Can China Protect Its Red Sea Investments Without Taking Sides?
July 31st, 2026
Via The Africa Report, a look at how – from Port Sudan to Egypt’s Suez Canal Economic Zone – Beijing’s expanding footprint is reshaping one of the world’s most strategic maritime corridors. But analysts say its growing economic clout is making political neutrality increasingly difficult to sustain. Few waterways are as strategically important or as […]
Read more »China’s Next South Asian Corridor May Begin in Bangladesh
July 29th, 2026
Via the Lowy Institute, a look at Beijing’s plans for an economic link from Yunnan via Myanmar to Bangladesh – leaving the door ajar for India to join later. China has revived an old South Asian regional connectivity idea, but with a different starting point. During Bangladeshi Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s visit to Beijing in […]
Read more »See What It’s Like To Use a North Korean Smartphone Under Kim Jong Un
July 27th, 2026
A very interesting piece in the Washington Post shows just how much North Korea is changing: smartphone apps are proliferating, with apps for e-banking, health, and people able to even stream movies like Aladdin, Toy Story, and Frozen on state-sponsored apps. People in North Korea can’t access the internet. But that hasn’t stopped a meaningful […]
Read more »Türkiye–PRC Railway Partnership Bolsters Middle Corridor
July 26th, 2026
Via Jamestown, a look at how Türkiye and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) are working to improve transportation logistics and infrastructure to advance trans-Eurasian trade and connectivity through the Middle Corridor and the One Belt, One Road initiative: Türkiye and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) are working to improve transportation logistics and infrastructure […]
Read more »Behind Pyongyang’s Boom
July 13th, 2026
Via the Lowy Institute, a look at North Korea’s recent economic growth which – while real – is built on Russian cash, Chinese trade and illicit activity: A June 2026 Wall Street Journal article described North Korea(Opens in new window) as “the world’s most surprising economic success story” – a claim many would instinctively dismiss, yet one that warrants […]
Read more »War Made the Case For IMEC, Not Against It
July 6th, 2026
Via Ethan Chorin’s substack, commentary on how the India-Middle East-Europe Corridor’s vulnerabilities are the very reasons it is worth building: The status of IMEC, or India–Middle East–Europe Economic Corridor, may be the best indicator of who’s winning the current war in the Middle East, and how prepared the region is for worse crises ahead. The […]
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.