Pinned comment reserved for correcting potential mistakes, adressing critizisms, and other releated points: 1: "How is Iran not impacted by this" - Ironically the sanctions against Iran mean that iran will in the long term be in a better position than the Saudis, because Iran is forced through the sanctions to diversify its economy in advance.

I read a quote somewhere by an Arab oil tycoon who said in effect "My grandpa rode camels, my father rode a car, I ride a Ferrari and my grandson will ride a camel."

Perhaps the most disturbing part of this for the Congo is that, after the slave trade, Their wealth was gone Their nations income was gone Their social structure and institutions were broken Their diplomatic importance and influence was gone All that was left was one of the only investments the monarchy made, the guns. That was all they had left.

The sad part is the thing that happened to the Kongo didn't stop there. Dahomey is another example of an African state that almost completely morphed into a militant state that structured itself entirely around the slave trade. Even after the abolition of slavery in Europe, these social, economic, military, and political structures persisted, paralyzing the development of multiple African states in the 19th century.

Excellent video. Those who are angered by the European slave trade rarely acknowledge the role of Africans in the practice. (My biological father is a West African barrister and is thoroughly of the opinion Africa is still selling its people's future to the highest bidders - China and Russia this century)

Honestly, I find the most impressive part of this video how you manage to create analogues between centuries; an ancient African Kingdom complacent in its slave wealth and an Arabic Kingdom complacent in its oil wealth. It's an art to make these videos relevant to contemporary forces, and on top of that you manage to communicate the trap of innovation stagnation very well.

"But you can only see their portraits in Portugal, and some in Brazil" You showed a painting of an emissary to the Dutch which if I recall correctly is on display in Denmark.

When Emperor Leopold of Belgium's army invaded the Congo, it was not made a colony. The land, its people and everything became his personal possession. It was part of his personal estate. This tyrant killed whole tribes if only one rebelled.

Lesson: don't put your eggs on one basket, even if those said basket are very profitable at the moment.

As an African, I'm glad people are talking about this dark history of ours. May it be a lesson that evil is not based on race but based on the very nature of human beings and we should all as humanity, not races, learn from the mistakes of our ancestors....

My family and I lived in Saudi Arabia almost continuously for 14 years, my father worked for the Saudi military through a UK and my mother worked for various Saudi Universities. This country was my home for the majority of my childhood and teenage years and the experiences gained there inform my thoughts on Saudi Arabia. I think the most important point in this video is how slavery in the Kongo (present day Northern Angola) created a sort of inevitable collapse of the country, it was just too reliant on slavery, and too reliant on the secondary effects it gave. And Saud’s great oil reservoirs place Saudi Arabia in a similar situation, and that there is no possible way for Saudi Arabia to wean itself from oil, nor for it to remain as the country we know should oil run out. The problem is not just that of hydrocarbons and how it dominates the country’ s economy, it is that for the past 50 years, the entire society has been built around what oil provides and that the country does not seem to realise that it needs to diversify completely from oil in order to be able to provide for itself. At this point the Saudis know that they need something else, Saudi Vision 2030, is their answer to organise the government into pushing less oil reliant industries. If you look at Saudi exports, however, apart from products directly related to oil and oil refinement, the next largest export by a large margin is heavy metals. The largest of these heavy metals is aluminium, the problem with aluminium is that in order to refine aluminium you require petroleum coke, an oil refining by-product and a lot of power, provided by oil generators, and it is a similar case with their steel refinement. Saudi is expanding their industrial capacity but only by utilising what they already make with oil at this time. However, the largest problem with Saudi Arabia and why it will not survive is to do with their current emigration and immigration policies. The reason these are a problem are that Saudi has a work ethic problem in that native born Saudis are given a life from birth that is comfortable and that continues into adulthood. They are given sinecures, government jobs and salaries, while they import manual workers from poor countries, cheap labourers from India, Philippines and specialised jobs mainly from the West. It has worked alright for the past 40-50 years, the problem is that Saudi Arabia is not as financially attractive anymore, the salaries are down, they have introduced taxes and have failed to make the country more hospitable to Westerners to counteract salary decreases. Everyone has heard of the issues with the cheap labour they bring; they are treated like slaves in Qatar, UAE and Saudi, and for the most part this is ignored by these workers because the pay is good, but once the pay is not good these cheap workers will stop arriving and will start leaving. These two problems combined means that Saudi Arabia is going to suffer a massive worker shortage including, perhaps most importantly in the oil fields and security forces. This problem is made worse in that, the Saudis who want to work, who are motivated and educated leave the country for a free society and better prospects. And it is not just the males who are able to leave. Saudi female graduates or those at university, the half who are actually motivated all go to the USA or the UK to finish their education and stay there. It is a massive brain drain that is not even realised outside the country because there are so many westerners masking it. Its why the new Crown Prince, MBS, has tried to reform the laws so much as part of Saudi Vision 2030, especially in regard to women, because they are leaving in their droves, and with them go their bank accounts, the money spent in Saudi Arabia, their children and Saudi’s future.

