The Unlikely Revival Of A Great Middle Eastern Railroad
March 15th, 2025
Via Noema, a report on how a railroad that once linked Damascus to Medina, its tracks and stations now crumbling into the desert or destroyed by treasure hunters, could help stitch a fragmented region back together: In the center of this city in southern Syria is a long, rectangular warehouse constructed of black basalt. It […]
Read more »The Middle East Drug Fueling War, Crime and All-Night Parties
October 28th, 2024
Courtesy of the Wall Street Journal, a look at how captagon is bringing big profits to Syria’s Assad regime and Hezbollah—and it’s triggering a health crisis: Another urgent conflict in the Middle East is playing out on the border between Syria and Jordan: a war against captagon, an amphetamine-like drug that’s taken off across the […]
Read more »Exhausting the Desert: Cash, Concrete, and Cucumbers in Jordan
July 18th, 2024
Courtesy of Synaps, commentary on the sustainability – or lack thereof – of Jordan’s water-based economy: Drive through Jordan in springtime, and you could easily forget that the country is among the world’s most water scarce and imports practically all its staple foods. Date groves and greenhouses line the Jordan Valley. Fields of grain sprout […]
Read more »Not Just Oil: Wind Farms of the Middle East
May 5th, 2024
Via The Green Prophet, a look at some of the Middle East’s most significant wind energy projects: In recent years, the Middle East has emerged as a significant player in renewable energy, embracing the potential of wind power to diversify its energy mix and reduce reliance on fossil fuels. Despite being synonymous with oil-rich landscapes, […]
Read more »How Fast Food’s Global Takeover Was Underwritten by Development Banks
April 24th, 2024
Courtesy of TruthDig, a report on how – from South Africa to Ukraine – five industrial chicken companies that supply KFC have benefited from financing from the World Bank Group and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development: With its unparalleled purchasing power and exacting demands, fast food has long shaped agricultural systems in the United […]
Read more »The Middle East’s Solar Gold Rush
March 31st, 2024
Via Frontera News, an article on recent reports indicate of an increasing Solar Gold Rush in Middle East North Africa region: The MENA region saw over 2 GW of new solar capacity tendered in 2016, and 2017 looks to easily surpass this level as hundreds of billions of dollars begin to flow into green energy in the […]
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.