Myanmar Rebels Disrupt China Rare Earth Trade, Sparking Regional Scramble
March 28th, 2025
Via Reuters, a report on Myanmar’s rare earths industry: Ethnic army controls area accounting for nearly half of global heavy rare earths production Rebels seek leverage against Beijing, which invested heavily in rare earths and supports Myanmar’s junta Price of key mineral used in EVs and wind turbines has soared since rebel takeover India has […]
Read more »TikTok, CPEC and the Digital Battlefield
March 26th, 2025
Via Modern Diplomacy, a look at the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which stands as a $65 billion flagship initiative that promises economic transformation and regional connectivity: The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) stands as a $65 billion flagship initiative that promises economic transformation and regional connectivity. However, this monumental project is increasingly becoming a target of […]
Read more »Challenges to China’s Growing Interests in Afghanistan
March 26th, 2025
The Diplomat reports on how – while Chinese investment in Afghanistan is rising, particularly in the mining sector – the operations face both local pushback and logistical headaches: In a recent post on X, Amrullah Saleh, the former vice president of Afghanistan, accused Chinese mining companies, “in collaboration with Taliban commanders,” of “rampant plundering and theft” […]
Read more »India’s Nascent Blue Economy: Structural Constraints and Climate Change Challenges
March 22nd, 2025
Via The Diplomat, a report on how – as the Indian government finalizes its blue economy policy – there is a clear case for open, inclusive, and transparent dialogue with all stakeholders: India’s National Policy on the Blue Economy has been in the making since 2021, when a draft policy was launched. Since then, the government has […]
Read more »Getting Out of Afghanistan’s Opium Quagmire
March 22nd, 2025
Via The Diplomat, a look at Afghanistan’s opium economy and drug quagmire: Following a ban on poppy cultivation in Afghanistan imposed by the de facto authorities, the Taliban, in April 2022, opium production plunged by an estimated 95 percent by 2023 from 6,200 tons in 2022 to 333 tons in 2023. Poppy fields were reduced from 233,000 […]
Read more »The Railway That China Hopes Will Take On The US In Africa
March 22nd, 2025
Courtesy of The Financial Times, an article on the railway that China hopes will take on the US in Africa: Mukololo Chanda still recalls the glory days of Africa’s “freedom railway”. Almost four decades ago, fresh from high school in Zambia, she began working as a switchboard operator on the railway built by Mao Zedong’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.