America’s Avocado Obsession Is Destroying Mexico’s Forests
February 28th, 2025
Via Grist, a look at how America’s avocado obsession is destroying Mexican forests: Avocados are entrenched in American cuisine. The rich, creamy fruit, swaddled in a coarse skin, is often smashed into guacamole, slathered on toast, or minced into salads. The nation’s demand for Persea americana has surged by 600 percent since 1998. Most of the avocados consumed […]
Read more »Is China’s Growing Zimbabwe Alliance Key To Its Bigger Plans For Southern Africa?
February 28th, 2025
Via South China Morning Post, a look at how Beijing is betting on resources, labour and long ties to makes Zimbabwe a major steel hub, and a strategic foothold in the region, experts say In Beitbridge, a border town in southern Zimbabwe, a mega industrial park that will eventually produce electricity, chromium-based materials and steel […]
Read more »Indonesia’s $1 Billion Win in Apple Negotiations Sets New Precedent
February 28th, 2025
Via Bloomberg, a report on Indonesia’s negotiations with Apple: For five months, Indonesians didn’t have access to Apple Inc.’s latest iPhone 16, as a tug of war between the country and company ensued. The tussle was initiated by a more assertive new government, which banned sales of the handset on the grounds that the US company didn’t […]
Read more »Priorities For Rebuilding Syria’s Economy
February 28th, 2025
Via Eurasia Review, commentary on the priorities for rebuilding Syria’s economy: After more than a decade of war, destruction and economic collapse in Syria, the country’s new government faces an urgent and formidable challenge: rebuilding the nation’s shattered economy. Years of conflict have devastated infrastructure, displaced millions and left the country struggling with widespread poverty, […]
Read more »How Trump and Biden’s Focus on Minerals Became Core to U.S. Foreign Policy
February 27th, 2025
Courtesy of the New York Times, a look at how President Trump has turned to high-pressure tactics to acquire critical minerals: President Trump’s intense interest in Ukraine’s minerals seemed to come from out of the blue. He dispatched his Treasury secretary to Kyiv this month to negotiate with Ukraine’s leader, then began ratcheting up the pressure publicly in what […]
Read more »India Could Put Chabahar on Slow Burner as IMEC Gathers Pace
February 27th, 2025
Via The Diplomat, a report on how abandoning its Chabahar port project is not a preferred option for India as its Central Asia ambitions depend on trade via this Iranian port: To apply “maximum pressure” on Iran to “end its nuclear threat, curtail its ballistic missile program and stop its support for terrorist groups,” U.S. […]
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.