China’s growing ties with Serbia point to new ‘Silk Curtain’ in Europe
August 20th, 2025
Via Nikkei Asia, a look at Beijing’s expanded Balkan presence, with Washington focused on Ukraine: Southeast of the “Iron Curtain” famously described by Winston Churchill in 1946, a new group of China-friendly nations is forming a north-south line that runs through the heart of Eurasia. While this “Silk Curtain” — which runs from Hungary in […]
Read more »The Secret Rise of China’s AI Desert Empire
August 1st, 2025
Via Bloomberg, a report on Beijing’s efforts to build a small city of data centers in remotest Xinjiang: There are approximately three dozen data centers spread across China’s western deserts that may one day have at their heart a cutting-edge processor made by Nvidia—the kind they’re not supposed to have. The US government has been trying […]
Read more »Chinese Car Giants Rush Into Brazil With Dreams of Dominating a Continent
July 27th, 2025
Courtesy of the New York Times, an article on how – as the likes of Ford and Mercedes retreat – Great Wall Motor and BYD are building factories and bringing affordable EVs and hybrids to one of the world’s biggest markets: A two-hour drive beyond the traffic jams of São Paulo, past the vast valleys […]
Read more »China Trade With North Korea Jumps As Neighbors Rebuild Economic Ties
July 21st, 2025
Via Nikkei Asia, a look at increasing trade between China and North Korea: Economic exchanges between China and North Korea are picking up, with cross-border train service set to resume and bilateral trade between January and June jumping roughly 30% on the year. China’s exports to North Korea in the first half of 2025 grew […]
Read more »The Digital Silk Road in the Gulf: Navigating Risks Amid China-US Rivalry
July 16th, 2025
Via The Diplomat, commentary on how the Gulf region represents a convergence of regional instability and great power rivalry, with Chinese high-tech exports caught in the crossfire: China’s Digital Silk Road has emerged as a strategic avenue to circumvent mounting U.S.-led barriers to its high-tech development, offering an alternative model for digital globalization that emphasizes […]
Read more »Brazil and China Study South American Transcontinental Railway Project
July 9th, 2025
Via South China Morning Post, a report that Brazil and China agreed on Monday to study the feasibility of a transcontinental railway that could reshape South America’s trade routes by connecting Brazil’s Atlantic Ocean coast to Peru’s Pacific Ocean port of Chancay: Brazil and China agreed on Monday to study the feasibility of a transcontinental […]
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.