China Deepens Its Engagement With Taliban-Ruled Afghanistan
December 3rd, 2024
Courtesy of The Diplomat, a look at China’s vastly increased economic engagement with Afghanistan as it eyes a new node in the Belt and Road Initiative: On August 15, 2021, the Taliban took over Kabul and forced the U.S.-installed government of President Ashraf Ghani to escape overseas. From then on, the Taliban have ruled Afghanistan. […]
Read more »Critical Metals Key to Deepening South Korea-Kyrgyzstan Relations
December 3rd, 2024
Via The Diplomat, a report on growing relations between South Korea and Kyrgyzstan: Hours before he declared martial law in a shocking televised address, South Korea President Yoon Suk-yeol held talks with Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov. The two presidents agreed to elevate relations to a comprehensive partnership and vowed to deepen cooperation in trade, energy, mining, and other fields. Japarov’s state […]
Read more »The Billion-Dollar Railways Driving Biden’s Last Overseas Trip
December 3rd, 2024
Via Bloomberg, a report on US support for African infrastructure aimed at countering Chinese influence in the region: Twice a week, a cargo train groaning under hundreds of tons of copper concentrate pulls into the Angolan port of Lobito from mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The locomotive is made by Pittsburgh-based Wabtec Corp. but many of […]
Read more »Beyond Lobito: Africa’s Resource Rich Nations Look To Capitalise On Biden’s Angola Trip
December 3rd, 2024
Via The Africa Report, a look at how Africa’s resource?rich nations look to capitalize on Biden’s Angola trip: Burundi and South Africa are among the countries hoping to attract a piece of the surging US public and private sector interest in the continent’s ‘green’ minerals. US investment in the Lobito rail corridor linking the mines […]
Read more »Map Reveals How World’s Population Will Change by 2100
December 2nd, 2024
Via Newsweek, a look at how the world’s population will change by 2100: The Census Bureau has revealed how the global population will change between now and 2100, with some nations losing hundreds of thousands of people and others seeing large population growth. By 2100, the Census Bureau has predicted that the largest age group […]
Read more »China’s Wagner? Beijing Establishes Private Security Company in Myanmar
December 2nd, 2024
Via Geopolitical Monitor, an article on China’s use of a private security company in Myanmar: China is collaborating with the Myanmar military junta to establish a joint security company to protect Chinese investments and personnel in Myanmar. On October 22, 2024, the junta formed a working committee to draft a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the initiative, […]
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.