Enter The Dragon: China’s Belt And Road Rising In The Middle East
October 4th, 2018
Via the Hoover Institute, commentary on China’s BRI impact on the Middle East: Cairenes are not modest about their beloved city. It is Umm al-Dunya, they say, the mother of the world. They also call it simply Masr, the Arabic term for Egypt, suggesting, of course, that there is really nothing worth noting in the vast country […]
Read more »Iraqi Kurdistan Struggles To Rebuild Tattered Economy
October 2nd, 2018
Via Oil & Gas Daily, an article on Kurdistan’s economic challenges: The oil-rich Iraqi region of Kurdistan is struggling to rebuild its economy, a year after an ill-fated independence referendum that Baghdad deemed illegal. A massive yes vote in the September 2017 plebiscite provoked a furious backlash by the central government, turning a long-cherished dream […]
Read more »Belt & Road Bolsters China’s Technological Clout
September 29th, 2018
Via Reconnecting Asia, a look at the technological impact of the Belt and Road initiative: As demand for network bandwidth grows among Belt and Road (B&R) countries, China will exert its technological dominance and set global standards through centrally-coordinated fiber-optic roll-outs, the establishment of data centers, and the deployment of communications, positioning, and observation satellites. […]
Read more »As a Saudi Prince Rose, The Bin Laden Business Empire Crumbled
September 29th, 2018
Courtesy of Reuters, an interesting report on the fall of the Bin Laden business empire: Soon after Prince Mohammed bin Salman became second in line to the throne of Saudi Arabia, he turned his sights to the sprawling empire of the Saudi Binladin Group. In 2015, the prince, then 29, approached Bakr bin Laden, chairman of […]
Read more »The Digital Silk Road
September 29th, 2018
Via the World Economic Forum, a detailed look at the digital Silk Road: China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) involves a trillion-dollar investment programme to enhance economic interconnectivity and facilitate development across Eurasia, East Africa and close to 100 partner countries. “Belt and Road” brings to mind a web of enormous physical infrastructures, such as […]
Read more »Turkmenistan: Hitting The Gas On Finding New Friends
September 29th, 2018
Via Ozy, a look at how Turkmenistan is seeking new friends for its gas economy: The chill of winter is traditionally when Turkmenistan’s ties with China turn warmest. That’s when Beijing’s dependence on the Central Asian nation, its biggest supplier of natural gas, is at its peak. But when Turkmenistan’s struggling economy failed to supply 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.