The Taliban Have Claimed Afghanistan’s Real Economic Prize
August 20th, 2021
Courtesy of The New York Times, commentary on the Taliban’s control of border crossings: After their stunning capture of Kabul, the Taliban have tried to convey a sense of calm. Only days after Afghanistan’s top officials scrambled onto military flights and desperate Afghans clung to the fuselage of departing planes, the Taliban coolly went on inspection tours of government […]
Read more »The Afghanistan-China Belt & Road Initiative
August 18th, 2021
Via Silk Road Briefing, a look at potential BRI routes exist along the Wakhan Corridor and via Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, but it is Pakistani access to Kabul that looks the better option – as long as the Taliban can provide stability, develop Afghan society, and refrain from regional aggression International media has focused on Afghanistan these past […]
Read more »Even Toyota Seemed To Know That The Taliban Would Take Kabul
August 17th, 2021
Via Quartz, an article on the Taliban’s preference for Toyota products: When the Taliban rode into Kabul and captured the presidential palace on Aug. 15, it marked the return to power of one of Toyota’s most loyal—and most regrettable—customers. For more than a quarter-century, Toyota’s sturdiest pickups and SUVs have been the Taliban’s vehicles of choice. They’re […]
Read more »Vietnam’s Covid Stumble Threatens Economic Boom
August 17th, 2021
Via the Asia Times, an article on the potential impact of COVID on Vietnam’s economic growth: Vietnam risks giving the old investment adage “buy the rumor, sell the fact” a bad name as the delta variant upends an economy rumored to have beaten Covid-19. Up until last month, the Southeast Asian growth star was on […]
Read more »Iran’s Chabahar Port And Bangladesh’s West Asian Reconnection Opportunity
August 15th, 2021
Via Silk Road Briefing, a report on the potential for Chabahar to scale Bangladesh’s west Asian reconnections: For decades now India has made requests to Pakistan concerning the provision of overland transit facilities to markets in Iran and beyond, in return for the millions of dollars Islamabad would earn in transit fees. Pakistan has never agreed. […]
Read more »Restoring Sudan’s Rail Network
August 15th, 2021
Via The Telegraph, an article on efforts to restore Africa’s third-largest train network – in Sudan – to its former glory which could throw a vital lifeline to millions: Sitting next to the colonial British railway director’s old residence on the banks of the Nile River, the general manager of the Sudanese Railways Corporation chuckles to […]
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.