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 »Sanctions, the Taliban, and an Iranian Port: The Uncertain Future of India’s Kabul Route
November 7th, 2025
Via The Diplomat, commentary on how India’s approach to the Taliban has gradually shifted from purely humanitarian aid to a focus on trade and transit. On October 30, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs announced that the United States had granted India a six-month extension to the sanctions waiver for operations at Iran’s Chabahar Port. Issued under […]
Read more »India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor: Promise, Peril, and the Politics of Connectivity
October 22nd, 2025
Via Modern Diplomacy, a look at the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) which was announced as a transformative connectivity framework which aims to link India, the Arabian Peninsula, and Europe through maritime, rail, energy, and digital networks: Source: Siasat.com During a recent meeting of Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in […]
Read more »India’s Rare Earth Dilemma: Between Chinese Leverage and an Afghan Offer
October 18th, 2025
Via The Diplomat, a look at India’s behavior in regard to critical minerals can be best understood as strategic hedging: Beijing is signaling geoeconomic control over a chokepoint industry by deciding to resume the supply of rare-earth magnets to India on the condition of a written “no-diversion” pledge. This is more than just a contractual detail. […]
Read more »The Taliban Emirate, China, India and Pakistan
October 17th, 2025
Via Geopolitical Futures, commentary on what attacking Pakistan means for the Taliban to try to break out of international isolation: After the United States withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021, it was only a matter of time before conflict erupted between the Afghan Taliban and their former patron, Pakistan. One of the ways this manifested was […]
Read more »Mexico, Malaysia, and India Want to be the Next Big Semiconductor Hubs
August 12th, 2025
Via Rest of World, an article on how manufacturing powerhouses Mexico, Malaysia, and India want to become less reliant on expensive imports — without competing with Nvidia or TSMC: Mexico, Malaysia, and India are ramping up their semiconductor manufacturing capabilities. One of the goals is to make legacy chips, which can be used in electronics […]
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.