Isis Inc: Loot & Taxes Keep Jihadi Economy Churning
December 15th, 2015
Via The Financial Times, a report on the role that looting and taxes play in keeping the terrorist movement funded: Even under jihadi rule, death and taxes remain the two great certainties of life. Some learn that the hard way. As Isis officials announced a religious tithe known as zakat last summer, Mansour, a 26-year-old grocery storekeeper in eastern […]
Read more »Investing In Cuba’s Future
December 15th, 2015
Via Bloomberg, some commentary on Cuba: Don’t break out your Montecristos just yet, but the U.S. and Cuba just started talks on compensation claims for expropriated property and damages. It’s a promising moment for both sides — and more is at stake than the sums directly involved. Restoring economic ties between the U.S. and Cuba can speed an economic […]
Read more »Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) Pipeline
December 15th, 2015
Courtesy of STRATFOR (subscription required), analysis of latest developments regarding TAPI: Two workmen stand next to the symbolic first piece of a natural gas pipeline to China outside of Turkmenabat in 2007. Summary Turkmenistan has some of the largest natural gas reserves in the world, but as a landlocked country it has struggled to transport […]
Read more »South Korean SMEs: Ready For North Korea?
November 30th, 2015
Via the Peterson Institute, a look at the readiness of South Korean SMEs to enter the North Korean market: We are often negative about the business environment in North Korea and the DPRK government’s struggle to solicit foreign investment. With the case of inter-Korean investment, we also find, however, that it is the South Korean […]
Read more »Venezuela’s Energy Profile
November 30th, 2015
Via Eurasia Review, a look at Venezuela’s energy sector: Venezuela is one of the world’s largest producers and exporters of crude oil. The country has been one of the largest exporters of crude oil in the Americas. As a founding member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Venezuela is an important player […]
Read more »China’s New Silk Road: Boom Or Dust For Pakistan?
November 16th, 2015
Via Space Daily, a look at the first stop along a new $46 billion “economic corridor” designed by China in Pakistan: A glossy highway and hundreds of lorries transporting Chinese workers by the thousands: the new Silk Road is under construction in northern Pakistan, but locals living on the border are yet to be convinced they will receive […]
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.