I met a traveler from an antique land, Who said-“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand, Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed; And on the pedestal, these words appear: My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair! Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

To be honest, this is a masterclass in educating, it had me enraptured throughout and got its message across with grim effectiveness

I remember hearing from my parents that my grandfather nearly moved his family to Saudi Arabia from the United States in the 1970s, as they were apparently facing a crushing lack of engineers at the time, and would have paid him very well. Apparently my grandmother did her research, learning about all the legal restrictions that would be placed on her and her children, as well as the isolated nature of their daily lives as you allude to at the end of this video. And she put her foot down on what was otherwise pretty much a done deal. I'd always figured she made the right choice, but watching this video, the connections you make between Congolese history and the Saudis' present, and getting more of the larger context for why the country is the way it is... She may have *really* dodged a bullet for her family. Edit: Typo

Why “X Country” is doomed could pretty much be a long running series at this point. It also feels like this would apply for most of the OPEC nations. As usual great content.

Glad to see you include a picture of Moguto M'bike, a truly inspiring story of how one boy fled the TSCA in Gamboma to follow his creative dreams!

Awesome to see my two favorite youtubers collaborating, you and Sseth are truely gifts.

Only Kraut could make a video about Saudi Arabia that entirely proves his point by talking about the Congo for 12 minutes of the 14 minute runtime. Excellent content as always. The history major in me adores your use of historical context to construct arguments about the modern day.

I've read the Lincoln Republicans argue against corporations existing for a while. A lot of their arguments were that an economy structured around the strategic control of property can devalue labour across the board, and citizens become less empowered by becoming less and less relevant to the functioning of the government's funding requirements. I thought the Saudis were a very extreme example of this, but it's grim to realize the slave trade worked to create a similar state too. In the end, the message is that it's a stupid game that wins you a stupid prize.

It's amazing that the 11 minute build up of a 14 minute video works just that well to convey the point made both in the title, and foreshadowed in that first quote. Artistic excellence.

Came for Saudi Arabia Stayed for Poruguesse Kongo

A similar effect was seen in Spain where the vast gold wealth from the new world dincentivized development of its local economy and squandered on pan European religious wars, and led to Spain having an economy backward relative to the rest of Europe until the beginning of the 20th century.

Saudi Arabian hydrocarbon reserves are likely going to be depleted within the next 50 years. Since 1980, Saudi Aramco has been owned entirely by the Saudi government. Following the centralization of the industry in 1987 under the control of Saudi Aramco, the official crude oil reserves increased from just over 170 billion barrels of crude to well over 200 billion barrels of crude. This shift went against the consensus estimates of all western oil majors at the time. BPD (barrels per day) has remained stagnant since the early days of OPEC. Regardless of the market incentive structure, it seems as if Saudi Aramco lacks the capacity to break the 9.5 million BPD barrier. Even when engaged in a price war, enjoying peak profitability, and preferred shipping/insurance rates, they still have failed consistently to breach the 10 million BPD barrier. Despite government figures, no one truly knows how much more hydrocarbon can be pulled from the modern Congo’s coffers. The current attempts at diversification have failed miserably. In practical terms, Saudi Arabia is little more than a joint stock venture masquerading itself as a nation-state.

Honestly this video deserves more views it is absolutely amazing well done

wow what an interesting ride, I was glued to the narrative from beginning to end. Subscribed

Wow, the story of the Kongo is a sad and haunting tale for the Gulf states to hopefully learn from.

