Anyhow, on Bob Vitalis, I also grew up with all the myths of Aramco’s founding and history, and lacking any objective outside view, basically always bought into them. Vitalis shattered them in the most intellectually delicious way. I’ll never look at the place I grew up the same again, and my respect for such crusading reformist Saudis as Abdullah Tariki is now immense. Wonderful book for opening my eyes even if I recognize it has its own angles and biases to watch out for. Probably the biggest of which though is that I think we need to acknowledge that the racial segregation model also existed heavily in the Gulf thanks to the British. Vitalis gives no coverage to that fact and how it might have influenced development of the model in Saudi beyond America’s importation of it. Nonetheless, that’s one folks may have picked up on easier on their own, the American Jim Crow angle is completely missed by most.

Now the challenge is heavily in Saudi hands though. A system of racial segregation exists. It’s one thing for Aramco to be a national champion along the lines of a Petrobras or Statoil, and one thing for the government to promote Saudization – those are all perfectly legitimate national goals, a government’s primary responsible is to its own people. But the reality is the kingdom (and the Gulf as a whole) is full of foreign workers, who if they are not outright abused or robbed, are at a minimum paid on a scale that is explicitly race/nationality based in the direct same system as the American Jim Crow system the early Aramco imported set up. It’s not right, just as its not right the way say Latino workers are exploited in America or North African workers in Europe. Human dignity, fair pay, fair treatment before the law. These are principles we all need to fight for in our own countries.