North Korea In BRICS: A Reach Too Far?
October 2nd, 2024
Via the Asia Times, an article on how Pyongyang’s accession would undermine the grouping’s emerging credibility as a counterweight to the West-led world order: North Korea’s potential membership in BRICS, the bloc named for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa that is now expanding beyond that core deeper into the so-called Global South, presents […]
Read more »China Is Striking Deals to Cement Its Role as Asia’s Trade Hub
September 24th, 2024
Courtesy of The New York Times, a look at how Beijing’s leaders are working with regional neighbors on the country’s western, northern and southern borders to develop new rail and sea links. China has made several moves in recent months to advance its ambitious aim to become the trade and transportation hub of Asia. To […]
Read more »A New “Quartet of Chaos”
September 23rd, 2024
Via The Economist, an article on the growing relationships between the rulers of China, Iran, North Korea and Russia: Antony Blinken, America’s secretary of state, was unusually blunt on a recent visit to Europe: “One of the reasons that [Vladimir] Putin is able to continue this aggression is because of the provision of support from […]
Read more »North Korea and BRICS
September 20th, 2024
Via 38North, a report on North Korea’s engagement with the BRICS: North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui recently attended the Fourth Eurasian Women’s Forum in Russia and the First BRICS Women’s Forum held on the sidelines of the Eurasian women’s forum.[1] Earlier, in June, a North Korean Ministry of Physical Culture and Sports delegation attended a BRICS sports ministers meeting in Russia, which seems […]
Read more »The New Influencers: The Expanding Role of Middle Powers in Africa
August 28th, 2024
Courtesy of Harvard’s Belfer Center, a new report on the expanding role of Middle Powers such as Brazil, India, Japan, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, UAE, and Qatar in Africa: This original primer, conducted as research for The Africa Futures Project, is an initial exploration into the evolving roles and increasing influence of “middle powers” in […]
Read more »Now Applying: North Koreans
August 28th, 2024
Via Forbes, a report on how – with the arrival of AI – companies are being overwhelmed with job applications from North Korea: Last year, employees at Cinder, a tech startup that provides content moderation software and is led by former intelligence officials, began to notice strange anomalies in the thousands of job applications it […]
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.