With the US Looking Elsewhere, Uzbekistan and China Quietly Cement a Regional Alliance
February 6th, 2024
Via The Hill, a report on the growing partnership between Uzbekistan and China: While the U.S., Russia and Europe are trying to quell (or aggravate) crises simultaneously in Ukraine, Iraq, Syria, Israel/Gaza, the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea/Yemen, Uzbekistan and China have quietly elevated their partnership. Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev made a state visit to […]
Read more »Dangote Announces $1B Phosphate Investment In Senegal
February 6th, 2024
Courtesy of The Africa Report, a report on Dangote’s billion-dollar investment in phosphate in Senegal – a project once envisaged in Togo: While Senegal encounters turbulence over its elections timetable, this has not affected Aliko Dangote’s confidence in the country. The Nigerian cement magnate has announced his intention to invest a billion dollars in phosphate in […]
Read more »MercadoLibre: The ‘Amazon of Latin America’
February 6th, 2024
Courtesy of Fortune, an article on MercadoLibre, Latin America’s tech titan that was inspired by eBay and later launched a lucrative payments business akin to PayPal. It’s now worth roughly the equivalent of the two U.S. tech giants combined: When Marcos Galperin started online marketplace MercadoLibre in a parking garage, he wasn’t trying to evoke the origin […]
Read more »How a Battery Metals Supply Glut is Deepening China’s Dominance
February 6th, 2024
Courtesy of The Wire China, a look at how crashing metals prices are making it hard for Western miners to justify new investments in the minerals needed for clean energy: An avalanche of cheap minerals originating from Chinese producers is thwarting Western governments’ hopes of fighting back against China’s dominance over the electric vehicle supply […]
Read more »Paving The Way: DRC’s ‘Contract of the Century’ with China
February 6th, 2024
Courtesy of The Africa Report, an article on the DRC’s $7B agreement with China for infrastructure: Félix Tshisekedi couldn’t have wished for anything better to launch his second term as president of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). On 19 January, on the eve of his inauguration, an agreement was reached between his government and […]
Read more »Bitcoin Mining Was Booming in Kazakhstan. Then It Was Gone.
February 5th, 2024
Via MIT Technology Review, an article on how bitcoin miners initially flocked to Kazakhstan to take advantage of cheap energy and loose regulation. Now most of them have moved on, leaving little behind but moldering equipment and social tension. To reach Kazakhstan’s largest bitcoin mine, you need to travel deep into the country’s rust belt, […]
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.