations dream of, but so few handle well when they do.

[anjetto1]

@Ralphie Raccoon well that's the great debate. However, I'd argue that while someone probably does have to own things in order to produce goods, someone ELSE with equal power needs to have crack oversight of that property and what it produces in order to ensure the safety and human dignity of all involved. Production and conservation and resources should be put to use FOR the vast majority, rather than the elite few. The world never really had a great handle on that through out our history, that's obvious, but I'd argue the states and China and Russia have really lost the plot in terms or material wealth for the people.

[PixelArt01]

Don't want to comment on the content of the video, but on the writing and production of the video: What a fucking masterpiece! This video is an absolutely pleasure to watch! If only movies were made with this quality and elegance, written so poetically. Everything about the production of this video is absolutely fucking perfect. God, I couldn't keep my eyes off of it for one second. I'm sitting uncomfortably and only realized it after the video ended. Oh my god... First time seeing this channel, I hope the other videos are beautiful like this one!

[gsmiro]

The entire conversation only focused on the economic impetus of the issue (slave trade for the Congo and oil trade for Saudi) but totally ignored the cultural, religious, and philosophical root causes that made the Congo the way it was and the way Saudi Arabia the way it is. Economic impetus are not everything. People or nation are the way they are and react the way they are for many different reasons. The core is its religious and philosophic foundation that created their culture and how they view the world. Spain is another example of an empire experiencing such decline from the gold and silver received from the Americas. But Spain did not suffer or decline only because of that. It is only a part of the issue. We have to discuss the core issues to have a better and more complete understanding of what happened.

[Little Wolfey]

Praying for that dystopia's fall.

[Sentry Will]

This is the exact story of Nauru. Saudi Arabia is facing the same complacency other 'resource rich' nations went through.

[Mohamad Dukmak]

love your work and so true. I'm arab myself and onetime I read an article written by a local thinker (forgot his name lol) he described he golf states as salt castles, the analogy is that these states resemble a castle made of salt that dissolves into oblivion with the first splash of water. Having live in Dubai and now in Germany I see these Sheiks and their lavish lifestyle, while I cannot think of a single important product they channeled all that wealth to produce locally or excell at manufacturing (both things are easy done with the kind of money they can pour in research and dev)

[Ummer Farooq]

Germany is a place where the next ice age will cover it 🧊

[Flying Tonk]

Short yet concise video, I genuinly didn't know that the Kongo Kingdom was that involved in the slave trade but guess everyday one learns something new. Keep the quality up Kraut, ¡Arriba!

[Rob Buelens]

Yes I see arrows pointing up to cameroon, I would like to see research pointing that out.

[Dawn.tless.]

Fly high flying tonk, soar to the skies

[Kyle Butler]

There are parallels between the congo kings, saudia arabia and mexico. Your video series about mexico described how nogales (and the rest of mexico itself) became neglected due to spain's hierarchical society in mexico. In Mexico it was the resources that were exported to spain that were vital to mechanizing the society. Although spain's influence waned it was the decentralization of society that caused downfall of mexico. The same can be said for the congo kings and the saudis. Similar circumstances too. I recommend anyone watching this video go and watch the series.

[Franz Schlottbohm]

Thank you my friend, I'm going to watch this.

[SCC]

I was expecting a lecture on how SA society is fractured and divided, without a myth or a cause to unite them; how their geography is good for one thing and one thing only; their military being a deception, only keeping the appearance, but unable to actually function well; and their government being virtually bribed into its continuous existence... but this is fine, too.

[العَدْواني]

Please read Saudis military history before raiding the comment section

[Only Fair]

​@العَدْواني The Saudi military of today is not the same as the empires of the past. Appeal to history doesn't work when you're referring to almost a millennia ago

[Only Fair]

They do have a unified though, Islam. Most of the rest is just word vomit

[boyman]

@Only FairAh yes uniting under islam, the most volatile and unstable thing you could unite a nation under.

[D F]

I can listen to this guy talk for hours. I’m very glad I found this channel.

[Future Vision]

Wow, just wow. I saw the title and clicked on the video expecting to hear about Saudi Arabia, but then you started talking about Congo!! I did learn something new about the slave trade and Portugal's role in starting the whole thing. However, the pivot to Saudi Arabia is nothing short than a stroke of genius.

[Ken Young]

Very interesting video . Nice how the example of the Congo kingdom and the collapse of slavery ties right into the future of the Middle East oil kingdoms. Great job!!

