As far as the Arabian Gulf is concerned, all our attention of late has been on the spectacular implosion in Dubai. But the fortunes of that flashy, tiny emirate are of minor consequence compared to those of neighbouring Saudi Arabia, the birthplace and centre of Islam, a regional power into which Dubai would fit five hundred and fifty times over, and a country whose discretion shields the enormous influence it has throughout the Muslim world.
We know all about Dubai because the emirate has been forced to face outwards – with next to no oil, it had to enter the international waters of trade and finance, with all the successes and perils that entailed. Next-door, Saudi has always been a much more closed society, fiercely guarding its borders (very limited tourist visas have only been issued since 2004) and even more, its secrets.
Robert Lacey is one of very few to have been able to unlock them, not once but twice. What he reveals is of potentially far greater import than the financial fluctuations that have transfixed the media. In the early 1980s, copies of a book with no cover were surreptitiously passed around in expat circles in Jeddah, Riyadh and Dhahran. Lacey's The Kingdom was banned in Saudi Arabia. Those returning to work there, like my parents, would tear off the outer leaves to bring it in past customs.
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