The Gulf region today is more closed and repressive than it was in the 1970s, yet US never stopped hailing "reforms"

All Gulf countries were less repressive in the 1970s than they are today--and they were repressive back then, don't get me wrong. There were political currents not only in Kuwait: but even in UAE in the 1970s. Today I remembered this article by James Bill from 1984 Foreign Affairs in which he identifies political currents in the UAE, among other Gulf countries.  Those regimes sponsored and nurtured those trends and now they are banning them.