Trump’s Congo Gamble: Critical Minerals and a Dangerous New Bargain
August 31st, 2025
Via The Africa Report, a report on the Trump administration’s controversial agreement with Kinshasa, tying US access to the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) mineral reserves to expanded security assistance in the east, a region convulsed by conflict with Rwanda-backed M23 rebels: The minerals that will power the world’s green transition could trap the Democratic […]
Read more »Airlines Now Pay The Taliban $700 A Flight—Their New Cash Cow For ‘Safe Passage’ Over Afghanistan
August 31st, 2025
Via View from the Wing, a look at how airlines now pay for ‘safe passage’ over Afghanistan: Russian airspace has been off-limits to most Western carriers since the start of the Ukraine war. For U.S. airlines that means a much less direct route, longer flight times and more fuel burn. Large swaths of the Middle […]
Read more »North Korea’s Processed Goods Push Meets China’s Cold Market Reality
August 31st, 2025
Via The Diplomat, a report on how Chinese traders want North Korean companies to continue to export raw materials, which conflicts with the North Korean regime’s policy of exporting processed goods: As North Korea seeks to develop its economy by exporting more processed goods, Chinese buyers still prefer raw materials, putting North Korean traders in a pickle. “Trading companies that work with China in […]
Read more »North Korea’s Glossy New Surface: Apps, Beaches and a Fake Starbucks
August 25th, 2025
Courtesy of the New York Times, a report on some videos taken by visitors to North Korea provide a rare glimpse of how it’s mimicking the consumerism of the outside world: North Korea is taking inspiration from the West. In Pyongyang, elites drink coffee at a fake Starbucks and pay by mobile phone. About 100 […]
Read more »How Africa’s e-Commerce Giant is Fighting off Shein and Temu
August 25th, 2025
Via Rest of World, a report on how Jumia is capitalizing on the U.S.-China trade war as Chinese vendors are exploring new avenues to route their products into markets such as Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire: Competition has been steep for Jumiai, Africa’s largest e-commerce platform, especially from major Chinese companies like Temu and Sheini. Jumia is […]
Read more »Battling Power Outages and Heat Wave, Iran Orders More Shutdowns
August 24th, 2025
Courtesy of New York Times, a look at how – amid suffocating temperatures – Iranian authorities are closing public offices and cutting water and electricity as the country struggles with an energy crisis: Iranian officials have announced an extra day of government shutdowns to ease demand on dwindling electricity and water supplies amid a summer […]
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.