Venezuela Approves New Law to Open Mining to Foreign Investors
April 10th, 2026
Courtesy of New York Times, a report on Venezuela’s new mining law which opens the country’s coveted mineral fortune up to foreign investors, the latest move that Venezuela’s leadership has taken to satisfy the Trump administration: The Venezuelan National Assembly on Thursday approved a new law meant to modernize the country’s decrepit mining industry and […]
Read more »Welcome to Cryptostan: Kyrgyzstan and the Emerging Crypto Corridor
April 9th, 2026
Courtesy of The Diplomat, a look at how Kyrgyzstan has become a de facto “crypto corridor” linking sanctioned Russian flows with trade in Central Asia and supply chains from China: In October 2025, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov, together with Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) — who was appointed as a presidential adviser on digital assets — announced […]
Read more »Built by Pyongyang: The North Korean Company Behind Africa’s Most Iconic Monuments
April 6th, 2026
Courtesy of Daily NK, a look at satellite imagery from Dakar to Windhoek which shows the scale of North Korea’s state-sponsored construction empire in Africa: North Korea has long relied on unconventional means to earn hard currency in the face of sweeping international sanctions that have effectively shut off most legitimate export channels. One of the more distinctive methods […]
Read more »North Korea Courts Chinese Private Investors for Pyongyang Commercial Complex
April 6th, 2026
Via Daily NK, a report that the the Ministry of External Economic Affairs is leading effort to secure goods and foreign currency through private Chinese capital, as legal risks give investors pause: North Korea is pushing to develop a large commercial complex in Pyongyang’s Hwasong district and is actively courting Chinese private investors to fund it. According to a Daily NK source, […]
Read more »How North Korean Built Its African Empire of Stone and Steel
April 6th, 2026
Courtesy of the Daily NK, a look at how – from Zimbabwe to Botswana – Pyongyang’s monument builders left their mark For decades, North Korea has generated foreign currency by designing and constructing commemorative monuments across Africa — statues, museums, and public memorials built for governments from Algiers to Harare. International sanctions targeting this network have curtailed […]
Read more »How China Reinvented the BRI
April 3rd, 2026
Via Foreign Policy, a look at how Western tariffs accelerated the BRI’s transformation into a sophisticated extension of China’s industrial policy: Not long ago, Western policymakers were writing the obituary of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). That verdict is now dangerously obsolete. The stark reality of 2025 has shattered the narrative of a Chinese retreat. […]
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.