On Chinese Tuna Boats, North Koreans Trawl for Cash for Kim Jong-un
February 24th, 2025
Courtesy of the New York Times, a report on how – thousands of miles from home – North Koreans work on Chinese tuna longliners in the Indian Ocean for pay that goes to their leader: They spent up to 10 years at sea, toiling in some of the harshest conditions distant-water fishing crews ?can face. […]
Read more »North Korea’s Economic Crisis: Solutions or More Controls?
February 4th, 2025
Via The Diplomat, a look at how a pattern of tightening market controls and soaring prices has culminated in an ambitious government intervention in North Korea – a comprehensive plan to regulate the grain trade: North Korea finds itself in the grip of a severe economic crisis marked by a dramatic currency devaluation and soaring prices, […]
Read more »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 »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 »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.