The U.S.-Backed Railway Sparking A Battle For African Copper
August 21st, 2024
Courtesy of The Financial Times, a look at how Washington’s support for a minerals train connecting the DRC to the Atlantic illustrates its desire to compete with China: As the US ambassador’s car pulled into a port terminal on Angola’s Atlantic coast last month, the longshoremen queueing for work were ecstatic at the sight of […]
Read more »A $2 Trillion Reckoning Looms as Ports Become Pawns in Geopolitics
August 21st, 2024
Via Bloomberg, an article on how ports have become pawns in geopolitics, as these gateways to global trade face costly conversions to retool in new era of rivalry, automation and green energy: For centuries, control of the world’s biggest shipping centers helped expand empires, spark and settle wars, ease poverty and build middle classes while […]
Read more »Beijing to Bangkok Train Just a Few Links from Reality
August 20th, 2024
Via Asia Times, a report on a Belt and Road Initiative-backed train connecting China to mainland Southeast Asia which is finally nearly done after years of delays and resistance: A Bangkok to Beijing train journey became one clickity-clack link closer with the completion by Thailand and Laos of a Mekong River railway bridge and tracks […]
Read more »Global Trade Needs a China Alternative. India Needs Better Ports.
August 20th, 2024
Via the New York Times, a report on how efforts to build new ports and expand existing docks could determine whether India emerges as a legitimate option for global factory production: The Rishiri Galaxy, a Panamian-flagged tanker one and a half times the length of a football field, sat tethered to the dock on a […]
Read more »Morocco Attracts New Chinese Mega EV Battery Project
August 19th, 2024
Via The North Africa Post, a report on a new Chinese battery investment in Morocco: Morocco’s electric vehicle battery ecosystem is gaining momentum with the announcement of a new $363.5 million investment to be injected by China’s BTR New Material Group in its second plant to be built in Mohammed VI Tangier Tech City. In […]
Read more »Taliban and China Restart Copper Project
August 19th, 2024
Via Nikkei Asia, a report on the Taliban and its Chinese partner restarting the controversial Mes Aynak copper project: A copper-mining project in Afghanistan finally got off the ground last month after a delay of over 16 years, but critics worry that a lack of independent supervision could lead to widespread pollution and the destruction […]
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.