Syria: The Economist’s Country of the Year 2025
December 19th, 2025
Via The Economist, an award for Syria: Each Christmas The Economist names a country of the year. Not the happiest: that would nearly always be Scandinavian, making for a dull, predictable contest. Nor the most influential: that would always be a superpower. Rather, we try to identify the country that has improved the most, whether economically, politically […]
Read more »After Fleeing Assad, He’s Now Leading Syria’s Tech Transformation
November 12th, 2025
Via Rest of World, an interview with Syria’s Abdulsalam Haykal explains how he plans to rebuild the country’s shattered digital infrastructure — and why he came back after years in exile: He fled Assad. Now he’s leading Syria’s tech transformation Abdulsalam Haykal faces a practically impossible task: to bring Syria back online after 14 years […]
Read more »Saudi’s AI Ambitions May Run Through Syria
November 5th, 2025
Via Semafor, a look at how Saudi’s AI ambitions may run through Syria: Courtesy of TeleGeography. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Saudi Arabia and Syria are in talks to build data cables connecting the kingdom to Europe, a move seen as a crucial part of Riyadh’s plan to become a global artificial intelligence hub. Syria […]
Read more »“This Is A New Era,” Syria Central Bank Says Amid Investment Push
October 24th, 2025
Via Forbes, a report on Syria’s investment push: The civil war that tore through Syria for more than a decade claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, displaced millions, and shattered the country’s economy. Now, after years of isolation, a new team of Syrian economic officials is fanning out across world capitals with a different message: […]
Read more »Syria Will Be ‘Gone” If Economy Rebuilding Falters
October 17th, 2025
Via Semafor, a report on Syria’s economic future: After 13 years of civil war and six decades of dictatorship, Syrian officials tasked with restarting an economy that has resembled Cuba’s or North Korea’s insist that they need to build new institutions, and not rebuild those that led to the country’s collapse. Speaking at Semafor’s World Economy […]
Read more »Syria’s Quest To Build Its Own Silicon Valley
September 16th, 2025
Via Rest of World, a look at how tech founders in Damascus are rebooting a war-torn country: At the end of November, Hamza Hourani’s phone rang. It was a cloudy morning in Damascus, and some Syrians were quietly stocking their cupboards as rebel fighters marched south toward the city after seizing much of the rest […]
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.