The West Is Laser-Focused on Central Asia’s Middle Corridor. So Is China.
June 20th, 2024
Via The Diplomat, a look at the Middle Corridor but – for more commodities to move west from Central Asia – better infrastructure, more inter-agency cooperation, and modern customs systems are necessary: The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Kathleen Tai visited Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in mid-June, the first time a USTR has ever visited the Central Asian region. […]
Read more »The New Reality of Energy Geopolitics in Eurasia
May 31st, 2024
Via The Diplomat, a look at how – with the so-called gas union – Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are engaging in opportunistic cooperation and flirting with dangerous new dependencies. On November 28, 2022, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev visited Moscow, meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and other top Russian officials. During their meeting, Russian media […]
Read more »Power of Siberia 2: Close Deal or Re-Route?
May 11th, 2024
Via Asia Times, a look at the geopolitics surrounding the Power of Siberia 2 as China debates how alternate Kazakhstan gas route affects Mongolia route plan: A plan to transit Russian natural gas to China via Kazakhstan has recently triggered a hot debate among Chinese pundits over the fate of the long-discussed Power of Siberia […]
Read more »Taliban Plan Regional Logistics / Energy Trade Hub With Russian Oil In Mind
May 2nd, 2024
Via The Frontier Post, a report on the Taliban’s plans to build a regional logistics / energy trade: The Taliban has agreed with Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to build a logistics hub in western Afghanistan aimed at making the war-torn nation a major logistics point for regional exports, including oil from Russia to South Asia, the […]
Read more »Visualizing Global Gold Production in 2023
May 1st, 2024
Via Visual Capitalist, an interesting graphic of global production and the large number of frontier markets on the list: Over 3,000 tonnes of gold were produced globally in 2023. In this graphic, we list the world’s leading countries in terms of gold production. These figures come from the latest USGS publication on gold statistics (published January 2024). […]
Read more »Green New Wave: How China Adapts to Central Asia’s Renewable Energy Landscape
May 1st, 2024
Via Carnegie Endowment, commentary on how China has been investing in solar and wind energy projects in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, increasingly adapting its approach to the needs and regulations in each country: China has become a global power, but there is too little debate about how this has happened and what it means. Many argue […]
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.