Very, very small nitpick Kraut. However, the first European plantation economy was established by the kingdom of Castile in the Canary Islands, which were colonized nearly a century before São Tomé was. This colony also employed slave labor to manufacture its crops, similarly to the New World colonies in the Caribbean, Brazil, and Southern US. Also, I would love to hear your thoughts (Video, comment, or otherwise) on the differences between national identities in the New and Old worlds, how those identities formed and how they influence the states of those regions respectively. Thank you for reading this, -An average Kraut Enjoyer

Great historical parallel drawn! - I subscribed

This video is a masterclass! What a brilliant parallel was made. Well done sir

I remember listening to a podcast a few years ago about what it's like to work in Saudi Arabia that aligns with what this video said. They spoke to a young guy who went to university and wanted to start his own business, but to friends and family he was treated like he was crazy. He said that Saudi Arabia, anyone with prospects like him was supposed to get a very cushy government job where he would only have to even turn up for work one or two days a week if he felt like it and get paid handsomely for doing it. Trying to actually be productive and start a business was treated as a risky venture that was almost certainly going to hurt financially. Its like how parents in the west might react if their child says they're going to try to make it as a professional poet.

The fact that 75% of this video has nothing to do with Saudi Arabia yet it all relates is the magic I love about this channel, thank you again my sir

Great way to put this subject and well done presentation...

Great history lesson sir 👏🏾 👍🏾 thank you

It’s interesting really that Saudi Arabia has tried to diversify their economy in a way (by pandering to tourists & they’ve thrown big money at sporting events too such as Joshua vs Uysk 2) but it’s really not working. It seems they kind of know they’re in trouble & vision 2030 was launched for this. As it stands though 3/4 of their budget is dependent on oil exports & if this doesn’t change soon, they’ll be doomed. Great video as always though & I liked the historical comparison. The political fallout of a Saudi collapse will be immense & a real moment for this century.

Slavery also doomed the US South. Why invent better ways to harvest crops or build factories when you have slaves? ~150 years after the US Civil War, the former slave states lag in every quality of life metric compared to states without slavery.

The bit about the Saudis is kind of obvious, but the first part, about the history of the very beginning of the plantation system and the slave trade is fascinating! Thanks for posting this.

As always a interesting and well produced video from Kraut 🙂

Short yet concise video, I genuinly didn't know that the Kongo Kingdom was that involved in the slave trade but guess everyday one learns something new. Keep the quality up Kraut, ¡Arriba!

Brilliant, the analysis of and the comparison to the Portuguese and other single commodity empires is compelling. It's a pity that modern financial society and industry spreads the influence of the Saudi economy far more widely and deeper into the global economy than that of their historical counterparts.

thank you for this insightful video

Interesting! I always thought SsethTzeentach was mostly problematic for himself and not that much for the Kongo...

Your story of the west African slave trade is fascinating, and how this fate would occur for the Arab gulf states. Incidentally, the same fate happened to east Africa, who had its own slave trade, at the centre of this trafficking was Somalia, like Congo, the east African kingdoms traded with Portugal, since much of Africa fell to Portuguese influence as part of the treaty of Tordesillas. These kingdoms prospered, particularly Somalia, which had extravagant wealth, lavish palaces, and a merchant fleet not unlike the Carthaginian navy of old, and like the Congo the slave trade destabilised Somalia, as clans and cartels fought for control of human trafficking, creating a legacy of domestic strife and foreign interference, finally like Congo, nothing remains of the ostentatious prosperity Somalia once enjoyed, as for Saudi Arabia, it will not be alone, the Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait will suffer the same fates.

Right on. Thanks for sharing.

Wow amazing thought KZfaq was glitched showing me the wrong video but dam the ending 😮

This video emotionally engaged me.... up until 10:43 came and Ssethzeentach's face rolled in and I can't stop laughing.

I love the hypothetical out of this. To the people of Ayutthaya, one of the greatest commercial cities in Southeast Asia, in 1757, 10 years before being destroyed by the Burmese, they were in the midst of a golden age only for it to end with a Burmese military invasion. How would they know how rapid would they be destroyed, for the Burmese chronicles characterized the fall of Ayutthaya as comparable to the end of a Buddhist era, or a Ragnarok. How could the people of Pompeii in 78 AD have known their unexpected and dire fates just a year later? Nothing last forever. Baker, Chris, Phongpaichit, Pasuk. "A History of Ayutthaya: Siam in the Early Modern World".

