Fallujah’s Highway 11: Retaking This Crucial Highway Link Could Keep Jordan From Economic Collapse
June 3rd, 2016
Via Foreign Policy, an interesting look at Jordan’s economic interrelationship with Iraq: When the Iraqi army pushed the Islamic State out of the isolated desert town of Rutba last month, the fight received little attention. Yet the dusty settlement, wedged into a corner of Iraq close to the Jordanian and Syrian borders, is a prize […]
Read more »In Iraqi Kurdistan, Momentum Builds for an Iranian Pipeline
April 14th, 2016
Courtesy of STRATFOR (subscription required), interesting analysis of the potential for a pipeline to take Kurdish oil to market through Iran: For years, Iraqi Kurdistan and Iran have been in talks to construct a pipeline that would transport Kurdish oil to the Iranian market. Until now, the negotiations have lagged as the Kurdistan Regional Government […]
Read more »Isis Inc: Loot & Taxes Keep Jihadi Economy Churning
December 15th, 2015
Via The Financial Times, a report on the role that looting and taxes play in keeping the terrorist movement funded: Even under jihadi rule, death and taxes remain the two great certainties of life. Some learn that the hard way. As Isis officials announced a religious tithe known as zakat last summer, Mansour, a 26-year-old grocery storekeeper in eastern […]
Read more »The ISIS Economy
October 8th, 2015
Via Vox, a look at the business of ISIS: ISIS has a lot of money. But we don’t know for sure how much or where it comes from. Which is why a very rare leak of ISIS’s internal books, published Monday on the blogJihadology, is so interesting. One leading terrorism researcher says it’s “possibly the best available primary […]
Read more »Iraq: A Fragile State With A Fragile Economy
September 30th, 2015
Via the Atlantic Council, a look at Iraq’s economy: Protesters display a huge Iraqi flag during a demonstration against corruption and poor services in regard to power cuts and water shortages, in Kerbala, southwest of Baghdad, August 14, 2015. There is little to envy in the life of embattled Iraqi Premier Haider al-Abadi, who is […]
Read more »The ISIS Economy
January 9th, 2015
Courtesy of The Financial Times, an interesting look at the ISIS “economy” where signs of discontent are evident across the ‘caliphate’ as people tire of its taxes, price caps and shoddy services: A militant holds up a knife as he rides through Tabqa, Raqqa province, after a nearby air base was seized last year. Isis […]
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.