Kazakhstan’s Power Shortages: Crypto Miners and Geopolitics
November 19th, 2021
Via The Diplomat, an article on how Kazakhstan’s data centers caused a spike in electricity demand, while the country is still dependent on coal: Electricity deficits have caused repeated outages across Kazakhstan, and the government has turned to Russia to meet growing demand. Officials said that a spike in consumption has strained the country’s grid. Deputy Energy Minister Murat […]
Read more »The Fate of China’s Rail Line to Uzbekistan Likely to Be Decided in Kyrgyzstan
November 19th, 2021
Via The Jamestown Foundation, a report on how the fate of China’s rail line to Uzbekistan will likely be decided in Kyrgyzstan: As a part of its Belt and Road Initiative, Chinese plans to construct a railway from Xinjiang through Kyrgyzstan to Uzbekistan and onward to Turkmenistan has been under discussion for two decades. If realized, […]
Read more »Samjiyon: North Korea’s Newest Ski Resort
November 18th, 2021
Via Silk Road Briefing, a report on North Korea’s newest ski resort project: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been in the news this week making a rare public appearance at the town of Samjiyon, close to the border with China’s Jilin Province. While much of the Western media commentary was full of barbs criticizing […]
Read more »How Goldman’s BRICs Flew Then Faded in Two Decades
November 17th, 2021
Courtesy of Bloomberg, a report on how the BRICs fared in the two decades since they were named: Jim O’Neill wasn’t trying to change the way investors and executives looked at the world twenty years ago. He just wanted to prove he was up to his new job. Then 44 years old and the just-named […]
Read more »China’s Belt and Road Chugging Along in Central Asia
November 17th, 2021
Via the Asia Times, an article on BRI activity in Central Asia: The information war is so intense nowadays that unsung melodies are often more alluring than the sung ones. The lines from English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley’s famous ode To a Skylark come to mind: “In the broad day-light / Thou art unseen, but yet I […]
Read more »Cambodia’s Unique Version of E-Commerce
November 15th, 2021
Via The Diplomat, an article on Cambodia’s e-commerce landscape: E-commerce in Cambodia is not new. Systems for ordering online, and systems for delivering those items, have developed steadily over the last decade, alongside the rise of social media, particularly the rise of Facebook. Following the pandemic, the evolution and adoption of e-commerce in Cambodia has […]
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.