Having lived in Oman for over five years, I think I can answer this.
Their King, His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Al Saidi is awesome. He is a diplomat and statesman with few equals around the world.
The first year I spent in Oman was his 40th year of reign. Queen Elizabeth had flown down personally to congratulate him.
Even special RAF planes were flown in from London and did their hoops above the old palace.
He took over the reins of power from his father in a palace coup in 1970, after his father had jailed him. There were tough and bloody times initially where the British SAS helped him consolidate power. This was the early 70’s, testing times for the king.
Ever since he consolidated power by 1977, he went out of his way to make peace within the country (with tribal chiefs) and with his neighbors (Iran, Saudi, UAE and Yemen). Iran and Yemen. And Saudi. Just think about that. Within a decade, the young inexperienced prince had transformed into a peace-loving, economy-building and considerate emperor.
Oman has little oil compared to the rest of the GCC. However, the king made enormous inroads into developing the precious resources that his country had and more importantly, shared it with his countrymen and women.
Among other things, every citizen gets a free piece of land to build a house, free education, healthcare and social welfare. And that applies globally. So if an Omani gets a good college score and wants to go to Harvard, done. All expenses paid. Same for healthcare, except that the government doesn't pay, but His Majesty’s personal fortune pays for it. I haven't seen a parallel to this anywhere in the world. And the country boasts of good religious freedom compared to elsewhere in the Arab world. Temples and Churches - yes, they have it. And they protect it. And a lovely opera house, the king loves his music as well, and so do his people. Things like this make stability possible.
There are many stories of his legend. One such story I have personally heard is of the Sultan getting into his old world 70s convertible and sneaking past his guards with a boot full of money and heading off to distribute it in the rural areas.
The King surely didn't get enough of giving! So while the rest of the Arab world was in turmoil with the Arab spring of 2011, Oman had no squabbles about it. While there were some incidents (like the burning down of a Walmart sized Lulu Hupermarket in Sohar), these were mostly directed at employers who were taking advantage of lax rules to stiff employees. The now septuagenarian king’s response was a bevy of social welfare programs and more democracy, the roots for which he had laid down in the late 90’s.
While the Sultan made good on his side, his people are amazing too. In my interactions with most Omanis, I've found them to have an extremely high emotional quotient compared to other Arabs. I've seen hundreds of office situations defused simply because they did not lose cool. They're slow in their approach to people and are a very relaxed bunch.
Diplomatically, as joint guardian of the Strait of Hormuz through which 40% of the world’s oil passes every day, the country has strong relations with Iran as well. When the Americans want to talk to the Iranians, they do so on neutral ground - at Muscat. I discovered this when I was once in an office building at the palace complex in Muscat and was stuck when the roads were closed. Guess who was there?
The bald one with the beard and formal suit is the Iranian foreign minister, Jawad Zarif.
Oman: The Unsung Hero of the Iranian Nuclear Deal
To put it shortly, the King and his countrymen and women make the stability possible.
Edit : His Majesty, Sultan Qaboos, passed away on 10 January 2020. May his soul rest in peace. He shall be remembered, fondly, for many generations to come.
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