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 »Bank Run: Hezbollah’s Sprawling Financial Empire Looks Vulnerable
October 22nd, 2024
Via The Economist, an article on Hezbollah’s increasingly vulnerable financial empire: Residents of Beirut are, by now, used to warnings from the Israel Defence Forces ahead of bombing runs. Typically, these instruct locals to stay away from a tower block suspected of harbouring fighters, or perhaps a school said to double as a weapons cache. The […]
Read more »Why Hezbollah Is Rich and Lebanon Is Poor
September 4th, 2024
Courtesy of Foreign Policy, an article on Lebanon and what – as the country’s economy is in free fall – Hezbollah is thriving: Lebanon and Israel have recently been at the precipice of war, but predictions of a full escalation have been false alarms. What has not been a false alarm, however, has been the […]
Read more »Hezbollah’s Shadow Bank and Lebanon’s Disaster Capitalism
August 27th, 2024
Courtesy of Adam Tooze, commentary on Lebanon’s economic crisis: As the world weighs the horrifying scenario of a “big war” in the Middle East and the likely impact on the world economy, starting with the oil price, spare a thought for the people in the eye of the storm. Think particularly of the millions in […]
Read more »The Phoenician Problem: Lebanon’s Tourism Boom
August 29th, 2023
Via The Economist, a look at Lebanon’s tourism boom: It could be any luxury hotspot on the Mediterranean. The four-hour flight from Dubai, the region’s financial hub, may cost $1,000 each way. Holidaymakers fork out over $450 for hotel rooms, $100 for plates of grilled fish. Day-passes to beach clubs can cost 25% of the […]
Read more »How Lebanon Can Unlock Its Oil and Gas Wealth
February 14th, 2023
Courtesy of Foreign Policy, an article on a new maritime deal with Israel could be an economic lifeline for Lebanon—if the government in Beirut can get its act together: On Oct. 27, 2022, Israel and Lebanon signed a breakthrough agreement establishing a permanent maritime boundary between them in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. The two countries have technically been […]
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.