The Actors, the Plot, the Props

Abstract

The value of oil for the Gulf countries cannot be overstated; it is the principal, and largely the only commodity that underpins their economies. Soaring oil prices in the 1970s allowed them to envisage forging a self-reliant shield to protect their life-line in their own part of the world. They started an arms build-up, with naval forces as one of its components, despite, or maybe motivated by, the presence of foreign fleets patrolling their waters.