Could Iran be a Gateway for Central Asia?
June 7th, 2024
Courtesy of The Diplomat, a look at how connecting with Iran may be tempting for Central Asian countries like Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan – but increased relations with Tehran may ultimately be counterproductive: The China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway project may finally get underway, according to Kyrgyzstan’s President Sadyr Japarov. At the 8th annual Trans-Caspian Forum, organized by the Caspian […]
Read more »China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway Construction to Begin in October
May 7th, 2024
Via The Diplomat, an article on the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway for which construction is to begin in October, a railway that Kyrgyzstan hopes will make it “a transit country for the world”: Construction of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan (CKU) railway will begin in October, according to Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov. Speaking during a working trip to Osh on May […]
Read more »Kyrgyzstan: The Weak Link of the Southern Corridor
May 6th, 2024
Via Geopolitical Monitor, a report on Kyrgyzstan’s role in the planned Southern Corridor: Transportation corridors across Eurasia are not new. China announced the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013, and the project has been described as the New Silk Road. Moreover, when the war in Ukraine commenced, the Trans Caspian International Route, or Middle […]
Read more »Gulf States And Central Asian Republics
April 23rd, 2024
Via Eurasia Review, an article on growing linkages between the Gulf states and Central Asia: Trade, transit and energy topped the agenda when foreign ministers from the GCC and Central Asian republics met in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, last week for their second “strategic dialogue”, following an inaugural event in Jeddah last July. The six Gulf states […]
Read more »Central Asia’s Critical Raw Materials: The Next Frontier in Global Power Rivalry?
April 7th, 2024
Via Central Asian Bureau for Analytical Reporting, a report on the strategic position of Central Asian nations within the rare earth metals’ geopolitical landscape: Eldaniz Gusseinov of the Ibn Khaldun University’s Heydar Aliyev Center for Eurasian Studies, alongside Abakhon Sultonazarov, IWPR Central Asia Regional Director, contend that the interplay between Central Asia’s ties with the […]
Read more »Putin’s Silk Road Around Sanctions
March 1st, 2024
Via Project Syndicate, commentary on Russia’s growing transshipment of Western goods viacountries like Armenia, Georgia, and Kyrgyzstan? For about 1,500 years, high-value goods were moved from China (and perhaps other parts of Asia) to Europe and the Middle East via the Silk Road. The precise route varied over time, but it always ran through and involved […]
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.