Riyadh’s shift from unconditional largesse to transactional partnerships is rational for a kingdom that must fund its own transformation. It is also abrasive: recipients that once counted on silent bailouts now hear public complaints when they vote the wrong way at the UN or stay neutral in a regional war.
The Gulf’s professional class—bankers, analysts, diplomats—should analyse this era without illusion. Saudi economic coercion, if that is the word, is not a secret plot; it is the explicit leverage of a creditor state.
The question for smaller neighbours is whether they can diversify patrons before the price of alignment rises again.
