Outdoor Concerts? Uncovered Hair? Shimmying in Public? Is This Iran?
December 1st, 2025
Courtesy of the New York Times, a report on how young people across Iran have been leading a dramatic change in social mores in recent months: Thousands of young men and women, hair uncovered and dressed in jeans and short-sleeve tops, jumped up and down, dancing and singing at a packed outdoor pop concert. In another […]
Read more »How China Built a Network of Ports Encircling the Globe
December 1st, 2025
Via Bloomberg, a look at how – with shipping outposts on six continents – Beijing has cemented its trade dominance. That some could be used by its navy has other nations worried. Illustration: Christian Capestany China has invested tens of billions of dollars in building or investing in a global network of commercial ports on […]
Read more »After Gold and Diamonds, Russia Turns to Africa’s Trove of Fish
November 28th, 2025
Via Bloomberg, a report on how Russia is competing for influence – and money – in diverse, yet depleted waters: The Great African Expedition launched from the Baltic port of Kaliningrad in August 2024. An orchestra played “When the Saints Go Marching In” and a priest blessed the crews with holy water. Officials rang a […]
Read more »Great Game Intensifies for Myanmar’s Kachin Rare Earths
November 28th, 2025
Via the Asia Times, a look at how US-India cooperation in REE refining could give Kachin rebels controlling mines a strategic alternative to China In the global contest over critical minerals, Myanmar has emerged as an unlikely pivot. Rare earth elements (REE)—dysprosium, terbium, and others indispensable for magnets in wind turbines, electric vehicles, and advanced […]
Read more »Angola’s Biggest Bank Accelerates Regional Expansion With DRC In Focus
November 25th, 2025
Via The Africa Report, a look at Banco Angolano de Investimentos’s plans to accelerate regional expansion: Banco Angolano de Investimentos (BAI) plans to raise the share of loans to the private sector to about 40% as it backs Angola’s push to diversify the economy away from oil and gas. The timing is favourable. Angola is hosting […]
Read more »Cuba: Heading For Disaster?
November 24th, 2025
Via The Economist, a report on Cuba’s growing economic challenges: It is hard to fathom how ordinary Cubans nowadays manage to survive. The barest necessities of life cost far more than the official average monthly wage of 6,506 pesos (equivalent to $14.46 at the informal rate, which everyone goes by). Most professionals, such as doctors and […]
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.