Quote Originally Posted by Half
"Most independent" as in a mentality not accepting foreign influences easily or readily. The biggest oil exporters such as Nigeria, Russia and Brunei do not have international problems because they are so submissive (ok, Russia is also scary, but can be manipulated through its poverty).

So, since no Middle East country is the biggest oil exporter and none of the biggest oil exporters has had a constant foreign military presence for the past 30 years, it is something else and not the oil. That something else is exactly the "do it our way and not the way of the strangers". This same attitude can be seen in many constitutions, bills of rights, declarations of independences, whatever.
Saudi Arabia.