I am very impressed that you told the story of the part the Africans played in the slave trade- Europeans could not have captured native Sub-Saharan Africans on their own. Slavery in Africa certainly predated Europeans and persisted after they left.

You must be very proud of this video! Very well formulated!

"Go as long as you can without mentioning the name of the country the video is on" challenge. World Record Holder: Kraut

I see Saudi Arabia as the national equivalent of a lottery winner: they lucked their way into massive wealth and lost it because they didn't know how to properly manage it. The Kongo Kingdom shows how this kind of complacency is nothing new.

Great video as always.

jeez bro that was a massive u turn to what i had in mind. Nice vid

In defence of the Saudis and all resource-extractive countries including my own (Australia with it's iron ore), it's difficult to excel in other industries due to 'Dutch disease'. World demand for the resource bids your exchange rate higher relative to others, giving the resource-poor countries an advantage, especially in manufacturing. When the Dutch found north sea oil, their manufacturing industry became uncompetitive due to this problem, hence the name.

As a side note: the one country that actually became more democratic after the Arab Spring was Tunisia, though sadly that has reversed in recent years. That country has a rather diversified economy, meaning a Tunisian dictator cannot rely on control of one resource to control the economy and the state. I'm thinking of that when I hear that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (not even pretending to be a democracy) is reliant on hydrocarbons.

I can listen to this guy talk for hours. I’m very glad I found this channel.

Loved the analogous story!

You should do a full episode explaining Africa’s Slave trade, as this seems to have a very clear, direct causal effect of the current state of African nations.

I cannot comprehend how this channel doesn't get millions of new viewers every year. Brutally simple yet precise to the bone, as usual and boom! Another great video. Congrats.

very accurate and reasonable content in your video. Tnx👍👍👍

I really enjoy these videos it’s just takes a while to get to

13:40 "... social contract that guarantees that they will be left alone as long as they do so" Heh, that was like that here in Russia from 2000 to 2011. Economy grew, society didn't take part in politics and regime was soft. Then in 2011, when economy growth stagnated (resource export based economy has it limits) civil society started to ask questions and demand political and economical reforms. What did regime do? Since they coudnt reform (=give away part of their power), they went jingo mode and annexed Crimea in 2014. Instead of economy growth they started to "sell" revanshism, traditionlism and patriotism to the public. It gave some temporary support but crimean effect was mostly out in 2019. To boost support Putin decided started a new quick and victorious war in Ukraine. You see how it is going. So, same story is possible with Saudi aswell. When green economy finally arrives, we might see very aggresive and extremists SA. ISIS style?

Me at 11 minutes: Wow, this video is almost 80% done and hasn’t even mentioned Saudi Arabia. I wonder how he’ll wrap this up in 3 minutes… Me at 12 minutes: Oh. I see.

Fascinating. Thanks!

tl:dw unlike Russia and Norway, Saudi Arabia had failed to use their natural resources to build a powerful consumer economy, and as oil and natural gas start to fade from relevance, giving way to green energy, they are going to fade themselves too

I've heard of something called the Resource Trap, where a country relies too much on natural resources,hence fails to diversify its economy and invest in its infrastructure. Applicable for Saudi Arabia and Russia I guess.

The biggest difference between Congo hundreds of years ago and Saudi Arabia today is that the Saudis are very well aware of their predicament. They are taking (baby) steps in diversifying their royal portfolio with solar power, engineering technologies and innovation, but their biggest issue is authoritarianism. They're still very much a tribal society and you cannot convince an absolute ruler with a seemingly infinite amount of money to curb his own power. They can remain an economic powerhouse, but if they follow this path, they will have a complete societal collapse

You know it’s a good Kraut video when most of the video has seemingly nothing to do with the title, until suddenly it does.