[Iceni 🔆]

It’s interesting really that Saudi Arabia has tried to diversify their economy in a way (by pandering to tourists & they’ve thrown big money at sporting events too such as Joshua vs Uysk 2) but it’s really not working. It seems they kind of know they’re in trouble & vision 2030 was launched for this. As it stands though 3/4 of their budget is dependent on oil exports & if this doesn’t change soon, they’ll be doomed. Great video as always though & I liked the historical comparison. The political fallout of a Saudi collapse will be immense & a real moment for this century.

[kamikaziking]

the saudis know this since the 60s its not some great revelation

[Isura101]

Are they not one of the biggest tech stock holders ? The money selling oil is been invested. I feel MBS is a more forward thinking leader. But only time will tell I guess.

[SaltyWaffles]

And the problem is that their efforts at diversification are approaching the problem from the wrong direction. Tourism is not a very reliable pillar for an economy. As climate change worsens and Saudi Arabia becomes less hospitable, tourism will become even more unreliable. A diversified economy requires a society where investment, starting up businesses, and education becomes a worthwhile and safer endeavor. Part of that requires creating a safer, fairer, more inclusive society, as well as establishing a rule of law while limiting the powers of the elite. Of course, Saudi Arabia is currently centralizing ever more power into the absolute ruler, reacting even more harshly to criticism, and pushing utterly absurd megaprojects for civic development that always turn out to really be corruption for the rich. Notably, Saudi Arabia's military reflects Saudi Arabian society itself--fractured, unfair, unsupportive of the whole, and utterly lacking in innovation or forward-thinking (not because they are incapable, but because they are stuck in a society in which the ones who WANT to improve things have no safe means to do so).

[Rainman Slim]

@Isura101 true, but they develop nothing domestically. Holding stocks only benefits those individuals who own those stocks, and no nation of stockbrokers can survive. Saudi Arabia's current initiatives to modernise its economy mostly amount to vanity projects, Saudi princes and sheikhs trying to one-up eachother. They're impressed by towers of gold, vast gleaming displays of wealth, but none really care to lay the real foundation of a modern state such as agriculture or industry.

[han Pol]

@Isura101 630 billion is not that much if split over a population of millions. hell even if split on just the saud family. each member would have something like 2,5 million. sure that is a lot of money. But not enough to live as big as they have by any means.

[TooManyToyota's]

very well done video, for the first half i kept wondering where it was going, then in the last few minutes it made perfect sense. gained a sub today. Thank you.

[Fruit]

i just realized, that 2/3 of this video, is just a cautionary tale well told. GJ Kraut

[Odin's Black man]

Great history lesson sir 👏🏾 👍🏾 thank you

[Gabriel Alexander Khoury]

Just saw a KZbin video on the vast areas of Saudi desert greening programmes to the point that Saudi is able to export food. It is now the second largest donor of food aid. I was surprised.

[smoothjazz]

reminds me of my experience working for a failed business, when the money started flowing everybody stopped asking questions.

[PopDiv]

I'm reminded of a story by an American oil executive sometime in the mid 70's. After visiting some Saudi princes/ministers he witnessed the local chieftains come and pay homage to the Royals, where the tribal leaders received tokens of friendship and appreciation; brand new Cadillac luxury cars. After a few days, while on his way to catch his departing flight, our American oil executive notices seemingly abandoned cars littering the deserted highways - doors open with nobody in sight - it was the Bedouin chieftain's gifts; apparently the tribal leaders would drive their new shiny toys until they ran out of gas, and when they did, they simply got out and walked the rest of the way to their homes.

[UR BOI]

Jesus

[normal person]

That is some incredible wealth management right there

[BlenderBanana]

@normal person "Obelisk is teleporter!" 🤪

[_Eridan_]

Absolutely based

[Not Me Not Me]

It gets worse… For a long time, there have been rumours of underground parking lots having many abanonded exotic sports cars that were collected then unused. The Sultan of Brunei is rumoured to have a secret stash of AT LEAST eleven custom painted Ferrari F40’s that are gathering dust with 0 miles on the odometer. Remember this inequality of wealth when we struggle to pay our energy bills this winter.

[dipro001]

This was your best original analysis so far since your China video. You should perhaps do a longer one on Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states.

[ModulerDrone]

Extraordinary dissertation on the nature of greed and power structures! I have a strong feeling that after this OIL/Hidrocarb diet we’re on the verge of a serious collapse as a species and these Petrodollar “republics” are going to be the first to suffer. Sadly us humans are doomed to live short and explosive experiences. The notion and feel for sustainability isn’t something that we have developed biologically or culturally. It’s slowly shifting but only in a select part of the global society (mostly from well meaning educated people that lived stable lives) I’m afraid that we’re slowly descending into a post globalist economic and climate nightmare that is going to be only exaggerated by the greed and desperation of the few and the many alike. May God, if there is any, have mercy on our souls Thanks again for this fantastic parallel

[Brendan Kerr]

Honestly this video deserves more views it is absolutely amazing well done

[john petersen]

I really liked the phrase "history does not repeat, it instructs."

