Turks Are Running Out of Cash—and Patience
September 7th, 2023
Courtesy of Foreign Policy, an article on Turkey’s inflation mess and efforts to turn the situation around: On a wide staircase across the street from a popular bar in Turkey’s biggest city, crowds of people sit in the sunset, enjoying cheap drinks and snacks they brought from home. They used to go to the bar, […]
Read more »A New Racket: A Version of Pickleball Is Taking Off in Venezuela — to Maduro’s Dismay
September 7th, 2023
Courtesy of Bloomberg, a look at the Venezuelan President’s dislike of a racket sport whose growing popularity among the Caracas elite has developers seeking land for new courts: Nicolas Maduro is cracking down on the Venezuelan elite’s growing obsession with padel tennis, blocking the construction of courts as the sport’s disorderly proliferation begins threatening the capital’s […]
Read more »Accelerating Digital Integration in Africa
September 7th, 2023
Via Harvard Business Review, commentary on ways to accelerate digital integration in Africa which – similar to the European Union’s – has been cited as a key to creating stability, growing economies, improving market efficiency, sharing the costs of large infrastructure projects, and addressing peace and security: In 2021, the combined GDP of Africa’s 54 countries was […]
Read more »Iran’s New Patrons
September 7th, 2023
Courtesy of Foreign Affairs, a look at why China and Russia are stepping up their support for Iran: Upon assuming power in 1979, Iran’s revolutionaries prided themselves on rejecting the global order. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the country’s first supreme leader, declared that his state would be “neither East nor West.” Khomeini viewed the United States as “the Great […]
Read more »Maduro Seeks Chinese Money to Revive Venezuela’s Oil Sector
September 7th, 2023
Via Bloomberg, a report on Venezuela’s efforts to secure Chinese energy investment: Top Maduro aides arrive in Shanghai seeking energy investment Government seeks to revive economy ahead of 2023 election Venezuela dispatched some of its top officials to China to seek energy investments to boost the economy ahead of next year’s presidential election. Vice President Delcy […]
Read more »China, Saudi Arabia Enter ‘New Stage’ of Financial Cooperation as Bank of China Opens Riyadh Branch
September 6th, 2023
Via South China Morning Post, an article on growing financial cooperation between China and Saudi Arabia: Bank of China (BOC) opened its branch in Riyadh on Tuesday, more than two years after being given approval by the Saudi Arabian government China’s ambassador to the kingdom, Chen Weiqing, pointed to the financial, investment and geographical advantages […]
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.