An Unlikely Source of Crypto Innovation: Afghanistan
January 28th, 2026
Courtesy of the New York Times, a look at how – even though the repressive Taliban government is suspicious of the internet – a start-up in the country is building blockchain-based tools to transform humanitarian aid: At a bustling money changer in northwestern Syria, a 46-year-old farmer gripped a plastic card like a lifeline. She […]
Read more »DRC Offers Manganese, Copper, Cobalt, and Lithium To U.S. Investors Under Minerals Pact
January 21st, 2026
Via Reuters, a report on Congo’s offer of manganese, copper?cobalt, and lithium assets to US investors under the recently signed minerals pact: The Democratic Republic of Congo has sent Washington a shortlist of state-owned assets – including manganese, copper-cobalt, gold and lithium projects – for U.S. investors to consider as part of a minerals partnership, […]
Read more »Shooting for the Stars with a Paper Airplane: The US-Pakistan Rare Earths Deal
January 20th, 2026
Via Geopolitical Monitor, commentary on the US-Pakistan rare earths deal: In October 2025, Pakistan shipped its first load of rare earth minerals to the United States as part of a new $500 million agreement between the two nations. After months of trade negotiations, this shipment was of great symbolic significance, intended to show that Pakistan can deliver […]
Read more »North Korea’s Elite Ponghak Beer Appears In Chinese Market In Search of Foreign Currency
January 19th, 2026
Via the Daily NK, a report that North Korea’s elite Ponghak Beer is entering the Chinese market seeking foreign currency: North Korea’s Ponghak Beer, the beer of choice among North Korea’s elite, has appeared in the Chinese market. Alongside Taedonggang Beer, which was already widely known, and Tumangang Beer, an emerging contender actively promoted by […]
Read more »The Manager-Monarch Who Saved Oman
January 13th, 2026
Courtesy of Foreign Policy, a report on Oman’s new(ish) sultan who doesn’t do spectacle. He does spreadsheets. And it’s working. Six years ago this month, Sultan Haitham bin Tariq inherited a country on the brink. Oman’s beloved ruler of nearly half a century had just died, oil prices had cratered, the COVID-19 pandemic was about […]
Read more »Russia, France and the US: The High-Stakes Scramble for Madagascar
January 13th, 2026
Via The Africa Report, a look at how a recent visit to Madagascar by a Russian delegation led by the head of Africa Corps has sparked domestic controversy. But Moscow is far from the only power courting President Michaël Randrianirina in a bid to secure economic and strategic interests: “Threat alert in Madagascar.” With these […]
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.