The China-Russia Axis Is Getting Firmer, and It’s Built on Gas
October 4th, 2025
Via Foreign Policy, a report on how Moscow pivoted to the east a decade ago, but it is now besmitten—or captive. An interesting thing happened late this summer: Russia and China dramatically deepened their energy relationship, less for economic reasons than for geopolitical ones. The ramifications, not so much for energy markets but for international […]
Read more »What Are China and Central Asia’s Shared Interests in Afghanistan?
September 17th, 2025
Via The Diplomat, a report on how – as neighbors to Afghanistan – both China and the Central Asian states have vested interests in the country, desiring a peaceful, prosperous, and stable Afghanistan: Afghanistan is often referred to as the “Heart of Asia” because of its strategic location at the crossroads of Central and South […]
Read more »China’s Pipeline Diplomacy Is a Nightmare for U.S. Gas
September 9th, 2025
Via Bloomberg, a look at how the revival of a project that would transport Russian gas to China has the potential to upend Trump’s plans for energy dominance: It’s a potential prize fight for the ages: US “energy dominance” versus the Power of Siberia. A proposed pipeline to bring natural gas from Russia, across Mongolia and […]
Read more »The Quad can Break China’s Mineral Stranglehold
September 6th, 2025
Via Nikkei Asia, commentary on how – the Quad can break China’s mineral stranglehold: Critical minerals are the building blocks of modern civilization. They underpin every sector of the global economy: semiconductors, electronics, automobiles and defense equipment, and have given rise to what Gregory Wischer, an official at the U.S. Department of the Interior, calls […]
Read more »Iran’s SCO Entry Turning Into a Road to Nowhere
September 4th, 2025
Via Asia Times, a report on how Iran’s SCO inclusion has brought Tehran little relief from Western sanctions and even less from promised but stalled economic projects: For a nation under the crush of international sanctions, membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) was never just about diplomatic photo-ops. For Iran, it was pitched as […]
Read more »North Korea’s Processed Goods Push Meets China’s Cold Market Reality
August 31st, 2025
Via The Diplomat, a report on how Chinese traders want North Korean companies to continue to export raw materials, which conflicts with the North Korean regime’s policy of exporting processed goods: As North Korea seeks to develop its economy by exporting more processed goods, Chinese buyers still prefer raw materials, putting North Korean traders in a pickle. “Trading companies that work with China in […]
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.