China’s Shrinking BRI Ambitions
April 5th, 2024
Via Geopolitical Futures, a report on how corruption, delays and boondoggles are transforming the Belt and Road Initiative: Last week, the head of China’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection laid out the watchdog’s main goals for this year. His report focused on eliminating corruption and unhealthy practices associated with Beijing’s gargantuan, globe-spanning infrastructure development plan, […]
Read more »Cambodia Getting A China-Backed, Game-Changing Canal
April 4th, 2024
Courtesy of Asia Times, an article on the Funan Techo Canal which will allow Cambodia to bypass Vietnam for its international trade and pull it even tighter into Beijing’s sphere of influence: Cambodia wants to divert Southeast Asia’s Mekong River into a planned US$1.7 billion, Chinese-financed shipping canal to reach a deep-sea port at Kep […]
Read more »China to Woo Partners at ‘Digital Silk Road’ Forum Amidst Increasingly Divided Cyberspace
April 4th, 2024
Via South China Morning Post, a report on China’s plans to woo belt and road partners at ‘digital silk road’ forum in April amid an increasingly divided cyberspace: The Digital Silk Road Development Forum will kick off on April 16 in Xian, capital of western Shaanxi province With China at odds with Western countries in data […]
Read more »Locals Slam Zimbabwe for Turning a Blind Eye to Chinese Miner’s Violations
April 3rd, 2024
Via Mongabay, a report on the Bikita Minerals lithium mine in Zimbabwe where local communities accuse the government and Chinese mining company Sinomine Resource Group of sidelining environmental and social standards in the scramble for lithium: At the end of November last year, Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Sinomine Resource Group chair Wang Pingwei walked […]
Read more »A Building Boom in the Himalayas Threatens Climate Disasters
April 3rd, 2024
Courtesy of Bloomberg, a sobering report on how Modi’s push to develop along India’s tense border with China heightens risks to the already fragile area: On January 3, 2023, cracks suddenly spread over hundreds of buildings in Joshimath, India, and they started sinking into the ground. Residents gathered up what furniture and prized belongings they […]
Read more »China Is Still Rising
April 2nd, 2024
Courtesy of Foreign Affairs, commentary on China and the importance of not underestimating the world’s second-biggest economy For over two decades, China’s phenomenal economic performance impressed and alarmed much of the world, including the United States, its top trading partner. But since 2019, China’s sluggish growth has led many observers to conclude that China has […]
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.