Syria: A Future Notch on China’s BRI?
June 12th, 2020
Via Eurasia Review, an article on how Syria could become a key node in China’s infrastructure, telecommunications and energy-driven Belt and Road Initiative (BRI): China looms large as a potentially key player alongside Russia and Iran in President Bashas al-Assad’s post-war Syria. With Russia and Iran lacking the financial muscle and the United States and […]
Read more »North Korea: Selling Sand
June 10th, 2020
Via CNN, an interesting report on how North Korea might be making millions — and breaking sanctions — selling sand: It was May of last year when Lucas Kuo and Lauren Sung noticed something strange: more than 100 ships gathering in the waters near Haeju, North Korea. As part of their work at the Washington-based Center […]
Read more »A Pipelineistan Fable For Our Times
June 8th, 2020
Via the Asia Times, an article on how Ukraine was supposed to prevent Russia from deepening energy ties with Germany, but it didn’t work out that way: Once upon a time in Pipelineistan, tales of woe were the norm. Shattered dreams littered the chessboard – from IPI vs. TAPI in the AfPak realm to the neck-twisting Nabucco opera in Europe. […]
Read more »Turkmenistan: Reviving TAPI
June 8th, 2020
Via Eurasianet, a look at Turkmenistan’s recent efforts to revive TAPI: After months of silence on the matter, attention in Ashgabat has turned again to the current state of affairs with the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India natural gas pipeline. Myratgeldy Meredov, a deputy chairman of the Cabinet, assured the president at a government meeting on May 29 that the project […]
Read more »Egypt’s Cratering Economy
June 1st, 2020
Via The Economist, a report on Egypt’s economy: There was never much chance of social distancing in Cairo, a city more populous than most countries. Buses fill to overflowing, passengers dangling out of open doors. Millions live in informal settlements with streets barely wide enough for a sedan. And indeed, unlike many other Arab countries, […]
Read more »Will Caspian Trade Flow into the Persian Gulf?
May 31st, 2020
Via Window on Eurasia, commentary on the potential for north-south trade in Central Asia: Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan have agreed to promote the expansion of rail traffic from their countries through Iran to Oman and thus to the world ocean, a path that China will likely be the biggest beneficiary of and that will challenge Moscow’s […]
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.