[George Anthony]

Beautiful and superbly researched work! Keep in mind however that all civilizations are built on slavery and the case of Saudi Arabia is another example of European civilization externalizes our dirty work. Excellent content!

[Realpolitik]

Saudi Arabian hydrocarbon reserves are likely going to be depleted within the next 50 years. Since 1980, Saudi Aramco has been owned entirely by the Saudi government. Following the centralization of the industry in 1987 under the control of Saudi Aramco, the official crude oil reserves increased from just over 170 billion barrels of crude to well over 200 billion barrels of crude. This shift went against the consensus estimates of all western oil majors at the time. BPD (barrels per day) has remained stagnant since the early days of OPEC. Regardless of the market incentive structure, it seems as if Saudi Aramco lacks the capacity to break the 9.5 million BPD barrier. Even when engaged in a price war, enjoying peak profitability, and preferred shipping/insurance rates, they still have failed consistently to breach the 10 million BPD barrier. Despite government figures, no one truly knows how much more hydrocarbon can be pulled from the modern Congo’s coffers. The current attempts at diversification have failed miserably. In practical terms, Saudi Arabia is little more than a joint stock venture masquerading itself as a nation-state.

[Nathan Seper]

Could improved extraction rewrite the amount of recoverable oil?

[sorsocksfake]

It may be a moot point. Simply put if we're gonna go of hydrocarbons in the next 50 years globally, it's in Saudi's interests to sell its profitable reserves in that time - and let everyone else be stuck with their now worthless tar. I would assume a system based entirely on oil profits, will be doing that math better than any of us.

[Hooman HM]

Oil has been "running out" for as long as I remember. Yet somehow new reserves are discovered, new extraction methods invented, and it gets cheaper to produce and hence buy oil with every passing year (barring outside factors like the Russo-Ukrainian War). It isn't as much a question of oil running out as oil staying relevant as an energy source. Oil is increasingly going to be replaced by natural gas and renewables when it comes to fuel and electricity production. Its main uses will be limited to lubricant production and petrochemical products, which will see demand and hence prices decrease sharply. Countries like Qatar are going to be able to somewhat offset this by switching to exporting LNG, but Saudi Arabia can't do that as it doesn't have the resources or the capability to export gas on the same level as its oil. "Diversification" as it's being called, has certain prerequisites. Saudi Arabia neither has the well educated population that is needed for high-tech industries, nor a cheap labor pool to be able to become a cheap production hub for goods and services. Its climate and "lack of history" compared to neighbors like Egypt and Iran doesn't make it a particularly suitable destination for tourism either. Its population is too high to become the next Monaco, and its too low to become the next China, and the current lavish lifestyles and culture they are accustomed to won't let them become the next Korea. Doesn't take a genius to figure out it's not particularly well suited to become the next bread basket of the world either. Their only way out is to lower and keep their population at levels that can be supported by the only ace up their sleeves, their "religious tourism". They have a customer base of nearly 2 billion that is rapidly increasing, most of whom will at least travel once to SA during their lifetime, with many coming back for seconds and thirds. By catering to their needs and possibly developing an industry around producing at least some of the more highly demanded goods by the pilgrims, they have a shot.

[Monsieur Dorgat]

Yeah, this. This is a huge part of why Norway has had so much more success with its oil than most other oil-bearing countries. Turns out, just lavishing all that wealth on the rich and nobility is a huge waste. Investing that currency into egalitarian infrastructure is a much better option - you have to use the money to make that country a desirable place to live and work before you can ever hope to diversify. Saudi Arabia isn't going to do that - the nobles will drain the state for everything it has before ceding any humanitarian liberties or using its wealth for purposes that aren't self-aggrandizing.

[Lavanya Sunil]

20 seconds into the video , I was confused why are we talking about Portuguese and congo when the title says Saudi Arabia? Did I click the wrong video? hahah 😅Amazing animation and great storytelling. Loved it!❤

[J2s4RRo07m08Rs]

The amount of things you learn just by reading "Why Nations Fail" is staggering.

[Peter Elliott]

Taking the analogy further, the group that empowered the Congo - slave trading, died a death as well. The group that empowered Saudi - the petrodollar, is bound to go the same way with the collapse of Saudi. Which as you say is inevitable. I'm not sure how much of an impact that'll have on USD hegemony but affect it it will.

[superdiscount]

very interesting video, thank you. i wonder, the growing tourism sector in the region might provide a good chunk of money to the system, but you might say that ought not to be sufficient? For a long time at least.