Tajikistan, Turkmenistan: Submitting To Chinese Capture?
June 24th, 2016
Via Value Walk, an interesting look at China’s growing influence in Central Asia: Turkmenistan sits upon around one-tenth of the world’s proven natural gas reserves. Tajikistan is so poverty-stricken that around half its adult male population is forced to travel abroad in search of work. Even with their starkly different economic profiles, the two countries […]
Read more »Egypt: A Key Plank In China’s One Belt – One Road Strategy
May 31st, 2016
Via Frontera News, a look at the role of Egypt in China’s Silk Road strategy: Egypt’s transfer of two uninhabited Red Sea islands to Saudi sovereignty sparked street protests and a social media backlash: #Egyptissold. Yet Tiran and Sanafir are pinpricks next to the much bigger land grab by Beijing onshore. Granted, the twin islands […]
Read more »India: Watching China’s New Silk Road Corridor Closely
May 18th, 2016
Courtesy of the Financial Times, an article examining India’s growing angst over China’s regional involvement: Chinese labourers work on the Karakoram highway in northern Pakistan Talk of a new Silk Road may be intended to evoke romantic, non-threatening images of desert caravans, ancient ships and trade in exotic commodities. But China’s grand plan for a network […]
Read more »New Silk Road: Land Bridge Saves Thirty Days of Shipping Time
May 18th, 2016
Via the Financial Times, a report on the new land Silk Road route that takes 14 days versus 45 by sea: Alireza Saadat started to trace and document Iran’s segment of the ancient Silk Road four years ago. The 47-year-old, who works on conservation and restoration of archeological sites, has, together with three female companions, […]
Read more »China Seeking To Revive Silk Road
May 18th, 2016
Via The Financial Times, a look at Beijing’s ’One Belt, One Road’ initiative: The ancient trade in silk, spices and slaves between China and Europe turned central Asian oases into wealthy business hubs. Now, with China seeking to rebuild the Silk Road as its signature foreign policy initiative, countries across post-Soviet central Asia, the Caucasus […]
Read more »China-Pakistan Economic Corridor
May 9th, 2016
Courtesy of STRATFOR (subscription required), detailed analysis of the evolving China-Pakistan economic corridor: The partnership between Pakistan and China is one of the strongest in Asia. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif once said that his country’s ties with Beijing are “higher than mountains” and “deeper than oceans.” In May 2015, those sentiments were given form […]
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.