The New Silk Road: Can a U.S.-Backed Initiative Bring Peace and Prosperity to Afghanistan?
July 3rd, 2012
Via Time Magazine, a look at a U.S. backed initiative to bring peace & prosperity to Afghanistan through trade: Trucker Saleem Khan likes to think of himself as a modern version of the camel drivers who once traversed the central Asian plateau in trade caravans destined for the suqs of Arabia, the bazaars of China […]
Read more »Africa’s Shaky Resurgence
July 1st, 2012
Via STRATFOR (subscription required), an interesting look at Africa, a region that many have been optimistically positioning as a strong market in the near term: Emotion clouds analysis about Africa. Because so many in the West want to erase the stains of racism and slavery, there is a tendency to announce optimism about Africa even […]
Read more »Gambling On The Philippines
June 29th, 2012
Via The Financial Times, an article on the gaming boom soon to unfold in the Philippines: The four big casino complexes rising along the scenic Manila Bay in the Philippines haven’t opened their doors yet, four years after the government awarded the exclusive licenses as part of the country’s ambitious plan to cash in on […]
Read more »Failed States Index: A Failed Index Or Guide To Frontier Markets?
June 29th, 2012
Via Foreign Policy and Fund for Peace, a look at the 2012 Failed States Index. Here are the top 10: 1. Somalia As the situation in Somalia continued to deteriorate in 2011, the country remains at the top of the Failed States Index for the fifth year in succession. Ten out of twelve of […]
Read more »MercadoLibre: Leading In Latin America
June 29th, 2012
Via The Financial Times, a report on MercadoLibre, South America’s dominant ecommerce platform: Stelleo Tolda, chief operating officer of MercadoLibre, says he really didn’t think the company he helped launch in 1999 would grow to become Latin America’s largest online trading platform. Thirteen years later, with 1,600 employees and almost 70m registered users, MercadoLibre – […]
Read more »Pax-Sinica: Why The U.S. Should Hand Over Afghanistan And Central Asia To China
June 29th, 2012
Via Foreign Policy’s Oil & Glory, a provocative piece on Afghanistan and China’s role therein: In northern Afghanistan, a potentially rich, U.S.-backed oil and gas tender is under way this week. Central to hopes for a face-saving force withdrawal in two years, the competition is part of a U.S. strategy of initiating a vibrant, self-sustaining […]
Read more »Focusing primarily on The New Seven Sisters - the largely state owned petroleum companies from the emerging world that have become key players in the oil & gas industry as identified by Carola Hoyos, Chief Energy Correspondent for The Financial Times - but spanning other nascent opportunities around the globe that may hold potential in the years ahead, Wildcats & Black Sheep is a place for the adventurous to contemplate & evaluate the emerging markets of tomorrow.