Mercenaries of Influence: How Russian PMCs Redefined Power Projection
October 21st, 2024
Via Geopolitical Monitor, a report on the influence of Russian private military companies in Africa: Russian use of hard power has been displayed on the global stage for nearly 20 years. Since the invasion of Georgia in 2008 and subsequent invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin’s apparent tool of choice in foreign policy has been military […]
Read more »A Broken Oil Pipeline Plunges South Sudan’s Capital Into Chaos
October 21st, 2024
Courtesy of Bloomberg, a report that the 1.5 million people in the capital of Juba grapple with a lack of power, running water, salaries and medicine as the nation’s key source of cash dries up: Around the Nyakuron Market in downtown Juba, the stench of rotting trash hangs heavily in the air. Traffic congestion limits […]
Read more »Can BRICS Finally Take On the West?
October 21st, 2024
Via Foreign Policy, commentary on how the BRICS, an ad hoc gaggle of countries turned themselves into global revolutionaries, and why it might yet matter for the West: One of the more remarkable developments over the last 25 years is that an investment banker’s arbitrary acronym for a quartet of emerging market economies has become […]
Read more »Bhutan Prays It Can Be India’s Hong Kong
October 20th, 2024
Courtesy of The Economist, a look at Bhutan’s vision to reincarnate as a financial center: King Jigme of Bhutan recalls that when he was studying in America, his classmates would scoff in disbelief when he told them there were tigers and elephants in his Himalayan homeland. Like many foreigners, they thought of it as a place […]
Read more »Wagner’s Mercenary Model Still Effective In Africa’s Most Fragile Places
October 20th, 2024
Via The Economist, a report on Wagner’s mercenary model which is still effective in Africa’s most fragile places: True friends, says Hassan Bouba, swigging from a mug with Vladimir Putin’s face on it, “are those who are by your side in the most difficult moments. And Russia was with us in the most difficult of […]
Read more »Ethiopia to Raise $255 Million in African Nation’s Maiden IPO
October 20th, 2024
Via Bloomberg, an article on Ethiopia’s plans for the nation’s first IPO: Ethiopia is seeking to raise 30 billion birr ($255 million) selling shares in a state-run wireless company, making it the nation’s first initial public offering, and paving the way to start a stock exchange. Ethiopia Investment Holdings, which controls 27 state-run companies, will […]
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.