Travel wisdom - Observations/Remarks(J.Raban)

" ........It is bad to be penniless anywhere, but there is a special poverty which comes from living cheek-to cheek with millionaire neighbours .In the Yemen and in Egypt it was impossible not to associate with the smell of the stale air on the streets with the stink of failure, envy and hatred. Almost everyone I got to know in these countries raged at their fatal dependance in their rich cousins . 

Both the places had been sapped by long , recent wars ;but I felt that the fighting had actually hurt them less, if anything , than the terrible prosperty of Saudi Arabia, Libya and the Gulf States. THAT WAS BLEEDING THEM DRY OF THEiR OWN BEST TALENTS. IT WAS REDUCING THEM TO THE STATUS OF SERVANTS." 

- Jonathan Raban, -  on the Middle East 'Arabia through the Looking Glass' (1979) pg 304.. as read on Feb of 2013