The analogy is good, theoretically speaking, BUT, as a Saudi I’ll explain why your analogy messed so much. 1- comparison doesn’t work if it’s not the same source used (slavery ≠ oil), of course, you have every right to use whatever is available to compare it with, but I can use the same analogy in every economy, and it would make sense with China-USA progress and which one is “doomed”, 2- The timing of Congo existence doesn’t fit the time we live in (21 century) and I can go on and on in terms of infrastructure, organizations, government functions in legislative services (you can actually right now do businesses, close businesses, open a new business while you’re setting literally in your sofa), hence, this can stand until we get to robotics. 3- Congo wasn’t an independent country as you explained, where you case has a monarchy that has no related ties with “outsiders”, and historically this has been proven, even in modern days. Lovely video, make more please with further researching. Thanks

1:22 quote 3:10 transatlantic slave trade 6:14 mono economy 8:00 tax 11:19 Saudi Arabia US deal 12:00 next Congo

Dude the fact that you were able to condense a topic that could’ve been covered within an hour into a 14 minute video is great.

i just realized, that 2/3 of this video, is just a cautionary tale well told. GJ Kraut

Well done Kraut , excellent presentation. I think there are some in Saudi who know disaster is coming. I heard one version supposed to be by a Saudi” my grandfather rode a camel, my father had a Rolls Royce, I have a Volkswagen and my son will ride a camel”

It will be fascinating to see what happens when the remaining hydrocarbons become too expensive to extract and no-one in Saudi Arabia has the innovations needed to extract them for a worthwhile price. It's likely they'll reach that point within the next few decades.

A bit late to the conversation but this really hits harder now that "The Line" and all its ridiculous failings have come out and really shone a light on just how delusional the Saudi government is. Its a tragedy thats rapidly becoming an inevitability.

This problem is called the Resource Trap, but if you think about it, it can apply to anything, e.g. many Pacific Islands' economies went seriously south when COVID hit, and tourist trade went down.

Man, Kraut, thank you for this.

"Why Saudi Arabia is doomed" a video also known by an informal title: "What happened to the Congo kings?"

As a wise man once said "You live in a desert!!! Nothing grows out here. Nothing's gonna grow out here."

What a fantastically insightful video

Great video, enjoyed the topic, and then, suddenly, at 10:43, in the bottom right... "Hey hey people, Seth here"

I've yet to discover another person who can make history as interesting as you. You sir are sharing for free such high quality educational videos I would not hesitate to pay for them.

Kraut by now is the Miss Friz of KZfaq and im just on the school bus

very good and informative video ...!!

I can see the influence the book why nations fail has had on you. Good book

As a Portuguese citizen I really appreciate this video. Our History is most glorified back home, it's refreshing to see such a perspective. Thank you

10:42 **Muffled "Heyhey people" in the distance*

The entire part about Saudi Arabia could've been missing without even a mention of the country and the point would still have been powerfully made by the title alone.

This content is golden!

The art in these videos keep improving and improving. Also facinating to learn about something that I've never even heard about

God I love the chopin playing in the background, thank you so much for mentioning what pieces were playing in the description, since they're not copyrighted, you're a gem. Also I love the alignment of the ballade to fit in perfectly with the ending of the video, on top of it being a perfect piece to display the chaos of the topic.

When I brought up the topic of authoritarianism and wealth inequality in Arab oil states a friend said to me that lavish expressions of wealth (palaces, cars, gold, etc) were part of their “culture” and to be “admired”. How little he knew of history, politics or anything involving humans really.

I thought I was trippin but the halo believe trailer music in the background gave this vid a great musical setting

This is one of a kind content. Every time I see a Kraut upload, I get giddy imagining tucking into it later when I’m alone. Thank you for sharing such fantastic analyses of history/politics/sociology.

Another great video. This really illustrates the absolute trap that becoming a resource extractive economy puts a society into. It seems like a good deal, but basing your economy on resource extraction leads to poverty for most people, rampant political oppression, and eventually losing all the money you got from it. You can see it in regions in larger countries, such as Appalachia or the Mountain West in the USA or the coal mining areas of the UK. Venezuela is a poster child for the Curse of Oil. I fully acknowledge there are some counterexamples (Norway shows up), but the strong majority of extractive economies are effectively miserable tyrannies.

Brilliant video

Amazing video

It’s honestly amazing that a society like this even still exists now.

We as an audience really appreciate how consistently good your content is, just letting you know! Keep up the good work.

"They ran out of jews.." There's a line you don't hear very often, 3:03

10:41 It is genuinley difficult for me to come to terms with the fact that that one image is not actually Sseth...