Many think your grandad was correct ....... this is a small view of Dubai
The gulf states are floating on oil but likely in under two decades things like electric cars and thorium reactors will collapse the demand for oil and collapse the price of oil. Dubai has built up enough of a trading economy to withstand the big change. Saudi arabia depends on oil for 90% of their economy. When the price of oil collapses so will Saudi Arabia’s economy. However, likely one of the things that will collapse the price of oil will be dirt cheap electricity—which will in turn make desalination dirt cheap. Dirt cheap desalination makes desert farming doable.