How China’s Belt and Road Diplomacy Could End The Ukraine Conflict For Good
June 26th, 2022
Via South China Morning Post, commentary on how Ukraine’s integration into the ambitious rail network linking China with Europe, by providing alternative routes bypassing Russia, would be acceptable to the EU and US: A post-war scenario in Ukraine that favours both Russian and Western interests is key to a sustainable ceasefire. China could be well placed to […]
Read more »‘From Russia With Love’: A Putin Ally Mines Gold and Plays Favorites in Sudan
June 6th, 2022
Courtesy of The New York Times, a report on how the shadowy network known as the Wagner Group is getting rich in Sudan while helping the military to crush a democracy movement: In a scorched, gold-rich area 200 miles north of the Sudanese capital, where fortunes spring from desert-hewn rock, a mysterious foreign operator dominates the […]
Read more »Mongolia Looks to Fuel Russia and China by Rail
June 1st, 2022
Via Foreign Policy, an article on critical rail routes that Mongolia is aiming to finish by end of 2022: After a tumultuous and contested decade of politicking around the potential security implications of expanding its freight logistics to China, Mongolia is expected to complete three critical rail lines by the end of this year. These […]
Read more »Will Russia Complete Iran’s Rasht–Astara Railway?
May 19th, 2022
Via Jamestown Foundation, a report on Russia’s interest in Iran’s Rasht–Astara Railway: The Russo-Ukrainian war has had a direct impact on the status of the various China–Central Asia–Russia–Europe transit corridors that traverse Eurasia. The Northern Corridor branch of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), in particular, has faced serious challenges and limitations, forcing a halt […]
Read more »A New Russian Gas Pipeline Is a Bad Idea for Mongolia
May 11th, 2022
Via The Diplomat, an article on the Soyuz-Vostok pipeline, part of the larger Power of Siberia 2 project, which could make Mongolia even more vulnerable to pressure from its autocratic neighbors: Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spent his middle childhood years in the Mongolian mining town of Erdenet, as the son of a Soviet specialist with […]
Read more »Can Azerbaijan Help Europe Kick Its Russian Gas Habit?
May 9th, 2022
Via Radio Free Europe, an article on Azerbaijan’s potential to fill supply gaps caused by Russian sanctions and restrictions: Russia may be using missiles and bombs in its invasion of Ukraine, but it has another weapon, less lethal but nevertheless threatening, pointed at the rest of Europe — energy. Amid international outrage over its unprovoked […]
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.