Via Terra Daily, a report on internet access and use in Cuba: With their smartphones and tablet computers, they look much like young people anywhere in the world. But these Cubans have to go to extremes just to get an Internet connection and somehow get around the strict control of the Communist authorities. In the […]
Read more »Via Al Jazeera, an interesting article on how North Korea, at long last, may have decided to begin Chinese-style reforms: There is big news coming from North Korea recently, though it has gone largely unnoticed. Indeed, when North Korea is mentioned in the international media, it is usually because of the unending saga of the […]
Read more »Via BBC, a report on Afghanistan’s economic prospects: As delegates gather in London for a conference on Afghanistan, the prospects for reducing the reliance on foreign aid are increasingly focused on two sectors of the economy: agriculture and hydrocarbons. Harvest time is coming to an end in the fruit orchards of Kandahar, a province now […]
Read more »Courtesy of The Financial Times, an interesting report on Goldman Sachs’ recent involvement with Venezuela: Socialist Venezuela would never sell out its friends to Wall Street, right? Yet it appears that is exactly what Caracas wants to do. Pressed by the oil price collapse, rattled by fears of default, facing rising social tension as imports […]
Read more »Via Harvard University’s Belfer Center and? Rice University’s Baker Institute Center for Energy Studies, a very detailed look at Turkmenistan’s energy potential by Martha Brill Olcott, Ph.D. – Senior Associate, Russia and Eurasia Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: I. Introduction Turkmenistan has enormous gas reserves, estimated at 13.4 trillion cubic meters (473.2 trillion cubic […]
Read more »Via BBC, a report on China’s growing appetite for Turkmen natural gas: China is a country facing huge environmental challenges as it pursues economic growth. One of its aims is to reduce its dependence on coal and switch to alternative energy sources like gas. So at an energy conference in the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat, China […]
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