Tracking the Digital Component of the BRI in Central Asia: Kazakhstan
May 19th, 2021
Via Jamestown Foundation, an article on the Digital Silk Road and its influence in Kazakhstan: This is the second of a three-part series describing the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) growing digital presence in Central Asia—part of a larger project commonly referred to as the Digital Silk Road (DSR, ??????, shuzi sichou zhi lu) that supplements […]
Read more »Challenges Turning Djibouti Into The “Singapore of Africa”
May 19th, 2021
Via African Arguments, commentary on President Guelleh’s efforts to turn Djibouti into the “Singapore of Africa”: On 9 April, Djibouti’s President Ismail Omar Guelleh won a fifth term in office with 97% of the vote. He effectively ran uncontested after the opposition decided to boycott the election, but the result had never been in doubt. Guelleh has led […]
Read more »China’s Belt And Road Initiative: More Misses Than Hits
May 19th, 2021
Via Eurasia Review, analysis of China’s BRI to date: China’s Silk Road OBOR (One Road One Belt) project A fluid and evolving concept, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has been mired in controversy since its inception. It has become a much-debated part of China’s ‘Going Global’ strategy and foreign policy calculus. As we enter a new […]
Read more »Why the Motorbike Delivery Driver is a Symbol of Our Times
May 14th, 2021
Courtesy of Emerging World, an interesting look at how motorbike riders serve as vital arteries of the global food delivery industry, especially in the emerging world: Jet-lagged from a long flight that landed in the middle of the night, I woke up the next morning to the familiar sound of motorbikes. I was in Tehran, […]
Read more »Thriving Djibouti Benefits From Its Strategic Location
May 14th, 2021
Courtesy of The Financial Times, a report on Djibouti: At the top of a lighthouse in a deserted headland, Ali Hassan Ali points across the strait of Bab-el-Mandeb, to war-ravaged Yemen. Then, behind him, to war-torn Ethiopia. Then, to his right, at troubled Somalia. Finally, to his left at Eritrea, a dictatorship engaged in the […]
Read more »Sudan Opens For Business
May 8th, 2021
Courtesy of Project Syndicate, a look at how – after decades of strife and bloodshed – Sudan has made significant gains in the two years since its revolution, adopting important economic reforms and gradually rejoining the international community. Now, the country needs investment, and it has no shortage of profitable opportunities to offer: Investing in […]
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.