The Arab world, at least those who are flourishing remain under American thumbs, denying it stems from pride rather than logic.
In 1991 we saw Arab militaries scramble to win some brownie points with America, even Syria. No need to explain in details, the Arab world is in a sorry state and the GCC which flourishes is not independent, they serve America which costed Iraq, our country was lit on fire. Then Syria was, and then Libya was as well. Leaving none but obedient states.
Before someone comes to cry about Kuwait, that's not an excuse to be an American military launch pad for decades after.
King Fahd the ultimate cuck of Arabia brought 700k American troops to his soil to have them invade fellow Arab Iraq, Iraq did not even threaten to invade Saudi Arabia. This is not an Arab nationalist and i'm not surprised, the GCC's prime focus is self-growth be it on the cost of fellow Arab states.