Oman

Don't rule out Oman from the picture.  The country experienced one of the most sophisticated opposition/revolutionary movements in the Arab world.  I was planning to write my PhD dissertation on the Popular Front for the Liberation of Oman but could not get funding at Georgetown for the project.  I am glad that a dedicated and knowledgeable Arab is studying the movement at Oxford University.  Having talked to him about his work, I can tell that he has done his homework and more.  Some of the most impressive revolutionaries and Marxists that I have met over the years have been from Oman (and some from Sudan and Bahrain too).  It is rather sad how some leaders of the PFLO were coopted by Qaboos.  Another thing against Qaboos, he is one of the most aloof and detached leaders of the region--unless you count the dead King Fahd--as a dead man.