China, Quad and the Rare Earths Mineral Competition in Myanmar
December 10th, 2025
Via Asia Times, a look at how ethnic rebel groups’ advances against the junta have disrupted Chinese resource-extraction dominance: As the US-China rivalry spirals, it is spilling over into new domains, particularly those involving rare earth minerals, regional supply chains, and emerging technologies. Countries with fragile political systems but high geoeconomic value are increasingly turning […]
Read more »How China Built a Network of Ports Encircling the Globe
December 1st, 2025
Via Bloomberg, a look at how – with shipping outposts on six continents – Beijing has cemented its trade dominance. That some could be used by its navy has other nations worried. Illustration: Christian Capestany China has invested tens of billions of dollars in building or investing in a global network of commercial ports on […]
Read more »Great Game Intensifies for Myanmar’s Kachin Rare Earths
November 28th, 2025
Via the Asia Times, a look at how US-India cooperation in REE refining could give Kachin rebels controlling mines a strategic alternative to China In the global contest over critical minerals, Myanmar has emerged as an unlikely pivot. Rare earth elements (REE)—dysprosium, terbium, and others indispensable for magnets in wind turbines, electric vehicles, and advanced […]
Read more »How China Is Using Brazil to Reshape Power in the Americas
November 21st, 2025
Via The Diplomat, commentary on how China is entrenching itself in the Brazilian industrial base and consumer economy, with implications for Chinese influence across the continent: China’s increasing economic footprint in Brazil, Latin America’s largest economy, is redefining the region’s balance of power. Once primarily a trading partner, China is now entrenching itself in the […]
Read more »China: Here To Stay In Iraq’s Energy Sector
November 6th, 2025
Via The Atlantic Council, a look at why China is here to stay in Iraq’s energy sector: Even as Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani has worked to increase US involvement in Iraq’s energy sector, his government has also expanded already-deep ties with Beijing by awarding new upstream projects to Chinese companies and increasing the […]
Read more »The Rise of Durian Diplomacy
October 18th, 2025
Via Foreign Policy, a report on how – in Asia – soft power rests on a divisive, spiky fruit: The fruit’s scent announces its presence long before it comes into view. The aroma snakes down the lorongs, past the coffee houses and xian bing stalls of Kuala Lumpur’s Chinatown, ending at the gloved hand of the local […]
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.