Shooting for the Stars with a Paper Airplane: The US-Pakistan Rare Earths Deal
January 20th, 2026
Via Geopolitical Monitor, commentary on the US-Pakistan rare earths deal: In October 2025, Pakistan shipped its first load of rare earth minerals to the United States as part of a new $500 million agreement between the two nations. After months of trade negotiations, this shipment was of great symbolic significance, intended to show that Pakistan can deliver […]
Read more »The Wildcat Traders and US Contractors Piling into Pakistan’s Antimony
December 29th, 2025
Courtesy of The Financial Times, a look at the wildcat traders and US contractors piling into Pakistan’s antimony, a rare earth crucial for missiles, batteries and flame retardants: For years, the only buyers for the antimony Jabbar Khan sourced from wildcat traders in Afghanistan were secretive Chinese intermediaries, who bargained hard over the price. Now, […]
Read more »Between Pakistan and Afghanistan, a Trade War With No End in Sight
December 8th, 2025
Courtesy of the New York Times, a look at how – after deadly cross-border military clashes – the Pakistani and Afghan governments have locked their populations in a trade war threatening the livelihoods of millions: One of Peshawar’s largest markets in western Pakistan once bustled with thousands of Afghan-owned shops and carts, selling everything from […]
Read more »The Taliban Emirate, China, India and Pakistan
October 17th, 2025
Via Geopolitical Futures, commentary on what attacking Pakistan means for the Taliban to try to break out of international isolation: After the United States withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021, it was only a matter of time before conflict erupted between the Afghan Taliban and their former patron, Pakistan. One of the ways this manifested was […]
Read more »Pasni Port Deal Would Pivot Pakistan from China to US
October 8th, 2025
Via Asia Times, an article examining how a Pakistan proposal for US role at port would undercut China’s CPEC while giving America access to bounty of critical minerals: Pakistan’s reported proposal to grant the United States a development and management role at Pasni port, as reported by the Financial Times, marks one of the most consequential geopolitical […]
Read more »Canadian Barrick Gold’s Gamble in Balochistan Meets a Violent Insurgency
September 17th, 2025
Via The Diplomat, a look at how the dream of reopening Reko Diq meets a harsh reality on the ground: a worsening insurgency and continued political instability. When Canadian mining giant Barrick Gold contracted a long-awaited deal in 2022 with the government of Pakistan to revive the Reko Diq copper and gold project in Pakistan’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.