The Second World: Key Players in the Geopolitical Marketplace
January 28th, 2008
An excellent piece in yesterday’s New York Times magazine effectively argues that the US’s position in the global order of things is changing and, that in addition to the three powers in today’s world (i.e. the U.S., China and the European Union), a set of “second world†nations that are part developed & part developing […]
Read more »The Iron Silk Road? China’s Western Rails To Form Link With Central Asia
January 28th, 2008
As reported by Xinhua, China is planning to start construction on two railways linking its westernmost Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region with the central Asian nations of Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in 2008. Upon its completion in 2010, experts say the railway will provide a faster link between western China and central Asia and improve the […]
Read more »Scramble for Africa…The “Final Frontier” of Conventional Sources of Oil
January 25th, 2008
As reported by Reuters, high oil prices and the onslaught of resource nationalism from Russia to South America have sent Western majors delving ever deeper into the waters of the Gulf of Guinea, triggering a new scramble for Africa. As the article notes: “…Unlike more established oil-producing regions, the Gulf of Guinea offers easy access […]
Read more »Dinosaurs at the Tar Pit (3): Energy’s Center of Power & Resource Nationalism Is On The Move
January 23rd, 2008
As noted in today’s Financial Times, the story of energy in the 21st century has been the relative decline of the developed world as both a producer and a consumer. We have been following this trend for some time now, keeping a close eye on The New Seven Sisters in particular. As the article reports: […]
Read more »Africa: A to Z(TE)
January 12th, 2008
Via Stratfor (subscription required), an interesting look at the plans for Chinese telecommunications equipment company ZTE and Libya’s telecom regulator to build the first-ever WiMAX wireless commercial data network in Africa. While the project is intriguing in and of itself, of more note is the fact that this an early example of the coming wave […]
Read more »Virtuous Circle of Investing in Emerging Economies
January 7th, 2008
Very interesting comments by James Leitner (money manager for Falcon Management) in a recent edition of The Deal magazine regarding developing countries and the link between human rights & economic empowerment and prosperity in the developing world. As the article notes: “…Developing countries are no longer trapped at the periphery of the investable universe. Foreign […]
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.